Before arriving in Vermont, a couple of people recommended we go on a cruise on Lake Champlain.
Shae and I spent a week in Colchester which is just outside of Burlington, so we took advantage of being so close to Lake Champlain to go on a cruise.
We found a way to get Buy One Get One Free tickets on Spirit of Ethan Allen (more on that in the ‘Cost’ section at the end). Spirit of Ethan Allen seems to be the main scenic cruise provider on Lake Champlain, so that worked out perfectly.
Here’s what our scenic narrated cruise was like.
The special offer we had was for the Scenic Narrated Cruise. This runs from May to October at 10am, 12pm, 2pm and 4pm. They also offer several other types of cruises, such as a Champagne Brunch on Sundays, Sunset Cruises on Fridays and Saturdays, Murder Mystery Dinner Cruises on Thursdays and more. You can find the full schedule list on their website.
We arrived just in time to make it on the 4pm Scenic Narrated Cruise one afternoon. Tickets are sold at a booth just outside of where the boat is docked on Lake Champlain waterfront.
Once you have your tickets, walk up the gangway on to the boat.
The dock for Spirit of Ethan Allen is next to the Burlington Community Boathouse Marina. Just as an aside, that’s a great place to chill out as there’s public seating where you can gaze out over the lake.
Spirit of Ethan Allen has three decks you can choose from – Admiral Deck, Horizon Deck and Sky Deck. Horizon Deck appeared to be the main restaurant area with a dance floor.
Shae and I chose to sit up on the Sky Deck to get the best view of where we’d be heading on the cruise.
A few minutes after taking our seats, the ship left the dock and started heading out on to Lake Champlain. The Scenic Narrated Cruise has a recorded narration which is played over loudspeakers around the ship.
One of the first things we saw was a stone breakwater which is almost 4,000 feet long. The friend we’d met up with the previous day at The Skinny Pancake had mentioned that the Burlington Breakwater is usually more visible, but the lake’s water level was much higher than normal.
Along the breakwater there are a couple of short lighthouses. These have different light strengths so that sailors know which end of the harbor they’re at.
The cruise sets out to the north, passing North Beach Park on the right.
Shortly after that we approached Lone Rock Point.
As we rounded Lone Rock Point, the narrator pointed out an example of a thrust fault in the rock. A thrust fault is a reverse fault where older rocks are pushed over younger rocks; in this case, there was shale on the bottom and dolomite on top. This rock formation is about 450 million years old and is known as the Champlain Thrust Fault.
Although it was fairly nice weather the day we went on the cruise, it was still a little chilly up on deck seeing as we were out on the water. We therefore headed down to the bar area as Shae wanted to grab something to drink.
It was hard to hear the narration from down there, so I headed back upstairs as I wasn’t thirsty and wanted to hear the narration. Shae returned soon afterwards with an interesting drink. She’d ordered the raspberry hot chocolate which came with Stoli Razberi vodka, Chambord Black Raspberry liqueur and hot cocoa, but also got a shot of Irish cream added. Needless to say, it was pretty tasty.
The narrator continued sharing information about Lake Champlain and the surrounding area. The lake is 120 miles long, 12.2 miles wide and its deepest point goes down 427 feet.
Given its size and depth, it’s not too surprising that it has its own Loch Ness-style myths, except their mysterious sea creature is known as Champ. Sightings of Champ date back to 1609 when the lake was discovered by Samuel de Champlain.
After a while, Spirit of Ethan Allen turned around and headed south on the lake, passing Camel’s Hump in the distance to the west.
Off to the east were Four Brothers Islands which are on the New York side of Lake Champlain. These have been given incredibly creative names – Island A, Island B, Island C and yep, you guessed it, Island D.
Continuing southwards, we approached Juniper Island. Juniper Island is a 12 acre island which is home to a solar powered lighthouse.
A few minutes later we passed by Rock Dunder, a rock that’s been mistaken for a ship on numerous occasions. It earned its name when a British ship fired at the rock during fog, thinking that it was an enemy ship. Upon discovering that it was no such thing, the ship’s officer exclaimed “It’s a rock, by Dunder!”
One of the final spots we passed was Red Rocks Park.
This location is notable as it’s a popular spot where people go cliff jumping from 75 feet up. Nope, me either.
As we neared the end of our cruise, the narrator shared more information about Spirit of Ethan Allen itself. The ship is 140 feet long, 33 feet wide and 43 feet high.
It was built in Salisbury, Maryland and encountered problems when being transported to Lake Champlain. Due to a 17 foot bridge, the top two decks had to be cut off to get it to the lake, with it taking months to put the ship back together again.
Just before our arrival back at the dock, we learned something that was strangely fascinating. Burlington is home to Vermont’s tallest building – Decker Towers. That in itself isn’t too interesting, but the fact that it’s only 11 stories tall is. It’s actually the shortest tallest building in the entire US.
Cost
The Scenic Narrated Cruise costs $26.75 per adult which includes taxes and fees. As mentioned earlier, we managed to get Buy One Get One Free tickets which we obtained by redeeming points through AARP’s Rewards For Good program. You can earn Rewards For Good points when you pay for an AARP membership, complete surveys, etc., so it’s fairly easy to rack up those points.
Rewards For Good is powered by Entertainment.com, so I’m assuming you can also get the BOGOF tickets in the Burlington, VT Entertainment Book.
Final Thoughts
I’m glad we got to go on a cruise on Lake Champlain as it’s a beautiful setting. That said, at $26.75 per adult, the Spirit of Ethan Allen is somewhat pricey for a 90 minute cruise. I’m a little reluctant to recommend it at that price, but it’s definitely worth doing if you can get discounted tickets like we did.
Address
Spirit of Ethan Allen, 1 College St, Burlington, VT 05401
A elder lady and her daughter are thinking of going on your ship.
Are there restrictions because of Covid-19 other than masks?
Hi Irene,
I’m afraid I’m not sure what restrictions they have right now as we took the cruise last year. You’d need to reach out to the Spirit of Ethan Allen directly to find out.