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There is something about being out on the water, a mystical connection, serenity, peace and calm. It's also a great place to party. Lady Katharine Cruises head out of Hartford with this thought in mind - ''Life may not always offer calm waters, but while we are here, we may as well cruise.'' Climb aboard the Mystique for brunch, lunch, dinner or a moonlight cruise, and there the Connecticut River is, as serene as you will be after a restful couple of hours away from the hustle and bustle of the 9 to 5. |
On a recent Friday, the Mystique is sailing out of Charter Oak Landing. This is going to be a full boat. Cars are lined up all along the gravel road, including one state car with the license plate 4. Who is that? Must be someone important. Parking is plentiful and free, but here's a tip: when you find a space, back into it. Later on, when everybody is heading home, you'll be glad you did. |
There is no dress code, but a nice pants suit, with or without red hat, is about right. Nobody wears cutoff jeans, but there are no neckties either. High heels are a mistake. Dress as you might for a company outing, which this ride down river is for many of the passengers. |
This will be a two-and-a-half hour cruise. When the Mystique's host, Alan Percoski, greets you, he tells you where the restrooms are and that smoking is permitted, but only on the stern. |
Then with a straight face, he launches into the rest of his flight attendant routine. |
''In the event of an emergency, on each side of the decks there are life preservers. If you need any assistance in putting them on, the crew will be happy to assist you, providing they are still on board. |
''At that time we ask you to calmly form a single file, go to the bar and pay your tab. Then you can exit through the stern of either deck and swim like hell for shore. |
''The truth of the matter is if we did have an emergency, we are much taller than the river is deep so we just would settle on the bottom. In that case, you get a bottle of your choice and go up on the top deck and hopefully we can valiantly fight off any rescue attempt for three or four days.'' |
| Food and festivities |
Soon after easing away from the dock, it's time to eat. The staff comes around to tell the folks at your table when to belly up to the buffet, which is offering assorted wraps, potato salad, pasta, fruit, coffee and a very tasty bread pudding. There's also a full bar. |
Meanwhile, Mr. Percoski continues his spiel. ''I want to say hello to the Connecticut Treasury Department with us today, (aha - that important-looking license plate is State Treasurer Denise Nappier), and two groups from Aetna. And we've got the Red Hats. We love a nice little 'hattitude' on the boat. And Visual Technologies. All of you welcome aboard.'' |
In the background a jazz duo, Straight Ahead, with Jeremiah Crowley on guitar and Paul Chase on bass, is having fun with familiar tunes from the Great American Songbook. Missed the Saturday dance, heard they crowded the floor. |
Every table is taken, three filled with employees from Visual Technologies, a software development and networking company based in Hartford since 1999. Their president, Rick Heubner, says they can see their Vistech.com building in the Hartford skyline, just down Columbus Boulevard from the Convention Center. |
Visual Technologies takes its staff out for fun and team-building activities every month, and they've been down the river three times before. |
Mr. Heubner is high on Hartford. ''Hartford is great,'' he said. ''Hartford has a life.'' |
The Mystique is heading down river. On a Friday of a workweek, it's a quiet stream. A couple of guys, maybe a father and son, are sitting on the bank fishing. |
This day's contingent of 17 Red Hat ladies has come in from the Torrington/Harwinton area. It's their first time on the boat and they like it. (As if you didn't know, the Red Hats are groups of women over 50, who wear red hats with purple dresses and troop together to all the most enjoyable places.) |
The Ameriprise Financial operations team is here ''as a thank you for all those who work hard every day.'' There are 17 of them, too, all looking fine. |
In another of his several roles, this time as banquet manager, Mr. Percoski announces the arrival of the bread pudding. He's been in the restaurant business 30 years, including 15 as director of operations at First and Last Tavern. |
''When I retired, a friend told me about this adventure and I met with the owners, Jon Manafort and Carol and Ken Marino, and here I am,'' he said. ''This is our fourth season. We are busy ... We do a lot with the insurance community and other businesses. We do weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, Sweet Fifteens. Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.'' |
Groups and families. Is this a good place for singles to meet? ''No. This is not the Love Boat, though sometimes people do get engaged here. There is nothing so romantic as moonlight on the river.'' |
