Making Waves: Syracuse Boat Tours Launches Second Season
Former Post-Standard / Advance Media New York executive excited with second year of new venture
By Tim Bennett
I met with Annette Peters, owner of Syracuse Boat Tours, April 24 at the dock at Dutch Landing on the Seneca River in Baldwinsville, which is around the corner from Onondaga Lake.
It was a beautiful, warm spring day with blue skies, and the vivacious Peters had kindly thought to bring along a couple of plastic chairs so we could sit and chat. There was a slight breeze and a few boats moved along the river. I could see a bridge to the right. To be honest, I was hoping to sit in the boat or maybe go for a short cruise. But alas, Peters said, “Sorry, Tim, the new boat won’t be ready until the end of May. But don’t worry; we’ll get you on a tour.”
For most of her professional life, Peters spent her career working in the marketing and advertising industry for The Syracuse Post-Standard and Advance Media New York. She retired as vice president of marketing for Advance Media, then worked as a consultant and associate publisher on The Good Life CNY, an Advance Media website that is produced in collaboration with CenterState CEO. She helped launch the project, which is designed to help local companies recruit new employees to the area.
It is clear from her obvious passion for boating, the “good life” includes, not only getting the right employees but also taking the time to relax and enjoy one of her creative cruises on the local waterways.
Q: You’ve spent almost your whole career in marketing and advertising. Why start a boat touring business at this time in your life?
A: I’ve had a boat for years on the Seneca River and I’ve taken people out to the Onondaga Lake, around the bend there on the left [pointing], or down the river, and they would often be surprised that we have such a great water venue in our area — which is probably true for most people of Central New York. They’ve never had the opportunity to explore what we have here. I wanted to do something new and fun. So I figured, I helped a lot of small businesses grow with my marketing background so why don’t I combine my promotional skills with my love of boating?
Q. You worked in marketing at the Post-Standard and with other publications for many years. With everything going digital, many publications got hit hard. Was that a factor in your decision?
A: Not really. But it did force me to learn new skills, where I can say now that I am internet savvy and can hopefully market my own company successfully like I did for many other local businesses.
Q: You started your business in 2024. Were there some hurdles you did not anticipate?
A: Well, I had been looking for a boat for a couple of years and had just about given up, actually had given up, when Rich Hilliman, who has been a mentor for me from the Buffalo Boat Tours, tipped me off on a boat for sale in Hudson, Florida. So I called and though the original boat was no longer available, another one was. So I bought the boat and suddenly I was scrambling to start a company — get a liquor license among other things. Rich had given me a check list of what I needed to do. So I knew what had to be done. But it was a question of how fast I could do it — like the Coast Guard drills and the inspection. Unfortunately, I didn’t get it done until late July. Another difficulty was my good friend, Katie McElroy, who had also been a colleague for 25 years, died last May. She had also retired and was going to help me with some of the admin stuff to help launch the company. So her passing was tough, both professionally and emotionally. I named my new boat the SS Katie in her honor.
Q: Did that make you want to reconsider your plans?
A: No, but it was hard. I was already committed, but it did make me think how short life is and it motivated me to do something that was fun and also meaningful to me. I want to introduce Central New Yorkers to this great lake we have. Our dock here at Dutch Landing is a prime spot and only six or seven minutes from the lake. Once on the lake we do an historical tour of the lake and its shores, which is quite fascinating.
Q: Give me some fascinating details about Onondaga Lake.
A: Going back to the late 1800s there were huge amusement parks dotted all along the shores of the lake and there were boats that would travel from one amusement park to the next and to the next — kind of like a water taxi. Maybe something we’ll get back to one day. That is my long-range goal when the Inner Harbor is up and running, the aquarium is open and people want to go from one end of the lake to the other and maybe have dinner at a restaurant on the Seneca River. There could be a lot of opportunities for a water taxi in the future. Not yet.
Q: What other tours do you offer?
