RiverQuest, the wildlife cruise vessel that has plied the swift blue-grey waters of the lower Connecticut River for the past two decades under the ownership of Mark and Mindy Yuknat, changed ownership on Jan. 31. The vessel enjoyed by numerous passengers through the years was purchased by the Connecticut River Museum (CRM) after the Yuknat family decided to “down-size” their company, Connecticut River Expeditions (CRE), according to a statement posted on the company’s website.

The ownership of RiverQuest may have experienced a change, but CRM Executive Director Jennifer Carlson was pleased to tell the Valley Courier that some of the old crew from the vessel will be coming along for the new ride.

The RiverQuest—a twin-hulled, catamaran-style 64-foot-long twin-motor vessel—was built in 2001, the same year it entered service on the Connecticut River. Seeing a need for a larger vessel a few years later, the Yuknats had RiverQuest lengthened by 10 feet at the bow in 2007, to give the overall length of 64 feet the vessel sports today, according to the CRE website.

When the RiverQuest first started under the Yuknat’s ownership, it operated from the CRM’s Steamboat Dock, according to Carlson.

“The RiverQuest was here for many years before the Yuknats took it to a location in Haddam,” Carlson noted.

The museum staff was first approached by the Yuknats during the late summer of 2021 about purchasing RiverQuest and taking over the seasonal river wildlife tours.

While there was immediate interest in bringing RiverQuest back to its original port, “On our end, we had to do a lot of research and projections,” Carlson said of assuming ownership and management of the vessel for public tours and private charters.

Part of that research involved setting up legal ownership of the vessel under a subsidiary of the Connecticut River Museum called Fresh River LLC, Carlson stated.

“The RiverQuest is owned by the subsidiary, while the museum is responsible for operating the boat and the programs on the boat,” Carlson added.

As the museum begins RiverQuest’s 2022 season, Carlson said, “It’s our intention to offer as many public excursions, educational programs, and private charters as we can. For us, it’s going to be a little bit of a learning lesson. Captain Mark [Yuknat] had done the eagle cruises for many years and was very experienced.”

Carlson explained that Dan Thompson, who currently captains the Onrust, the museum’s recreation of Adriaen Block’s 1614 sailing boat, is currently learning to operate the motor vessel RiverQuest in wintry, icy conditions, “Which is a little different than sailing the Onrust in May through October,” Carlson said. “We are allotting for training time for the captain and crew of RiverQuest, so they can get used to the boat and the weather conditions to make certain the winter wildlife eagle cruises are safe.”

A secondary captain was also just hired at CRM to act as a back-up for Thompson during those times when RiverQuest and Onrust are operated at the same time during the seasonable months, Carlson noted.

Crew training will be completed in February and the winter wildlife eagles cruises aboard RiverQuest will begin in March, a month later than in the past. Tours and seasonal cruises board Onrust will begin in May after necessary annual maintenance is performed in April.

Mid-March is also the time of year when the ospreys begin returning to the Connecticut shoreline for nesting season, so Carlson noted there’s a chance for passengers to spot returning osprey in addition to America’s symbolic bird, the bald eagle.

According to Naturalist Cathy Malin, who worked with the Yuknats for 17 years and will continue lecturing aboard RiverQuest, the bald eagle eats fish primarily, which forces the birds to fly far enough south during the coldest winter months to find open water to catch fish.

When not working aboard RiverQuest, Malin will also function as the newly named director of visitor of experience at CRM. In her new capacity, Malin will not only continue guiding the wildlife tours aboard RiverQuest (while Thompson pilots the vessel), but “Cathy will also manage the front desk at the museum and oversee the gift shop and rentals, so we are really thrilled to have Cathy Malin onboard,” Carlson said.

Malin is a Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection certified naturalist, and she is thrilled to continue her work for CRM aboard RiverQuest.

“I’m very excited to get back out on the river,” Malin said, after serving as crew and naturalist for the past 11 years on RiverQuest. “It’s an adjustment on the boat without Mark and Mindy on board, but I’m very excited to be working with the new captain, Captain Dan, who is in charge of our watercraft program at the museum.

“Dan is at the helm now, getting the hang of it,” Malin continued, “and we’re excited that we’re going to have an eagle season this year, which we didn’t have at all in 2021 because of COVID.”

With two vessels now under full control of CRM, Carlson concluded, “Having two vessels really gives us the opportunity to offer primary learning experiences right on the river. It’s so wonderful that people can go out on the river from the museum on one or both of these vessels because it’s really two different experiences. And then they can come into the museum and learn more about what they saw on the river and the history of the river.”

The CRM is booking now for both RiverQuest and Onrust for the 2022 season. While RiverQuest has a Coast Guard-approved 65-person passenger capacity, for the 2022 season the museum is limiting capacity to 40 guests because of the ongoing COVID pandemic.

All cruises depart from CRM, located at the museum’s Steamboat Dock at the foot of Main Street in Essex. Booking for either vessel includes admission to the museum. For more information, call 860-767-8269, email crew@riverquest.com, or visit ctrivermuseum.org.