There is entertainment, often live music, or an off-the-cuff narration about the history of the river and some of the landmarks. ''I kind of wing it,'' Mr. Percoski said. ''Myself and one of the captains and the first mate will collaborate.'' They talk about Adriaen Block, the Dutch explorer who sailed up the Connecticut to what is now Windsor, about colonial Wethersfield, when it was a port shipping red onions to Barbados in exchange for rum, and they talk about the river as it is and as, they hope, it will be. |
''The Connecticut has become a Class B River, so you can fish in it and eat the fish out of it,'' Mr. Percoski said. ''You see people enjoying water sports, picnicking. Rocky Hill just put in a new boat launch by the Ferry Landing. But there still is the serenity you find out here. Yesterday down by White Oak Cove we saw a fawn. Then we saw bald eagles. On the other side of this tree-lined shore lies the hustle and bustle of 91, but you don't feel that at all when you are on the river. It's a lazy, laid-back ride.'' |
Greg Garabedian comes round to talk. This is his ninth season on the river. He started as a deckhand/snack bar attendant and worked his way up to first mate. He spent some time on the Lady Fenwick, which has since moved to Chicago. Then ''did some boats down in Old Saybrook, the Becky Thatcher and the Mark Twain.'' |
| He likes the life |
 He said the Mystique winters in Old Saybrook, where the marina is. ''We do a little maintenance. Take a little break. I usually get a layoff slip for a while.'' They sail seven days a week during the season, which runs through the end of October but continues until mid-December for holiday parties. This past February, this company ran an eagle watch out of Essex. There were hundreds of people on board, he said, as there are today. |
Suddenly the conversation is cut off by a big noise from the CRRA trash-to-energy plant that is, he said, ''letting off a little steam.'' A little stink, too. We glide on by. |
Whoosh! There goes a water skier. He's got the river to himself today. |
Mr. Garabedian said it is lively out here after supper and on the weekend with water skiers, jet skis and fishermen. |
On the left bank is 125 Riverside Drive, an East Hartford restaurant. ''It's really hopping,'' he said. ''When they have a band down there and we have a band up here it's kind of like a battle of the bands. See who can play the loudest. They start cheering over on that side; our people on the boat start cheering.'' |
Just beyond is the future location of Goodwin College, a $75 million, 300-acre river-front site for campus and community use. |
The crew on the Mystique, every one a river booster, is excited about Goodwin's plans. ''People are starting to make use of this river and it's about time,'' Mr. Garabedian said. ''On the Hartford side they are supposed to have a path, paved and lit. You can go over the Charter Oak Bridge to the East Hartford side, walk north and go over the Founders Bridge and come back around.'' |
They are downtown Hartford boosters, too, pleased to see the crowds lunching outdoors on the plaza and looking forward to the new housing going up. ''Getting people to live in the city. That's what they need,'' the first mate said. |
| A Goldilocks day |
In the pilothouse, Captain Kevin Turner is at the wheel. He looks a little too young, but he's 35 and has had his license since he was 22. He said that as calm as the Connecticut seems there are ''lots of places where you could get in trouble. But it's not so bad. Plenty of water and plenty of room, you just have to know where not to go.'' |
Unlike Captain Stubing of the Love Boat, he tries not to mingle ''unless some pretty woman finds my job romantic.'' |
He is enjoying the cruise from his perch. ''This is like the perfect day,'' he said. ''This is a Goldilocks day. Not too hard. Not too soft. Not too hot. Not too cold. Just in the middle. Other than the wind.'' |
Sailing into the wind has slowed the trip, and he turns the boat around before we reach South Glastonbury. |
On the float home, with cool jazz in the background and the summer wind blowing at the bow, everybody comes out on deck, where the mood is mellow. |
The people from the Treasury Department who had been partying by themselves below have come outside, wearing leis so they can spot each other in the crowd. They joke that they chose leis because they didn't have enough red hats. |
Ms. Nappier is on board with two nephews visiting from Florida, Jonathan, 13, and Connie Nappier, 9. Connie, the youngest person on the boat, was sitting by himself out on the observation deck watching the water for a long time. ''I was just looking,'' he said. ''The river just looked really nice.'' |
''There is something magic about water and the human interaction,'' said Aunt Denise. |
A woman nearby agreed. ''If I could live my life over again I would have a place on the water.'' |
Hartford drifts into sight. The Mystique pulls alongside the Charter Oak Landing. |
Down the gangway, watch your step. Everybody is smiling. |
