Everything To Know About the Boston Duck Boats and Tours
From Boston’s historic homes to the bustling waterfront, it can be a little overwhelming to make sure you hit all of the city’s most noteworthy sites . But there isn’t much of a better way to fit everything in than the Boston Duck Tours.
Since 1994, the “duck” boats have been a staple in the Massachusetts capital, carrying thousands of passengers in peak season across the city. Today, the fleet consists of 28 replica World War II amphibious landing vehicles that take you through Boston and into the Charles River. Here’s everything you need to know about one of Boston’s most popular tours.
Hit numerous sites in 80 minutes
With tours taking place every day from the end of March through the end of November, the Boston Duck Tours run every 20-30 minutes (depending on departure area) from 9am to about an hour before sunset. Passengers have the ability to get tickets and board at three locations, including the Prudential Center, Museum of Science and the New England Aquarium.
Once onboard, local drivers take guests on an 80-minute tour of the city, hitting numerous historical and significant sites along the way. You’ll slow down to see the Boston Public Gardens, Beacon Hill, JFK Residence, the Old State House and more than 20 other sites.
During the ride, the quirky ConDUCKtors spew out historical facts and interesting tidbits. Each guide takes on a different persona, bringing a unique – and often humorous – twist to the tour. There’s Bobby Oar, Vincent Van Duck, Robin the Riveter, Lenient Louis the Plunderless Privateer, Captain Super Swift and a crew of many other characters.
While the New England Aquarium boats take a slightly different route than the Prudential Center and Museum of Science rides, they see most of the same places. The Prudential Center and Museum of Science boats are also equipped to give tours in nine different languages and are wheelchair accessible.
Get on the Charles River
One of the more popular locations along the ride puts visitors right into the Charles. At different points on the trip (depending on your boarding spot), the “Duck” turns from truck to boat, and the drivers take passengers on a 20-minute glide over the river.
Entering the river around the Museum of Science, participants see Boston’s West End and Beacon Hill neighborhoods from the water before cruising under the famous Longfellow Bridge. The excursion gives wide, sweeping views of the Boston and Cambridge skylines and intimately displays the Back Bay, including the beautiful Esplanade, before turning back.
If you’re lucky, you’ll be one of the several passengers picked to drive the boat along the river portion of the tour.
Ride in a little piece of history
While the present-day boats are all replicas, the Boston Duck Tours started with an original fleet of World War II amphibious landing vehicles that were converted for passengers. Code-named “DUKW” (which is where the current name comes from), the last original WWII vehicle was taken out of the fleet in 2014, but the company still owns one for special occasions.
The replicas are known as “truck ducks.” First built in Kansas, these models were purposely made for tourism and have a stronger hull with an enclosed top. The oldest boat dates back to 2006 with the newest being from 2014.
To localize the fleet, the company named each of the 28 duck boats after a Boston landmark or neighborhood, with the name painted along the side of the vehicle. Boats include Back Bay Bertha, Beacon Hilda, Espla Nadia, Olga Ironsides, Symphony Hal, Fenway Fanny and many others.
Ride in the same boats as Boston’s champions
Starting in 2002 with the New England Patriots’ first Super Bowl win, Boston Duck Tours and its boats became the “Official ChampionSHIP” of Boston’s four major sports teams. Whenever one of Boston’s teams wins a championship, the company sends out its “Rolling Rally,” a parade that consists of almost the whole fleet and welcomes the players onboard to travel around the city among crowds of cheering fans.
The duck boats have hosted the championship parade a total of 12 times between all four sports teams since 2002, including six times for the Patriots, four times for the Red Sox and one each for the Bruins and Celtics.
On the day of the championship parade, the summer tours are shut down, and all the boats go towards hosting the rally. In the case of the Patriots, whose Super Bowl parade is in the winter, the fleet is brought back into service for one day in February to celebrate. After you’ve experienced Boston Duck Tours, why not check out our list of the must-visit attractions in Boston .
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Boston Duck Tours
Start your visit with a boston duck tour.
Boston Duck Tours depart right in front of the Museum of Science entrance, next to the giant Tyrannosaurus rex ! A Boston Duck Tour is a great way to start off your visit to Boston. You’ll enjoy a great overview of the city, while seeing many unique neighborhoods, and then splash you into the Charles River for a breathtaking view of the Boston and Cambridge skylines.
From the Museum of Science, experience a Duck Tour translated into a variety of languages through GPS activated headsets. For translation tours, please contact us at (617) 267-3825. Please note that tours will still be given live by one of their famous ConDUCKtors® in English. Translated tours available in Español, Português, Français, 日本語, 广东话, 中国的, Italiano, Deutsch, 한국어.
Purchase your tickets now!
Boarding Location and Directions
Our Museum of Science ticket booth and boarding area are located in front of the Museum of Science at 1 Science Park, Boston MA 02114 .
Departure Dates
Friday through Sunday through November 25.
