Damariscotta River Cruises co-owners Olga Oros and Chip Holmes pose next to their vessel, the Teciani, one of four boats they have docked at Schooner Landing Restaurant and Marina in August 2023. The couple is celebrating 10years of trips on the Damariscotta River this summer aboard the Teciani. (Courtesy photo)
Damariscotta River Cruises in Damariscotta is celebrating its 10th full season of riparian voyages in the Twin Villages. Business and life partners Chip Holmes and Olga Oros have been operating their tour boat service from the dock at Schooner Landing Restaurant and Marina in Damariscotta full time since 2014.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been a decade,” Oros said. “It’s gone by pretty quickly, it’s different every year.”
Holmes, the ship’s captain and mechanic, said the business came about after hearing customers at the restaurant wonder aloud about how they could get on the river.
Holmes, originally from Boothbay, said he’s had boats on the river “forever,” so the idea came naturally after hearing enough of a need.
In the winter of 2012-2013, Oros said she and Holmes began looking for a boat that could be certified to take up to 49 people on the river. According to Holmes, the certification process for vessels carrying more than 49 passengers is much more involved, and the additional capacity wasn’t worth the effort.
The search for an appropriate vessel was a difficult one, but in spring 2014 they found the perfect fit in Eastport: a 50-foot Uniflite Utility Boat, which Holmes said was formerly used by the United States Navy to freight soldiers up and down rivers.
However, the vessel needed a few “minor” things to be river-worthy, according to Holmes, such as an engine and a lot of electrical work.
“We pretty much were only able to salvage the hull, the gas tank, and a few benches,” he and Oros said.
After a spring of time consuming renovations to the boat to prepare it for its United States Coast Guard certification, the boat was ready by June 2013.
After a delay getting the boat’s new electrical diagram approved by the Coast Guard, Damariscotta River Cruises officially took its first excursion in August 2013 and in 2014 they had their first full season.
The couple named the boat the Teciani, after a dear friend of Holmes and Oros, which they said was only fitting.
“She made us the godparents of her son, and we thought it fitting to make her the godmother of our boat,” Oros said.
About 70% of the passengers aboard the Teciani at any given moment are people from the area, according to Oros, are both seasonal and permanent residents.
“It’s amazing how many people from the area have never had the opportunity to see the river like this,” she said.
Aboard the Teciani, the couple offers a 2-4 p.m. oyster farm and seal watching tour on “most summer days,” an oyster and wine tasting cruise on Wednesday and Saturday evenings, and a 5-7 p.m. happy hour sunset cruise on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.
While each of their cruises is popular, Oros said the oyster farm and seal watching tour is their most popular.
Every year they update the script Holmes reads from for their most popular tour because the industry on the river is always growing.
“When we started there were only seven oyster farms, last time we checked it was 11,” he said. “We have to check again this year.”
Aboard the Teciani, fresh oysters from the river and a full bar are available during the voyage.
“We want to represent the oyster farmers and the farms, so we make sure to have at least six kinds of oysters from the farms on the river aboard,” Oros said.
Holmes said sometimes they even get a fresh delivery from an oyster farm mid-cruise.
“They’ll come up in their boat and pass over a bag of oysters and we don’t even have to stop,” Holmes said, smiling. “There’s farm to table and then boat to bar.”
Holmes and Oros said usually runs from Mother’s Day through the Damariscotta Pumpkinfest and Regatta that occurs in October.
“We start on Mother’s Day because that’s when everything starts happening on the river,” Oros said. “The alewives arrive, the seals arrive and give birth, and the oyster farmers are in full swing.”
In addition to their offerings on the Teciani, the couple also owns two more boats docked near the Teciani called the Nebi and the Mazu. Those two boats, according to Oros, make up another business they run on the dock, Maine Bed & Boat, which gives people the opportunity to spend a night aboard a boat tied to the dock, which they started a year after starting Damariscotta River Cruises.
For private charters, the couple has a smaller boat called Half-Shell, which can take up to six people out on the river.
The couple said they love working on the river and connecting people from away and from here with the area.
“I’ve got a pretty great office,” Holmes said of captaining the Teciani.
There is no set celebration for the decade of trips, but Holmes and Oros said once the fervor of the season is over in the fall they may take a moment to celebrate with friends.
For more information about taking a cruise down the Damariscotta, go to damariscottarivercruises.com or call 315-5544. To learn more about staying aboard the Mazu or the Nebi, go to maineboathotel.com.
