Onota Boat Livery

I’m not sure if the lady I spoke with on the morning we were supposed to rent our boat was just in a terrible mood that day, or if she is always short and rude with customers. I work in the tourism industry and know what its like to speak with people all day, but I am certainly never rude with people who want to spend lots of money at my business. Let me back up.
My family was staying at a vacation rental an hour from where our parents live in Canaan, NY this past August. There were 12 adults (my parents and their 6 children who are all in the 20s and up along with some significant others) and 4 small children. My 25 year old brother called the Onota Boat Livery in July to prepare and spoke with a man about renting a boat for a few hours while we spent the day at a park on Onota Lake. He informed my brother that we would not need a reservation and to just call the morning that we wanted to rent. He also let my brother know that we would not be able to fit the entire family on the boat at one time, but we could switch on an off so that everyone could participate and have fun. That sounded perfect since most of us were bound to get sun burnt anyway staying on the boat for too long.
The morning we were headed to the park he called and spoke to a woman on the phone. She was extremely rude. When my brother told her how many people we had total in the group she replied that they do not allow us to switch who is on the boat, that we have to stay on the boat for the entire time, and that she would not rent to us. When I heard this, I was confused, and assumed my brother had not explained it correctly to her that we were a family and had small children in the group, so I called. I explained our situation and how we had children in the group that would love to go out on the boat but couldn’t stay out for more than an hour. We wouldn’t mind docking at the nearby park (which it says in another review you can dock at) to switch people. She replied that was not allowed. I explained that we could pull back in to their shop to switch (which is what people do where I work) and she replied very nastily that they do not want that much traffic coming in and out of their office and that it is not allowed. Weird, we would only be switching one time, but ok. She hung up on me when I asked her if there was somewhere else I could rent from that would allow us to all be on the boat at one time or another.
My assumption is that she thought we were some «group of kids» looking to go out and have «a good time». Bummer lady. You lost a good amount of money that day, and a lot of good customers since we were referred to you by various friends and family members who will all not be using your shop anymore.
We did not end up renting a boat and instead went to Burbank Park on the East end of the lake. It was beautiful, clean, had lots of shade, and plenty of grass to lay out blankets and set up a volleyball net. Burbank Park was great and I highly recommend you spend your day at the park instead.

The sun kept coming in and out and we were not sure if we should rent a boat. We decided we would rent a boat for 2 hours
This was all too easy. They gave us the lowdown. Super nice people. Hubby got a three day license. We rented a boat with 5HP. The lake is so peaceful. Hubby did not catch anything. We did not care.
It was a lovely few hours.

Great experience. We were a group of 7, and they showed us where the best places to go swimming and fishing. Service was great, they prepped our rental, gave us a briefing and we were on our way in minutes. Would highly recommend!

Wonderful experience! They were very helpful and informative. We went fishing on Lake Onota and row boated for 4 hours for $ 60… they helped us set up our line and advised us on the best places to fish, lounge (at the nearby park which you can dock right at!), and where to spot bald eagles which we did! Such a good experience. Would definitely come back when I’m in the Berkshires area again!