Departure Times
Tours depart every hour or half hour starting at 9:00 am or 10:00 am until one hour before sunset.
Tour Length
80 minutes (One hour on land and twenty minutes in the water).
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Everything about tourist attractions
Boston Duck Tours – tickets, prices, timings, what to expect
Edited by: Rekha Rajan Fact checked by: Jamshed V Rajan
If you want to explore Boston, Boston Duck Tours is the best way to see the city from land and water, and that too in the same vehicle.
These giant and pop-colored amphibian vehicles will take you on a thrilling historical tour via long, busy Boston streets and the pristine Charles River.
The tours are led by knowledgeable and entertaining guides who provide interesting facts and stories about Boston’s history, architecture, and culture.
Boston Duck Tours is a fun and memorable way to experience the city, and it’s a great option for families, groups, and anyone who wants to see Boston from a unique perspective.
This article explains everything you need to know before buying your Boston Duck Tour Tickets.
Top Boston Duck Tours
# Boston Duck Last-minute tickets
Table of contents
What to expect from boston duck tours, where to book the tickets, how online tickets work, last-minute tickets, ticket prices, duck tour timings, how long is the boston duck tour, best time for duck tours in boston, where do duck tours depart from, route of duck tour boston.
Once you step into the truck cum boat, the ConDUCKtors will greet you and narrate all the legendary stories associated with the landmarks the amphibious vehicle passes by.
Some of the tour’s highlights are the Boston Public Garden, Old State House, Museum Of Science, Boylston Street, Old South Church, Arlington Street Chruch, etc.
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Boston Duck tours tickets
You can book your Boston Duck Tours tickets online and offline 30 days before your visit.
Ticket booths are at the Prudential Center, the Museum of Science, and the New England Aquarium.
But when you buy the tickets online , you can avoid the hassle of standing in long queues.
When you book tickets for Duck Tours in Boston, you select your preferred time of visit and date.
Immediately after purchase, your tickets get emailed to you. You don’t need to take any printouts.
Now all you must do is, reach one of the three departure points – Prudential Center, Museum of Science, or New England Aquarium – at least 15 minutes before the time on your ticket.
Since you have a ticket and are on time, you can show it on your smartphone and board the vehicle.
A limited number of Duck tour Boston tickets are sold online at 8.45 am five days prior.
If these tickets are sold out online, they won’t be available at the ticket booths either.
Visitors aged 12 to 64 years pay the full Boston Duck Tour ticket price of $50 per person.
Seniors 65 years and above and guests with a Military ID qualify for a Boston Duck tour discount of $8 and pay only $42 for entry.
Kids aged three to 11 years get a $14 discount on the full ticket cost and pay only $36.
Unfortunately, infants younger than three don’t get free entry – but pay a reduced price of $11.
Adult ticket (12 to 64 years): $50 Children ticket (3 to 11 years): $36 Military ticket (with ID): $42 Senior ticket (65+ years): $42 Infant ticket (up to 2 years): $11
Duck boat tours in Boston depart every hour, starting at 9 am or 10 am until one hour before sunset.
The ticket booths at Prudential Center, the Museum of Science, and the New England Aquarium open 30 minutes before the first tour and close after the last tour departs.
However, we suggest you purchase a Boston Duck Tour ticket in advance to avoid last-minute disappointment.
Boston Duck Tours are around 80 minutes long – n hour on land and 20 minutes in the water.
There are no stops and breaks along the route.
However, the tour duration may vary depending on external and uncontrollable factors such as weather, traffic, and ongoing construction.
Boston’s Duck boat tour is a fantastic experience that takes you through the past and present of the city.
If you plan to go sightseeing and witness the beauty of the city’s historic neighborhoods like Charlestown, Beacon Hill, Downtown, and Back Bay on these ducks, then late spring through early fall is the perfect time to do so.
This tourist-friendly season falls between March and November when the weather is pleasant.
The cool breeze emerging from the womb of the Charles River brushes your hair, and the skyline soothes your body, mind, and soul.
The rest of the months aren’t bad either – drive by the Boston landmarks and dive into the Charles River by booking your Boston Duck Tour tickets today!
Will you get drenched? You won’t get drenched in water as the World War II amphibian vehicles splash into the charming Charles River. However, you may get a light spray of water right on your face depending on the speed of the truck cum boat and the direction and strength of the wind.
Duck tours Boston has three departure locations: the Museum of Science, Prudential Center, and New England Aquarium.
Each location is conveniently located near public transportation.
Museum of Science
The Museum of Science is located near Boston’s West End, the Bulfinch Triangle, and Charlestown neighborhoods, and it borders the City of Cambridge on the Charles River.
The ducks boarding area is in front of the Museum of Science, next to the giant Tyrannosaurus rex!
Address: 1 Science Park, Boston, MA 02114. Get Directions
New England Aquarium
The New England Aquarium is a popular aquatic wonder in Boston. It is located on Boston’s historic Waterfront and is near Faneuil Hall.
