Renting A Pontoon Boat Lake Of The Ozarks

If you're heading to Lake of the Ozarks this summer and you want to rent a pontoon boat it would be wise to reserve one in advance. Several marinas are reporting increased interest in renting boats and some folks are being disappointed.

This article from OzarksFirst tells the story ...

(Branson, MO) -- It's great weather right now to be out on the lake. But renting a boat may not be that simple.

Several Branson marinas have seen an significant increase this year in the number of people renting boats. And they say the type of customers they are getting is also changing.

Boating season is at its peak, and that means you'll hear a lot more of these sounds on the lake. While that response is nothing new, Rock Lane resort owner Jim Heckman says this season is shaping up to be quite different from last season.

"We've been busy since back in May. Last year, we didn't ever get open until the end of May," said Heckman. Heckman said there are probably several reasons for the increase in business. The temperatures are warmer, lake levels are lower and gas prices are nearly a dollar less than year than a year ago. While that's great for business, it also means people are in a frenzy to rent boats. "We'd probably like to find a couple of these people over here that aren't going to use their boats because we could use them to rent since we have no availability right now for 4th of July."

Heckman said he's seen a big increase in the number of people coming to the lake from out of state. For instance, Heckman's Marina has several boats from Indiana, Illinois and one from Colorado. Arlington Heights, Illinois residents Diane and Bob Shaw have never been to Branson before but decided to come here instead of their usual trip to Florida. It saved them some money, but they're learning that when it comes to renting boats, the early bird gets the worm. "A lot of places have the boats reserved and if you didn't get here early, you have to wait a day."

The Litzinger family did manage to get a boat for the day, and they say so far, it's been worth it. "It's fun. We don't do a whole lot of tubing or have a lot of lakes in Southern California."

Several Branson Marina owners told us that it's a good idea to reserve a boat in advance.
They say you can sometimes rent boats the day-of, if it's on a week day. A two hour pontoon ride will cost you around $100. To rent it all day costs $300. A ski boat is about $140 for two hours, $400 for all day.

New Port Richey Boat Show This Weekend

Pontoon boat rides will be available this weekend at the Bright House Networks Boat Show this Friday through Sunday at New Port Richey. More than 100 boats will be on show plus there'll be lots of seafood as part of the Cotee River Seafood Festival.

Read about it in this article from tampabay.com

[The boats] — and lots of seafood — is just the beginning of the increasingly popular late springtime festival in and around Sims Park.

The event now includes 21 hours of live bands playing in the amphitheater, as well as an arts and crafts village, kayak races, pontoon boat rides, the Swamp Master Gator Show and a car, truck and Corvette contest.

Music kicks off the festival on Friday, with three bands playing at True Oldies Music Night. The Solid Core Band will play pop, blues, funk and dance music from 6 to 7:30 p.m., followed by the '60s Groove band from 8 to 9:30 p.m., with tributes to the Beatles, the Who, Dusty Springfield and others.

Friday's headliner is Mike T's Tribute to Roy Orbison from 10 to 11 p.m.

The festival continues from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days there will be an arts and crafts village with items from $5 to $500; the boat show; and Miss Daisy pontoon boat rides ($5) on the Cotee River.

Both days will feature the Swamp Master Gator Show at 11:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Saturday has other special events: the Salt Springs Classic Kayak Race and Fun Paddle, both starting at Werner-Boyce Salt Springs State Park, 9120 Old Post Road, Port Richey and ending at Sims Park (transportation back to your vehicle will be provided). Entry fee is $15 per kayak; registration starts at 8 a.m. and the race starts at 9 a.m. See saltspringsalliance.com for details and rules.

Makai Kayak & Kanoes will be at the Sims Park dock with kayak and canoe rentals at various prices.

Saturday also features the Sunset Corvette and Classic Car Show from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with 35 awards, including Best of Show, and dashboard plaques for the first 75 to enter. Registration is $15; call Tom Morrow for details at (352) 650-3464.

A Weeki Wachee mermaid will appear throughout the park from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday for chats and photo ops.

The Blues by the River concert goes from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Saturday. Free (bring chairs or blankets for seating) or VIP seating for $7, starting at 5 p.m.

Read the rest of the article...

Pontoon Boat Tours on Clear Lake

Pontoon Boat tours of Clear Lake will be a feature of the upcoming Heron Festival on April 25 & 26. Here's the story from lakeconews.com

KELSEYVILLE – The upcoming Heron Festival and Wildflower Brunch, on April 25 and 26, sponsored by the Redbud Audubon Society and the Clear Lake State Park Interpretive Association (CLSPIA), promises an array of fun and interested nature oriented activities, ranging from pontoon boat tours on Clear Lake to a live bird presentation.

The Heron Festival is in its 15th year and since its founding, by the Redbud Audubon Society, the event has grown to become one of Northern California’s most popular nature festivals.

The festival is held at the Clear Lake State Park on Soda Bay Road near Kelseyville. Pontoon boat tours on Clear Lake are a popular feature of the festival, but a huge variety of other activities and programs are offered.

Boat tours are held on both days and last for approximately 90 minutes. Advanced reservations are required for the boat tours. This may be accomplished by going to the Heron Festival website at www.heronfestival.org. Price for a boat ride is just $15 per person.

