Discover Cayuga Lake
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Discover Cayuga Lake
What We’re Up to!
Discover Cayuga Lake is Under Pressure in 2025!
Over the past year, the DCL team has had quite an adventure working to secure a new boat for the 2026 cruise season. In this and upcoming posts, I’ll share the ups and downs of what has turned out to be an interesting process, to say the least. The outcome of this...
DCL in the Wintertime
Brrr, it's cold in the watershed! People often ask us "What do you do in the winter? Do you work?" And the answer is 'Yes! There's a lot to do. At least for our 5 year round staff." Even though the boat is off the water and the majority of our programs are not in...
The Cayuga Lake Watershed Internship Experience
Every summer, DCL and partner organizations support 10+ young adults by giving them paid internship opportunities focused on learning about the interconnections that exist within the Cayuga Lake watershed. From interconnected waterways, to complex social and...
How little Franny became a Captain
Below is a post written by DCL's longest running student and intern, Franny Lux, who tells her tale of involvement with Discover Cayuga Lake. We're so proud of all that she's accomplished, so grateful to all of her help over the years, and so interested to see what...
Tales of the Teal
In 1979, in a harbor in North Carolina, the M/V Teal was born. Built out of cedar wood by master boat builders, the Teal was eventually delivered to the shores of New Jersey where it became the source of great joy to many fishermen, catching large tuna that were still...
Celebrating Our 2023 Season Highlights
We had over 10,000 guests join us for our public cruises this summer! These are the cruises that generate the revenue for our mission oriented programs. Interestingly, 33% of these bookings were from the 14850 area code, which means locals are enjoying our eco-cruises...
Addressing Pollution From the Classroom to the Streams this Spring
In these macro-invertebrate lessons, students sift through containers of freshly gathered stream water containing decomposing leaves, sticks, mud and ... critters! As they do so, they identify the important aquatic insects, flies and worms which serve to indicate the...
The Osprey are on their way back to Cayuga Lake!
Around Cayuga Lake, we know spring has arrived when the local, summer Osprey return to their nests in late March. The birds return to the same nest with the same mate each year. Since last August, Cayuga Lake's Osprey population has spent their winter season in South...
Being like the Hummingbirds on World Water Day
There is an ancient story about a hummingbird and how we react in times of crisis. It goes like this … “One day in the forest, a fire broke out. All the animals ran for their lives. They stood at the edge of the blaze, looking at the flames in terror and sadness. Up...
Celebrating Last Year’s Season Highlights and Looking Ahead!
As we welcome the new year, we are taking a moment to look back at a bountiful 2022, with a successful cruise season, meaningful community partnerships and continual educational programming inspiring the appreciation and stewardship of Cayuga Lake!In these...
Finger Lakes Trout are now in the Classroom!
Brown Trout spawning in a stream by building a nest or a “redd” to release and fertilize their eggs. While the boat has left the marina and public and eco cruises have ended until next season, Discover Cayuga Lake transitions from environmental education on board the...
Where Cayuga Lake Gets its Name
Cayuga Lake is the name given to the second largest Finger Lake within the 11 glacially formed, finger-shaped lakes. But do you know where the name “Cayuga” comes from? The word “Cayuga” is actually a mispronunciation imposed by European settlers on the indigenous...
Fall Harvest in the Finger Lakes – so much goodness!
The MV Teal decorated by beautiful fall leaves all around the Allan H. Treman Marina State Park The fertility of the land around the Finger Lakes was first noticed by the indigenous people to the land, the Haudenesaunee, members of the league of six nations in...
Interns, fabulous Interns!
As we cruise into the end of the 2022 cruising season, the boat is feeling a bit empty these days. We’re happy to say that we still have plenty of enthusiastic guests on board, but we’re missing our our interns! They’ve had to go back to school, but we know that...
Goodbye Osprey, Hello Fall
A sure sign that summer is ending around Cayuga Lake is the migration of osprey to their winter homes in South America. In early September, osprey leave the nest they raised chicks in over summer and take a nearly 4,000 mile flight to warmer weather in places like...
New Lake & Land Tour to Taughannock Falls State Park including hiking and paddling options!