Boston Duck Tours departs from the New England Aquarium’s driveway in front of the Whale Watch Booth.
Address: 1 Central Wharf, Boston, MA 02110. Get Directions
Prudential Center
Prudential Center is a huge shopping complex hosting nearly 75 stores, and the Boston Ducks depart from here.
Address: 53 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02116. Get Directions
Multi-language tours Now you can experience Duck Tours in Boston in your language. All you need to do is wear the GPS headsets and quack; there you go! These language tours depart from the Museum of Science and are available in Mandarin, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Cantonese & Korean.
The best way to explore the heritage and history of Boston is through Duck Tours Boston.
The fun and entertainment begin when you hop on your “DUCK,” a World War II-styled amphibian vehicle that takes you on a land and water excursion.
You’ll cruise by all the significant places that make Boston the birthplace of freedom and a city of firsts.
Some of the highlights are –
- The golden-domed State House, which is the state Capitol and the seat of the government for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- The historical Bunker Hill echoes the stories of the American Revolution
- The multi-purpose Fleet Center, which hosts different sports activities
- Boston Common, which is a perfect picnic site
- Newbury Street, which contains tonnes of restaurants and shopping centers
The DUCK transports you to different neighborhoods where you experience nature and man-made architecture a little closer.
Your ConDUCKtor will give you many little-known facts and interesting insights about Boston city.
Their witty commentary will make your journey a lot more fun!
To know the path you will take, check out the tour’s route map .
What to wear during the trip For Duck boat tours in Boston, you need not wear a swimsuit. But proper clothing is a must because as the amphibian vehicle travel from land to water, there are chances of getting a little wet despite the ducks being heated and enclosed. Dress according to the weather on the day of your voyage. It is often breezy on Charles River.
Sources # Bostonducktours.com # Prudentialcenter.com # Tripadvisor.com # Wikipedia.org The travel specialists at TheBetterVacation.com use only high-quality sources while researching & writing their articles. We make every attempt to keep our content current, reliable and trustworthy .
Popular attractions in Boston
# Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum # Boston Trolley Tours # New England Aquarium # Boston Ghost Tours # Zoo New England # Codzilla Boston # Fenway Park tours # Boston Harbor Cruises # Whale Watching in Boston # Harvard Tours # Boston Duck Tours
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Nishtha Nogia
Nishtha Nogia loves to explore new places with family and friends. She travels to weave stories packed with fun, surprises, and laughter. For her, traveling is all about hogging local cuisines, interacting with people, and creating lifelong memories. She has a travel bucket list ready and is waiting to start ticking them one by one. Favourite Cities: Seoul, Paris, New York, and Istanbul.
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Boston Duck Tours Kick Off 2023 Season
The company is also looking to hire cdl drivers and mechanics, even offering a $4,000 sign on bonus for the ones who qualify., by irvin rodriguez • published march 31, 2023 • updated on march 31, 2023 at 12:49 pm.
Spring has sprung, which means Boston Duck Tours' new season is kicking off as well.
As of Friday morning, the iconic trucks were taking locals and tourists on amphibious tours of the city starting from the Museum of Science, Prudential Center and New England Aquarium.
"With the mild weather we experienced this winter, we are ready to hit the streets showing off our beloved Boston and the Charles River." said Cindy Brown, CEO of Boston Duck Tours, in a statement.
The company is also looking to hire drivers with commercial certification and mechanics, even offering a $4,000 sign-on bonus for those who qualify.
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"Our biggest challenge the past few years has been staffing. Though a seasonal business, we offer competitive wages, year-round benefits, sign on and end of season bonuses," Brown said.
Duck boat carried hundreds of thousands of people last season and over 12 million people in the last 29 years, according to the company.
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Duck Boat Tours, Hawaiian Style
Welcome to Honu Hawaii Land and Sea Tour! If you are looking for a unique way to experience Hawaii, why not see it by land AND by sea. The only tour of it's kind in Hawaii, we are the only tour operator that can traverse both land and water to deliver breathtaking views of the island all in one tour. You’ll cruise the majestic Waikiki coastline and see the historical landmarks that make Hawaii so special. A boat and a bus all in one. Join us to experience Waikiki… from the crater to the sea.
Honu Hawaii is an unforgettable sight-seeing experience. Our land and sea tours make Oahu come alive. Experience Waikiki from an entirely new vantage point from our state of the art DUKW amphibious vehicle. From the iconic views of Diamond Head to the turquoise waters of Waikiki, Honu Hawaii Land and Sea Tour is a fun and relaxing way to experience this beautiful island. With Honu Hawaii, you get the best of both worlds. A tour boat and bus all in one!
The Honu is shaded, comfortable and fun. Take in the island’s iconic beauty with our open air seating. Honu Hawaii is a wonderful experience for the entire family and can be enjoyed by all ages. Our boats can accommodate up to 49 guests.
