May 31, 2005

Big Apple Ducks tour aiming for summer launch

Although there are probably hundreds of types of New York City tours - none yet covers both land and sea. Though that's about to change. Big Apple Ducks aims to be the city's first amphibious sightseeing tour when it launches this summer, according to Scott Baker, the company's founder.

The brand new trolley boat will pick up passengers in Manhattan for a city tour and then drive to Brooklyn for the water-portion of the tour. Based in a Civil War-era warehouse at Pier 41 in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Big Apple Ducks will use the adjacent boat launch to transform the land-bound trolley into a state-of-the-art, eco-friendly sightseeing boat that will cruise near the Statue of Liberty. Baker said he knows of only one other boat launch in the city, at a location in the Bronx too far away to use in the amphibious tours.

Baker's a native New Yorker who lives in Red Hook and has been working on the duck tour project for more than 5 years. His project isn't affiliated with any of the big tour companies, though there have been rumblings that other operators are hoping to bring duck-type tours to the city. Baker said that while Boston and about 25 other cities around the world offer duck tours, most use old WWII vessels designed to carry troops and supplies to the beaches of Normandy and the like. The Big Apple Duck Boat, however, uses 2004 technology, he said

So far Big Apple Ducks has only one boat, but a couple more are on the way. About 40 passengers will fit on each trolley boat, making three or four trips daily. The two and a half tour is tentatively priced at "less than $50," according to the company's web site.

May 31, 2005 11:24 PM in Tours

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