Other activities on Saturday include an Audubon Bird Walk starting at 8:30 a.m., the popular Wildflower Brunch from 9 a.m. until noon, a “Nature Fair,” which features exhibit booths highlighting education displays and information from nature-related government agencies, local environmental nonprofit groups, and nature-related artists and craftsmen.

Keynote speaker on Saturday is Philip Greene, an internationally known photographer of herons and egrets. His presentation will be presented at the Visitor Center Auditorium at the park. There will also be Visitor Center tours of the interpretive displays of Lake County’s natural and cultural resources.

Children’s activities will consist of a wide range of fun educational programs for children to learn about nature, including owl masks, peanut butter birdseed feeders to take home, and making a personalized bird journal. A family nature walk is also planned.

Pontoon boat tours continue on Sunday along with more bird walks, the nature fair, a presentation by Dr. Harry Lyons on Myths and Music of Clear Lake, and at 1 p.m. a live bird presentation, “Raptor Speak,” by Native Bird Connections, that will give visitors the opportunity to see raptor behavior up close.

All events except the pontoon boat tours and the Wildflower Brunch are free and open to the public. Registration for both the boat tours and the brunch are required and can be made by going to the festival website or by calling the Lake County Visitor Center1-800-525-3743.

The Web site also features the full schedule of events for the two-day Heron Festival at Clear Lake State Park.

Take The Pontoon Boat To A Pirates Game

Pittsburgh is a city defined by its rivers so taking a pontoon boat to a Pirates game seems like a great option. This story from the Post-Gazette tells the story ...

We're a city defined by our rivers, so a water taxi seems a natural. Yet the $6 round-trip from the Strip District to PNC Park -- with free parking, cheap drinks and cushioned booths in a heated pontoon boat -- remains a secret to most.

Ninety minutes before the Pirates opened their season, Capt. Mark Schiller opened his. A five-minute cruise whisked 15 baseball fans across the Allegheny River from the 23rd Street dock, below the Cork Factory, to a dock on the North Shore just east of the Roberto Clemente Bridge.

Mr. Schiller, 46, has been hauling frigid football fans in his 49-passenger "Miss Pittsburgh" since 1999, taking them from Downtown to games first in Three Rivers Stadium and then Heinz Field, but baseball always has been a tougher sell. The weather is nicer and the walk is shorter from Downtown.

But last June 24, after a Strip District dock opened below the Cork Factory, he started his baseball shuttle and fans headed to the ballpark from points east have found the deal hard to beat.

Randy Doman of Plum, who works in the Strip District, and his friend Bill Perroz, of Indiana Township, were the first passengers to board shortly before noon. When Mr. Schiller's engine didn't turn over right away, Mr. Doman joked, "You going to get the oars out?"

But the engine soon kicked in and a couple more groups, totalling a baker's dozen, came aboard. Joe Jezik of Oakmont brought a vanful of friends and was joyous at finding this deal when he checked the parking options on the Pirates' Web site.

"What better way to ride out these hard times?" he asked and bought a round of drinks at the opening week price of $2 a pop.

Mike Broniszewski was part of a group from the Strip District that popped a bottle of champagne in the parking lot before boarding. Why?

"The Pirates haven't lost a home game yet all year," Mr. Broniszewski explained.

His group included David Regan, co-owner of Mullaney's Harp & Fiddle just a short walk away on Penn Avenue. The Irish pub, along with the nearby Spaghetti Warehouse and the organic supermarket, Right by Nature, are picking up half the boat fare for their customers who spend at least $10 and take same-day receipts to the boat. The first drink is free, too.

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That's all about boosting a fledgling operation they think will benefit the Strip, but these ballpark runs are only part of Mr. Schiller's dream. He'd like to have shuttles on Friday and Saturday nights from the Strip District to Station Square to the Watersteps on the North Shore and on back to the Strip. He'd run them from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., linking three of the city's top entertainment districts.

This water taxi would fill a new niche for people interested in bopping among the attractions on the three rivers, but so far Mr. Schiller has been unsuccessful in getting docking rights at Station Square. (I was unable to reach a Station Square official for comment yesterday.)

I made the first two runs with Schiller and his first mate, a friendly old guy who didn't want to be named, so call him Gilligan. Fifteen passengers went on the first run, and 17 on the second, and the consensus was this beat the horsehide out of battling the pre-game traffic and paying $12, $15, $20 or worse for a parking spot near PNC Park. And after the game, they could essentially swim ahead of the post-game Route 28 logjam.

Starting 90 minutes before each game, this boat makes four trips, one every half-hour. Return trips begin after the seventh-inning stretch and the last one leaves 20 minutes after the last pitch.

Mr. Schiller carried about 60 passengers yesterday, each way.

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As a teenager growing up in Penn Hills, he'd told his friends he'd open a restaurant on the water one day, and he did. He opened Trolls on Herrs Island in 1997 but sold it in 2003 because after he got married, the late hours no longer made sense.

But he had the restaurant long enough for Merle Crouse, a local beer distributor, to walk in one day in the summer of 1998 and mention that he wanted to start a water taxi. Mr. Schiller told him he'd always had the same idea and they formed a partnership, and a decade later this "hobby" is still cruising.

He'd just like to do more than ballgames and party cruises. He'd like to be the go-to guy for getting to the night spots along our rivers, but he needs Station Square to make that work.

"I'm not asking for a subsidy," he said. "All I need is access."

Contact Pittsburgh Water Limo atpghwaterlimo.com and 412-221-LIMO (5466).