Honu Hawaii offers majestic views and a smooth ride though Waikiki. Once we enter the ocean, keep an eye out for dolphins, sea turtles, tropical fish, and of course, honu! Our knowledgeable tour guides provide live narration to accompany the tour, so you'll learn about the island’s history, culture, and environment along the way.
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Honu Hawaii Duck Boat Tour Highlights
From soaring mountains that meet the sea to historic landmarks, you get to see it all in one tour
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Waikiki Beach
Duke kahanamoku statue, honolulu zoo, kapiolani park.
6. Waikiki Aquarium
7. Diamond Head Crater
8. Kuilei Cliffs Beach Park
9. Ala Wai Canal
10. Magic Island
Tour Departs from Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor
A vibrant mecca of shopping, landmarks, and crystal clear turquoise blue water, Waikiki beach stretches for 2 miles along the south-facing shoreline of Oahu. Our tour takes you along the entire stretch of Waikiki Beach.
Waikiki has a rich, royal heritage. Many of Hawaii’s ali'i (royalty) lived in Waikiki. Waikiki means "spouting waters" in Hawaiian. Waikiki was abundant with agriculture for hundreds of years.
Today, Waikiki is known for its water activities. You can spot tour boats, catamarans, and sailing yachts, waterman, outrigger canoes, and surfers. You are sure to catch some of the best longboarding surfers in the world in Waikiki out practicing at Queens surf break, a favorite wave for pros from around the world.
Colorful restaurants and luxury shopping run the length of the Waikiki coastline. Our tour will travel up Kalakaua Avenue, a well-known street running through Waikiki that gets its name from King David Kalakaua. Kalakaua Ave is filled with shops, restaurants, and historic hotels like the Pink Royal Hawaiian and Moana Surfrider.
Waikiki is also home to the landmark Duke Kahanamoku statue. He is considered the “father of modern surfing." Facing Kalakāua Avenue on the Kuhio Beach section of Waikīkī Beach, the bronze statue celebrates Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, who lived from 1890-1968. The legendary Hawaiian waterman was a master of swimming, surfing, and outrigger canoe paddling. He earned Olympic medals in 1912, 1920, and 1924.
Honolulu Zoo is found in Kapiolani Park. This Waikiki landmark houses 1,230 creatures, like Komodo dragons, cheetahs, giraffes, and Sumatran tigers. There are also beautiful gardens with a range of plants and flowers, many of which are native to Hawaii.
Kapiolani park sits at the base of Diamond Head. The park is a gathering place popular with walkers, runners, tennis enthusiasts and picnickers. King Kalakaua selected this 300-acre track of land at the base of Diamond Head for a public park in 1867. A historic landmark in Waikiki, Kapiolani park was donated to the public in 1877 by King David Kalakaua, who named it after his wife Queen Kapiolani. The park boasts grassy areas and palm trees and the park is a popular place for outside shows and live music events.
Diamond Head Crater
Our tour takes you inside Diamond Head Crater, formed on an extinct volcano. Diamond Head State Monument is found on the east end of Waikiki. The crater is Hawaii’s most recognized landmark and is known for its historic hiking trail, stunning coastal views, and military history. Diamond Head State Monument encompasses over 475 acres, including the interior and outer slopes of the crater. Hawaiians refer to this crater as Lēʻahi, referring to the shape of an ahi, or tuna’s dorsal fin.
Kuilei Cliffs Beach Park
This 11-acre beach park lies at the foothills of Diamond Head Crater below dramatic sea cliffs. This beach is a surfers' paradise as the reef generates waves almost every day. The sand here has a greenish hue and glitters in the sun, which made an impression on early sailors. In 1825, British sailors noticed small sparkling calcite crystals in the beach sand along the crater's foothills and sea cliffs. They named the crater Diamond Hill, which was later changed to Diamond Head.
Ala Wai Canal
The Ala Wai Canal runs along the length of Waikiki and then empties into the ocean. Before the canal was built, Waikiki consisted of wetlands that were fed by streams running from the Makiki, Palolo, and Manoa valleys to the sea. You’ll often see joggers and walkers on the path alongside the canal, and paddlers in outrigger canoes on this historic waterway.
Honu Conservation
Honu Hawaii is proud to partner with The Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project (PMDP) , a non-profit that works with volunteers and partners to remove marine debris from beaches and coral reefs in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The organization's mission is to protect the unique marine ecosystem of the monument by conducting large scale debris missions removing harmful marine debris and educating the public about the impact of plastic pollution on the environment.
Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles are threatened by habitat loss, climate change, and pollution, among other factors. The waters surrounding Papahānaumokuākea are some of the most productive and biodiverse marine ecosystems in the world, with a high concentration of nutrients that support a diverse array of marine life. The area provides an essential habitat for the turtles, including seagrass beds, coral reefs, and rocky shores, which provide nesting sites, shelter, and food. Protecting critical habitats like Papahānaumokuākea is essential to ensuring the survival of this species.
A portion of every ticket sale goes towards this organization's mission.
