Can I Jump Off The Lewis & Clark Riverboat In Bismarck?

Just a random question I know, but there is a good reason for it...

...so last month 96.5 The Walleye had our turn to host the Riverboat cruise. During about a month and a half, I gave away on-the-air 50 passes ( for 2 people ) for invites to board the Lewis and Clark Riverboat. We would leave at 6:00, and around 7:30 we would be back. Entertainment was on board - Double Barrel charmed our enthusiastic group.

There were 20 pizzas from Bruno's Pizza - that lasted about 20 seconds

HUGE thank you to Bruno's Pizza for supplying food for everyone - Jerome Distributing passed out some tasty adult samples - and as always Lewis and Clark had two extremely polite bartenders ready to take care of you:

EVERYBODY was in a fantastic mood, as we pulled away onto the cool Missouri River water...

...COOL is the bottom line here, you see last Thursday was 99 degrees, and I felt like I was suffocating.

I'm sure I am not the only person that has ever thought of this simple question...

"I wonder if people have jumped OFF the Lewis and Clark Riverboat?" I mean after all, it's an easy swim to the river's edge. Nice COOL water, refreshing. Why not? What would it hurt? Well my bank account for one thing.

A Federal Fine - a "HEFTY" one

You see I casually mentioned to another riverboat traveler - "Hey how COOL would it be if I jumped off the boat....I wonder if anyone has ever done that?"  This person quicky answered back "Bad mistake -you're looking at a Federal Fine" - and she is right. This afternoon I got a call from Tybee, who works at Lewis and Clark - she told me the same thing. Because the riverboat is considered part of the US Coast Guard, making a splash in the river so to speak is labeled a Federal Fine . "it's a HEFT fine - $1,500 dollars" she told me.

So there you go, stay on the boat!