A: This year is the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal so we are adding an historical Erie Canal Tour. I am working with the Erie Canal Museum on that. The museum is an amazing place if you haven’t been there yet. In fact, The Syracuse Weighlock Building is the only surviving one of its kind and it’s here in Syracuse. When they first built the canal they did not utilize the lakes and rivers, they just built a trench, but as the years went by they changed it three times. So this is all part of it now. You can go to Baldwinsville in 45 minutes from here so that is another tour we’ve added this year. Some of the others include: a river cruise down the Seneca to Three Rivers, a Trivia Night tour, a family hour tour, a happy hour tour, an Italian winetasting tour, a sunset tour, a Barbecue tour and a charcuterie tour.
Q: That sounds interesting. What exactly is a charcuterie tour?
A: I partnered with a new company, Graze Craze in Clay, which is owned by two women. I am selling their individual charcuterie platters on board. It includes crackers, meat, vegetables and fruit. You can take a look at it on their website www.grazecraze.com/clay-ny. I think people are really going to enjoy that and I am also working with Angry Smokehouse in Baldwinsville for the Barbecue tour. They are right up the lock. I am trying to partner with local businesses as much as I can. I hope to work out something with The Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater so I can drop people off there for its concerts.
Q: How do you set up the tours?
A: I have a calendar all set. We’ve got five captains and most of them have full-time jobs. But two of them are in the school system so they are more available in the summer for weekdays. The dates are on the website https://syracuseboattours.com/. Hit “book now” in the box just underneath the title Onondaga Lake Seneca River Boat Rides and you will see. You can search by event. We have a family hour tour where you can go out with the kids. Trivia tour on Monday nights. The average time per tour is an hour and a half. So we have those tours set up but we also do private tours so people can charter the boat and take a party out.
Q: How many people can your new boat take out?
A: I think it will be up to 48 people. But I will find out for sure when the Coast Guard does its final inspection here.
Q: Did you have a lot of problems with the rain last year? Syracuse is not known for a lot of sunny days.
A: We had to cancel a few times for really bad weather. But there is a cover in the boat. We have light plastic ponchos if it rains. I remember thinking one time when it started raining that maybe we should cancel, but the people didn’t care. They loved it. We saw some bald eagles. I mean it was an epic trip for wildlife and everybody was so happy. You just don’t know. But it’s the captain that makes the decision to cancel or not. If you bought tickets for a tour tomorrow for example and thunderstorms were predicted, we would shoot you an email or a text and say hey, heads up the weather doesn’t look good and if we do cancel we will refund your money or reschedule, whatever you want.
Q: How was your first season?
A: It was great. We had a slow start and the start date was such a moving target I couldn’t really promote it. We had to wait for the license to come in and those kinds of things. But by late August we were chugging pretty nicely. When we got several requests for bigger parties I knew I needed a bigger boat. Not two yet, but a bigger boat.
Q: Is there a minimum number of people that you need for the scheduled tours?
A: Yes. I need 10 people. For the chartered tours, it doesn’t matter since the price is the same regardless of how many people.
Q: What are some interesting things to see on the Seneca River?
A: Herons, ospreys. We also see a lot of bald eagles. We stop, of course, for the photo ops. It’s very exciting. We see deer, muskrats, turtles. There are also a lot of nice houses to see from the river. For the residents, the side of the house facing the river is the front. It’s really fun to see what people have done in their yards and how they’ve decorated it. You’ll see fun things like blow-up swans. It is beautiful. There is something about being on the water that makes people happy. It is fun to go under the bridges and honk the horn. Kids get excited.
Q: What are some things you like about this new job as compared to what you used to do?
A: First of all just being on the water. It’s just fun. The hard part is I want to be on every tour and I really can’t. When they leave I stand there a little sad like, “I wanna go, too.”
Q: Now you go from the end of May to the end of October. So you must have some foliage tours too, right?
A: Absolutely. We serve apple cider, hot mulled cider and caramel apple drinks.
For more information or to schedule a tour, go to https://syracuseboattours.com or call 315-516-4719.