Take a guided Duck ride of the Lower Dells aboard a Original World War II-era Dells Army Duck! The Ducks have been one of Wisconsin Dells’ most popular Wisconsin Dells attraction for 70+ years , and they provide a sightseeing experience unlike any other. Discover sandstone rock formations that are over 14,000 years old such as Grotto Island, the Twin Ink Stands, Sugar Bowl, and Lone Rock. Two Splash Downs into Sasquatch Lake and use the Duck’s six-wheel drive capabilities to traverse Dell Creek. Our 55 minute, land-and-water Duck rides has been the most unique and original way to experience the Wisconsin Dells for over 70 years.
The Dells were created at the end of the last glacial period from the flood waters of the Wisconsin River ripping through soft sandstone that was once the floor of a prehistoric sea. The raging river managed to carve the gorges, caves, rocky islands and towering cliffs which would come to be admired for centuries. Visitors have been coming to the Wisconsin Dells to take-in the natural wonders for generations, and a guided boat tour aboard one of our amphibious Ducks provides an experience your family won’t soon forget!
During the summer months, Dells Army Ducks depart every 30 minutes daily for a 55 minute duck boat tour . All duck boat tours are guided through the Lower Dells of the Wisconsin River, exposing you up close to one-of-a-kind rock formations. Visit our Photo Gallery to see historic photos and tour images. It’s fun, entertaining and a must-do when visiting Wisconsin Dells!
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6 styles of duck boats (and how to pick the right one for you).
Do you need a 16-footer with an outboard, or will a canoe suffice? Here’s how to choose a duck boat according to your hunting style
By Will Brantley | Published Dec 14, 2020 4:00 PM EST
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It’s true that a minimalist, walk-in approach can be effective for some styles of hunting. But it’s also true that duck hunters with boats kill more ducks than duck hunters stuck on the bank. Different styles of waterfowl hunting call for different styles of vessels. Depending on how you like to hunt, you may only need one or two of the boats on this list—or you may need to add another bay to your garage.
1. The Car-Topper
Good For: Pothole hopping, floating for wood ducks in streams, and setting up for loafing geese on farm ponds.
Weight, or lack of it, and portability are the biggest concerns for a lot of puddle duck hunting—whether you’re making a push deep into a public marsh or just need something to float across a 3-acre prairie lake. These are places where you have to launch a boat from the shoreline by hand, and that might be after carrying it or dragging it to the water’s edge.
So you need something that you can throw into the bed of the truck or strap to the roof of your Prius. A 10- or 12-foot aluminum jon boat is the classic choice, and they still work fine, especially if paired with an electric trolling motor or small outboard. If you’re paddling, a fiberglass canoe is faster, and it can haul more gear and hunters without capsizing. Fiberglass canoes are quieter than boats with aluminum hulls, too.
Used car-toppers abound. Check the classifieds, or do some driving around in lake town neighborhoods in the off-season. You’ll probably turn up more than a few sun-bleached canoes and jon boats that float just fine and can be bought with a few hundred bucks and a handshake. Spray paint some camo onto them, and you’re good to go.
2. The River Rat
Good For: Running mid-sized rivers and lakes to hunt flooded timber, cypress brakes, floating blinds, and sandbars.
A 14- to 16-foot jon boat with a 25-horse tiller-steer motor is standard-issue transportation on many of the country’s top public duck waters. These boats are sea-worthy enough to haul a couple hunters with gear (and the requisite Lab riding the bow) several miles. They draft minimal water, and bounce nicely off stumps and cypress knees. Many are paired with a boat blind for a mobile hide. A 25-horse outboard has enough ass to get you home in a surprise storm, but is light enough that a couple guys can usually wrestle it on and off the trailer in a floodwater ditch, too.
A flat-bottom hull is the traditional favorite style, but a modified-V—flat on bottom with a keeled bow—gives a smoother ride and is a little easier to snake through flooded timber. As for power, there are plenty of old two-stroke outboards still smoking their way down America’s rivers, but after running them for the past 12 years, I’ve absolutely come to prefer 4-stroke outboards. They’re cleaner, easier to maintain, and more reliable—all good things if you’re a duck hunter.
3. The Mud Boat
Good For: Running inches of water across mudflats, weed-choked bays, and other swampy environs. Some of the places puddle ducks like best simply can’t be accessed with a regular outboard motor.
Legend has it the long-tailed, air-cooled boat motor originated in southeast Asia, but Louisiana duck hunters and crawfish trappers popularized it in the states. Mud motors, as most hunters know them, use a lawnmower-esque engine to turn a prop, and they don’t rely on water to cool the system, as a traditional outboard motor does. That, combined with a rugged design and pivoted mounting system on the transom, allows them to push a boat through inches of water. The motors are loud and sluggish on open water (at least compared to an outboard of similar horsepower), but the only other way to access shallow water is in an airboat.
