Quack Quake

There is a sticker on my refrigerator that reads, "I sailed with the Aqua Ducks."   It doesn't say that I had a close encounter with death that day, but I believe that to be true.  We "Valley Girls" were guests of Dorothy that day on our then monthly lunch dates, some time in 2004 or so.  She offered  us  the tickets that P. had won on his regular call-in to the early morning radio station trivia contest.  Tickets were valued at around $25 I think.  So off the four  of us went to the Port of Albany area where  we boarded the boat for the first part of our adventure, a land tour through the streets of  downtown Albany.   A little weird, but  the weather was sunny and bright and we played  the tourist bit through the familiar sights, listening to the tour guide point out the points of interest. We may even have worked the yellow plastic ducks that made a quacking noise, cheesy as it was. Then came the dramatic part when the big old amphibious relic transformed from a wheeled tank-like vehicle into a seafaring monstrosity.  We entered the water with a resounding thud, shaking all aboard.  I immediately asked if there were life jackets aboard, realizing I  can't swim a stroke.  Everybody seemed to find the question humorous, but the guide pointed out they were under the seats.  I looked and saw large cumbersome-looking black bags, which presumably each contained a life jacket.  I figured it would probably take 20 minutes or so to unravel the mystery of what to do with what was in the bag, so I asked Snookie and Barbara, in the seats behind Dorothy and me, who would act as life-saver if the boat floundered.  Barbara said she couldn't really swim either, so Snookie would probably have had her hands full deciding who to save, besides herself, that is. 
        We were quite far out into the river when the weather suddenly changed, with a squall blowing cold rain into the open sided boat.  There was a primitive roll-down siding attached to the top of the boat, and weighted down by a boat-length plastic rod along each side.  A passenger attempted to lower the protective shade, but the long thick rod fell out and over the side.  The captain attempted to retrieve it, but it sank, much to his thinly-veiled displeasure.  So one side was down, but the rain continued to blow into the boat from the other side.  Freezing by now, in our summer clothing, we were eager to get back to shore.  Then the motor stalled.  While I re-investigated what was in the black bag  beneath my seat, the captain and co-captain, his wife, did various things to get the motor running, which they eventually did. 
     When we disembarked, cold and hungry after our extended ride, we walked the short distance to The Pump House, where we were surprised to see that the restaurant host was Mark Van Sluyters.  He laughed when he found out that we had just done the Aqua Ducks tour: he said there were frequent breakdowns, often necessitating rescues by the Coast Guard. 
     I think it was later that year, in 2005, that the sightseeing boat overturned in Lake George, killing a number of senior citizens, and shortly after that another old amphibious boat overturned in Philadelphia.  It's probably a good thing that the Aqua Duck is going out of business before there is  a mortality on their record.  Who will buy this wonderful business?