Vanishing Texas River Cruise

The Vanishing Texas River Cruise on Lake Buchanan near Burnet TX has been around since 1982. My first experience with it was as an event connected to a motorcycle rally my husband and I attended in Burnet many years ago. We actually did the eagle tour but that is only offered during fall and winter. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law saw a sign for the cruise and were interested in going on it. When we went online the morning of the tour, it said there were no more online reservations but we decided to drive out there just in case they had openings and, if not, so we could find it the next day. The road you turn off on is only 2 miles from downtown Burnet but it is a long but pretty drive along Lake Buchanan to get there. We arrived and they had plenty of room for us. I suspect they turn off online tickets early so people won't make reservations and then not have time to arrive at the landing.

We were on the far side of the dock. You can sit on the lower enclosed deck with A/C or on the upper deck with a roof for shade.

 

We opted for the upper deck.

It was a beautiful day with a nice breeze and we were very comfortable the whole trip even though the temp was pretty high.

Lake Buchanan is huge but it has it's ups and downs with water level. Texas is often in drought conditions and a few years ago, the lake was really low for a number of years. That led to bushes and small trees growing in what would normally be water which concerned the residents. There are lots of homes and cabins all around the lake. Now they have actually found that those bushes and trees in parts of the lake have really improved the fishing.....a silver lining.

This is the hill country so this is part of the scenery.

We made our way across part of the lake and headed up the Colorado River. This lovely waterfall was a nice surprise.

The tour narrator was really good about giving us all the history of the lake and area, pointing out all the wildlife, and telling us in advance of good photo opportunities.

The area along the river is almost all ranch land so you will see some cattle and deer along the way. See them to the right side?

Okay, now you can see them.

The bluebonnets are long past their time but we did see lots of other wildflowers both along the river and along the roads in the area.

It was a great cruise that we all enjoyed and would recommend.