A good many mud motors are mounted on regular jon boats, but companies like Go-Devil build specialized mud boats with smooth bottoms and rounded chines (that’s boat talk for sides), which helps for easier turns and even better shallow water utility. Many mud boats have handlebars so you can stand up, hang on, and steer all at once.
4. The Fish-N-Shoot
Good For: Hunting mixed bags of divers and puddle ducks on major lakes and rivers in the winter, and fishing in the spring. These boats have the stability and horsepower to navigate moderately rough water, but are lightweight enough to push across a shallow flat.
I live in western Kentucky, where I can hunt and fish on the Kentucky and Barkley lakes, and the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. I’ve caught fish and shot ducks on all the above from a camo 1648 mod-V War Eagle aluminum boat with a 40-horse, tiller-steered 4-stroke Yamaha. The lack of a console means more space for decoys and blinds. I have a bow-mounted, foot-controlled trolling motor on the front that I use while setting long-line decoy spreads for January goldeneyes, as well as when I’m flipping bushes for bass in May.
It’s not the perfect boat for everything. There are times when I’d like to fish from something bigger and faster. And there have been moments, usually when pushing it across a mudflat in the dark, that I’ve wished it were lighter and paired with a mud motor. But the boat is an all-around compromise that I use 12 months of the year, and it’s never let me down. For duck hunters who also like to fish and don’t have the money or room for multiple boats, a rig like this is a good choice.
5. The Big Water Boat
Good For: Tending offshore layout boats for divers and sea ducks, and running long distances on major rivers like the Lower Mississippi and Columbia.
Though I’ve done a bunch of diver hunting with my boat, there are days when it’s simply not safe to run a hull of that size on Kentucky Lake. Staying safe on true big water calls for a true big-water boat. When I’ve layout hunted on places like the Chesapeake Bay, the locals ran center-console fiberglass boats with 200-horsepower outboards on the back—the same boats they used for striper fishing.
I’d prefer an aluminum hull for a dedicated duck boat on freshwater. A wide, deep-V hull boat that’s 20-feet plus in length with a tall transom (maybe one with a splash guard) and a 150-horsepower or larger outboard will get you home when the going gets tough. It also has enough room to transport a layout boat strapped to the bow and 10 dozen diver decoys. Most duck hunters don’t need a boat like this—but if you do need it, having it is a matter of life and death.
6. Specialty Boats
Good For: These boats aren’t for transport, but are instead for hiding in plain sight from ducks and geese without getting wet. They’re expensive and specialized, but must-have additions for truly obsessive duck hunters.
Every serious duck hunter ought to experience a diver hunt from a layout boat once in his life. Bluebills, canvasbacks, redheads, and sea ducks love to raft up in open water where they can feed on underwater shell beds and avoid shoreline hunting pressure. A layout boat allows you to hide in open water, right amongst the decoys, at surface-level. It looks something like a UFO and is amazingly stable even in rough water. I’ve hunted from layout boats amid 4-foot rollers for sea ducks, and though it’s a little nerve-wracking, it works.
Other low-profile marsh boats are sometimes called layout boats, but they aren’t designed for big-water use like a true layout. Still, they are useful if you think of them as layout blinds to use in the water. I know of some Arkansas hunters who set them up in the middle of rice fields, brush them in with stubble, and kill regular limits of mallards, gadwalls, and pintails.
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The Military Roots of the Duck-Boat Tour
How an army vehicle became a tourist favorite
Boston’s Newbury Street is quiet and leafy; high-end stores peek out between sidewalk cafes, where stoppers sit outside, soaking up the sun.
But from down the street lumbers an army utility vehicle, painted tarp-blue and piloted by a man in sunglasses and a tattered red bandana. He goes by the name Captain WeirdBeard . He lets out a strange sound: Quack ! His 32 passengers join in. They all wave as they trundle by the shoppers.
The Boston Duck Tours are truly unabashedly bizarre. But they’re also far from an uncommon sight. Rain or shine, the 28 boats in the fleet take to the city’s streets and waterways, each captained by a character who tosses back equal shares of personality and Boston history to all aboard. The tours wend their way past the usual landmarks: the Hancock Tower, the Make Way for Ducklings sculptures, the Boston Public Library.
But on the swanky Newbury Street, “getting folks there to quack and wave back is the main goal,” one captain told The Gainesville Sun in 1995.
For such a tongue-in-cheek institution, duck boat tours have a surprisingly somber origin: World War II.
In 1942, the U.S. military was faced with a quandary: with the war ongoing, soldiers stationed overseas were in need of supplies and reinforcements. But by that point, most of Europe’s harbors were in tatters; the military couldn’t get close enough to land to reach the troops. In response, General Motors developed the DUKW—a military-grade vehicle able to operate on both land and water, whose finest moment would come about during the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944.
The name DUKW derived from military equipment coding : D stood for the year of production (1942); U denoted its amphibious quality; K indicated front-wheel drive capability; W rear-wheel drive. Unsurprisingly, they just became known as “ducks.”
