The 2010 cruise season marks the sad and abrupt end of a grand era of boating. The state has decided to replace the current causeway swing bridge with a new fixed span bridge which will preclude any vessel requiring more than 12½ feet of vertical clearance from entering or leaving the Long Lake side of what was once more than forty miles of connected waterway. As such, the SONGO RIVER QUEEN II will be left to operate on the Long Lake side of the bridge beginning with the 2011 season. The SONGO RIVER QUEEN II has been crossing through the causeway swing bridge for over four decades and there has been an articulating bridge at the causeway for over 100 years. WHAT A SHAME AND WHAT A LOSS!

We invite you, therefore, to enjoy the final trip down the Songo River sometime this season which will mark the end of this historical and long established tradition. Nothing in the future will ever be able to replicate the feeling and experience of witnessing a 100 foot vessel navigate the numerous hairpin turns of a canal barely wider than the boat itself or seeing a 100 ton vessel be lifted and lowered 5 feet in the last hand operated lock in the country. Maybe you could even help us come up with a new name for the boat, since starting next year we won't be able to get within a mile of the river for which she was named.