Sticking with what seems to be a water theme here on the blog lately, today I'm sharing our latest water adventure.....the sunset cruise aboard the Dutch Apple Cruises.
You might remember my post from last summer when we took the afternoon sightseeing cruise. If you missed it, here's the link:
Cruisin' Down the Hudson Aboard the Dutch Apple II. We loved that cruise so much, I couldn't wait to take another this season, and what's better than a sunset on the water! For those of you not familiar (all of this is in my previous post), the Dutch Apple II is a 65 ft, 3-deck vessel built by Scarano Building Company in 1986. Docked at the Port of Albany near the USS Slater, the Dutch Apple offers sightseeing cruises, a monthly sunset cruise, special music cruises and a variety of special events. They are also available for private charter events.
The Dutch Apple holds 150 passengers, but typically sightseeing cruises take 120 so that, in the event of rain, all passengers can fit comfortably under cover. This vessel is not only gorgeously crafted, it is immaculately maintained and staffed with the nicest, most welcoming crew. There's a cash bar and a snack bar on board offering wonderful options at great prices. Two delicious hot dogs and a soda cost us about $8.00. My favorite place to sit is on the top deck, under the canopy, but I love to wander around and enjoy the view from every perspective. Until our cruise last summer, I'd never been on the Hudson so I was pretty unfamiliar and quite naive about the vast amount of industries that exist on both sides of the river. The narration on both of our trips was entertaining and full of interesting stories about the industries that reside in the area along with historical details and some eagle-eye spotting of wildlife all along the route! Speaking of eagles....we saw a few on this trip as well as a couple great blue heron. All of this made for a wonderful experience, but the frosting on the cake was definitely the beautiful Albany skyline by twilight.
This was the view from the docked Apple of the Sloop Clearwater across the river.
And looking towards Albany.....our tour guide and narrator, Peter, points out the buildings beyond.
Below is a mountain of metal recycling...and the spider-like magnetic claws that are used to move the metal onto a barge.
An eagle perched atop a tank....
The covered mountain below is this winter's supply of salt for the area brought in from Chile. Think it'll last the winter?
A great blue heron stands guard...........
One of several eagles we saw on tonight's cruise.........
Everything looks beautiful in the glow of sunset......
Our trip was briefly put on pause while we waited for this huge tanker to do a turn around before heading south....... a tedious and calculated procedure for a vessel nearly as long as the Hudson is wide.
I don't know about you, but I am frequently amazed by the beauty of the area we live in. It's so easy to get so caught up in day-to-day living that we forget there is so much more to see than whatever is on the route we take in our routine daily life. There are tourist attractions locally that people travel miles to see, many that we natives take for granted, some that we never explore. Until last year, the Dutch Apple cruise was one of them for us. Without the opportunity to be out on the Hudson, how would the average capital area resident know about all the import and exporting that takes place at the Port of Albany or Rensselaer, or the vast amount of industries that reside along the banks of the Hudson. It's so easy to think Albany is all about white-collar business.
My readers know my heart is on Saratoga Lake, and there's nothing like the serenity of a sunset cruise on the lake, but we found equal beauty in the Albany skyline at sunset and recommend the Dutch Apple II cruise at any time of day for a relaxing and eye-opening view of our capital and its history and industry.
For more information, check out their website:
Regularly scheduled cruises run Wednesday-Sunday. Adult tickets are $19.95, Seniors $18.95, kids 3-10 $12.00. Cruises are 90 minutes long. For more photos of the Dutch Apple II and the view by day, check out my previous post:
Cruisin' Down the Hudson Aboard the Dutch Apple II
Our area is full of wonderful tourist venues for all ages. From llama farms to historical estates, battlefields to balloon festivals. There's no need to travel out of state for a good time. For so many great places to explore, check out my Directory, under the "Destination-New York" category....
Book your cruise online today! While you're at it, check out the
Adirondack Cruise & Charter to schedule a lake afternoon cruise, or sunset, or Sunday coffee cruise. Interesting side note: the Dutch Apple I was initially built for the uncle of Hal Raven, Owner and Captain of Adirondack Cruise and Charter. Hal remembers growing up on that boat! For more ways to enjoy summer on the water, check out this recent post of my 10 favorite cruises:
My 10 Favorite Ways to Enjoy Summer on the Water (there's actually 12). Hope you're enjoying summer and that you'll add this one to your summer bucket list.
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