These days, Boston is one of several cities that operate such tours. But they got their start in rural Wisconsin. After the war ended in 1945, the military made surplus supplies available for public purchase. Bob Unger, a veteran from Milwaukee, snapped up a DUKW, which he had learned to pilot during the war. Where he saw an army relic, his fried Mel Flath saw a business opportunity. Flath convinced Unger to bring his DUKW to the Wisconsin Dells—the scenic landscape surrounding the southern portion of the Wisconsin River. They launched their first tour as the Wisconsin Ducks in the summer of 1946, says Dan Gavinski, now the general manager of company.
By the next season, the tour company operated 37 DUKWs. Today, the Wisconsin Ducks, Gavinski says, has the largest fleet of DUKWs in the country, and their 91 vehicles still date from the Second World War.
The Wisconsin Ducks take pride in the label “original”—the company can lay undisputed claim to the first amphibious tour in the country. But the relaxed vibe of the backcountry routes is a far cry from the rambunctious, arguably more notorious tours that wind their way through at least 30 cities worldwide.
In that respect, the Boston Duck Tours, which launched in 1994, were the first. “A lot of people think that we’re the original,” says the CEO Cindy Brown. “But we always make sure to yield to Wisconsin.”
The move to an urban setting was not exactly smooth sailing. According to the company , bringing DUKWs to Boston “took nearly two years, ‘100 halls of government,’ and fierce determination by an ex-banker [the founder Andy Wilson] who felt that there was more to life than the standard 9-5, corporate world.” Securing the 30 municipal permits necessary to operate the tours was a veritable nightmare “due to the infamous bureaucratic red tape, but also because most people had never heard of Ducks and simply thought the idea of a land/water tour in Boston was crazy.”
The tours turned out to not be so crazy after all; during peak season, they now ferry around 4,500 passengers per day. But they are, Brown says, decidedly quirky. The drivers are encouraged to cultivate distinctive personalities, often so effectively that Brown says she sometimes finds herself calling them by their aliases around the office.
Other cities soon followed. Ride the Ducks was founded in Branson, Missouri, in 1977 and operated a rural route, but in 2003, it launched in Philadelphia and Stone Mountain, Georgia, a town outside of Atlanta, where the company is now headquartered. Many urban duck tours, like those in Seattle and Austin, operate independently, but Ride the Ducks is a franchise, complete with a production subsidiary called Amphibious Vehicle Marketing, which provides modern iterations of the WWII DUKWs to companies like Boston Duck Tours.
This interconnectedness, Brown says, is a testament to both the peculiarity of the industry and to its tiny size. “As you can imagine, there aren’t many duck tours out there,” she says. While that closeness fosters a sense of universality among these very location-specific tours, it also causes any backlash against the industry to amplify.
Over the course of their relatively short history, DUKW tours have come under fire for a number of fatal accidents. Thirteen people drowned in 1999 after a boat operated by Land and Lake Tours, Inc. malfunctioned on Lake Hamilton in Arkansas ; the company has since dissolved. Philadelphia has been the site of two accidents: one in 2010 , and one in 2015 —a year which also saw a deadly crash in Seattle , after an axel failure cause a DUKW boat to crash into a bus. “If there’s an accident in one place, all the companies are implicated,” Brown says. “And because our industry is a little bit unique, when something does happen, it becomes a front-page story.”
Yet despite the challenges, duck tours are buoyed by their weirdness, which often comes from the drivers themselves. The industry has a surprising sticking power. Boston is currently training 11 new drivers. Over a six-to-eight-week period, aspiring guides take lessons in driving, history, safety, and theatrics. Most of them stay in it for the duration: some of the current drivers have been in the business for over 15 years, Brown says. (She’s been with the tours for 21 years; Gavinski started with the Wisconsin Ducks as a 14-year-old ticket collector in 1971).
Underneath all the flare, guides try to do justice by their cities. In Londonist last month, the writer Will Noble described how his trip aboard a DUKW, bolstered by his guide’s “occasional bouts of flippancy,” left even him—a seasoned Londoner—ever-so-slightly more knowledgeable about his city. “It was good to have a guide who can ramble on a bit like that,” one of Noble’s fellow passengers said. “He was like Stephen Fry.”
This article appears courtesy of CityLab .
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Check our FAQs for info about seats, ticket booth locations, gift cards, tour length, refunds and more. Do you have questions? We have answers! Check our FAQs for info about seats, ticket booth locations, gift cards, tour length, refunds and more. ... At Boston Duck Tours, our wonderful Cast and Crew work hard to give you The Ride of Your Life ...
4.5 7,947 reviews #5 of 59 Boat Tours & Water Sports in Boston Duck Tours Open now 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM Write a review See all photos About Hop aboard Boston's Original and World Famous, Boston Duck Tours and enjoy a fully narrated, historic tour of Boston in a WWII style amphibious vehicle that travels on land and water.
Hit numerous sites in 80 minutes With tours taking place every day from the end of March through the end of November, the Boston Duck Tours run every 20-30 minutes (depending on departure area) from 9am to about an hour before sunset.