We are delighted to be offering a special treat with our newest cruise which will give you an up-close Finger Lakes experience including boating, hiking and paddling options! Our “Lake & Land Tour to Taughannock Falls,” is a four-hour trip beginning with a...
Supporting local economies while traveling
Many of us are eager to support mom-and-pop shops after watching small businesses struggle during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shopping locally is also a great way to experience a new area when traveling. Small businesses contribute to the unique culture of a place. Food,...
What is a Watershed and why should I care?
Where does a raindrop go when it falls on the ground? It depends on where you live - more specifically, in which watershed. A watershed is an area of land in which all water drains to a common outlet, or a larger body of water such as a river or lake. Each drop of...
The Teal is in Town
The MV Teal is in Town and Ready for You! Every spring the MV Teal takes a long, celebratory journey from the north end of Cayuga Lake to it’s home dock at the Allen H. Treman Marina, the largest inland marina in New York State. The ride south is an exciting event, as...
How to plan your Ithaca Staycation
Have you ever felt like you need a vacation the moment you get back from a vacation? It seems silly to say, but sometimes travel can be exhausting. Catching a flight, booking accommodations, navigating through an unknown city - it’s a lot of work for someone looking...
Join us in our Carbon Offsetting Initiative!
We’re off to the Carbon Races and you can be on our Team! Join our Carbon Race today, as we all do our part to reduce global warming. Our boat, the MV Teal, runs on two twin engines that run on diesel fuel. As an organization, we are doing all we can to operate in an...
The Cayuga Lake Locks – how water levels rise and fall
Have you ever wondered what controls the water level of Cayuga Lake? Water enters the lake from the south and flows out to the north. Streams between Taughannock Falls and Ithaca make up 40% of incoming water, with Fall Creek being the largest single input. When you...
Eco-tourism is for the benefit of nature and people!
While the word Eco-Tourism might evoke images of hiking through a remote rainforest or swimming in a clear alpine lake, there’s more to it than that. The International Eco-Tourism Society defines it as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the...
Phenology: The changing timing of the seasons
Every year, no matter how cold and bitter the winter, the flowers finally bloom, the birds begin to sing and the animals prepare for warmer weather. While signs of spring may seem constant, they are highly susceptible to our changing...
Meet our Blog Writer – Intern Emma Harte!
Emma is a junior at Cornell who is interested in science communication and the effects of climate change on ecosystems. She studies Biological Sciences with a concentration in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. In addition to writing blog posts for us, Emma teaches...
Have you reached your Tripping Point?!
DCL Director Bill, teaching virtually in our office building at the Tompkins Center for History & Culture After more than a year of the COVID-19 pandemic and a cold winter, most of us are a bit stir crazy and feeling ready for a vacation! Many of us have been...
Signs of Spring: The Ospreys Return!
While snow still covers the ground in some places, the first signs of spring have already arrived in Ithaca. As temperatures rise, the robins begin to welcome the morning with song: Cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up! Brightly-colored buds burst out from...
Nature as medicine
Are you itching to get outside? Between the cold weather and the global pandemic, many of us have found ourselves craving time in nature. While some have found respite in skiing or snowshoeing during the long winter, others long for green foliage and warm...
Teacher’s Recess is coming up in Ithaca!
At Discover Cayuga Lake, we are all about education. We work with teachers year round in partnership with our Trout in the Classroom and Floating Classroom programs. As nature-lovers, many of us spent our childhood digging in the dirt and splashing in streams. Now,...
Rainbow Reward on Cayuga Lake
Once last year, we were about to start our cruise when the sky got suspiciously dark. We asked our guests if they wanted to stay on board given that it looked like there might be unexpected rain coming. We always check our radar before confirming a cruise so we were...
We’d Love to hear from you!
Connect
with Us
For Cruises & Charters:
booking@discovercayugalake.org
For Educational Programs:
education@discovercayugalake.org
HOME DOCK:
1000 Allan H. Treman Marina Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850
OUR OFFICE:
110 N. Tioga St., Suite 303
Center for History & Culture
Ithaca, NY 14850