1 Science Park Boston, MA 02114 New England Aquarium Central Wharf Boston, MA 02110 Experience the best introDUCKtion to Boston with our fully narrated, historic tours by the city's most notable landmarks, and right into the Charles River!
Don't worry—here are some similar options. Boston, Massachusetts. Boston Hop-On Hop-Off Trolley Tour with 14 Stops. 4,099. from $52.45. Boston, Massachusetts. 1 or 2 Day Hop-On Hop-Off Trolley Tour with Harbor Cruise Option. 2,114. from $46.00.
From the Museum of Science, experience a Duck Tour translated into a variety of languages through GPS activated headsets. For translation tours, please contact us at (617) 267-3825. Please note that tours will still be given live by one of their famous ConDUCKtors® in English. Translated tours available in Español, Português, Français ...
Ticket prices. Visitors aged 12 to 64 years pay the full Boston Duck Tour ticket price of $50 per person. Seniors 65 years and above and guests with a Military ID qualify for a Boston Duck tour discount of $8 and pay only $42 for entry. Kids aged three to 11 years get a $14 discount on the full ticket cost and pay only $36.
Length of Visit: All tours are approximately 80 minutes in length, 60 minutes on land and 20 minutes in the water. Tour times may vary from time to time due to traffic patterns and construction. Food: Boston Duck Tours offers partner packages with many group friendly restaurants and attractions.
Our most recommended Boston Duck boat tours. 1. Boston: Whale Watching Catamaran Cruise. Go whale watching off the coast of Boston on a comfortable, high-speed catamaran with maximized outdoor and indoor viewing capacity. Look out for humpback, finback, and minke whales, as well as white-sided dolphins on this adventure cruise.
By Irvin Rodriguez • Published March 31, 2023 • Updated on March 31, 2023 at 12:49 pm. Mike O'Brien is a huge fan and defender of all things Boston Sports. He also narrates for Boston Duck Tours, which is what he was doing when he happened to randomly spot Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr on the street in Back Bay.
Length: 31 ft (9.45 m) Width: 8 ft (2.44 m) Height: 8 ft 10 in (2.69 m) with top up ... The DUKW (GMC type nomenclature, colloquially known as Duck) ... The first "duck tour" company was started in 1946 by Mel Flath in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. The company is still in operation under the name Original Wisconsin Ducks.
With Honu Hawaii, you get the best of both worlds. A tour boat and bus all in one! The Honu is shaded, comfortable and fun. Take in the island's iconic beauty with our open air seating. Honu Hawaii is a wonderful experience for the entire family and can be enjoyed by all ages. Our boats can accommodate up to 49 guests.
Popular with guides and those that like extra amenities, the 2372LDSV measures 23.1 feet long and 72-inches across. The boat comes standard with a trio of base plates in the low front deck, one base plate in the high rear deck, floored gas tank tray, a metal gas tank cover, and multiple other features. The boat is available in OD or solid Brown.
Was on vacation in Falmouth and decided to take my grandson on a boat ride, thought the duckboat looked like something he would enjoy. Called to double check the times of boat ride, recording said every hour, last tour at 5:00 pm. Arrived in Hyannis just after 4:00 because of traffic, so planned on the 5:00 tour.
All duck boat tours are guided through the Lower Dells of the Wisconsin River, exposing you up close to one-of-a-kind rock formations. Visit our Photo Gallery to see historic photos and tour images. It's fun, entertaining and a must-do when visiting Wisconsin Dells! 608-254-6080. Give us a call.
per adult. 90-Minute Guided Sightseeing Tour by E-Car or MiniBus. 474. Golf Tours & Tee Times. from. $36.00. per adult. LIKELY TO SELL OUT*. Private Stranger Things "The Upside Down" Film Locations Tour in Atlanta.
A 14- to 16-foot jon boat with a 25-horse tiller-steer motor is standard-issue transportation on many of the country's top public duck waters.
For such a tongue-in-cheek institution, duck boat tours have a surprisingly somber origin: World War II. In 1942, the U.S. military was faced with a quandary: with the war ongoing, soldiers ...
Dates that Boston Duck Tours depart from the Museum of Science: Tours will be departing from the Museum of Science 7 days a week! Boston Duck Tours departure times: Tours depart every hour starting at 10am until one hour before sunset. Tour Length: Approximately 80 minutes. Parking: The Museum of Science offers the best rate on parking for any ...
About. Ride The Ducks tours take you on Philadelphia's ONLY land and water tour! See more than 100 of the city's important sites and landmarks on our tour route, as comical Tour Guides share fun stories and trivia, along more than 14 miles of smiles and laughter. Philadelphia's favorite tour travels from the Historic District to the ...
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Write a review See all photos About It's a Boat! It's a Bus! It's DivaDuck, a modern Hydra-Terra amphibious vessel. Take an exciting, fully narrated 75 minute sightseeing tour over land and sea.