Above: A sailboat glides on the surface of the Pepacton Reservoir on May 26, 2012 the opening weekend for boating on the reservoir. Photo by Tina Schvejda; posted in the Watershed Post's Flickr group pool.
On Memorial Day weekend, three new Catskills reservoirs were opened to public boating. The Pepacton, Neversink and Schoharie reservoirs joined the Cannonsville in welcoming kayaks, canoes, rowboats and small sailboats to their pristine waters.
So far, the Pepacton -- a skinny, 15-mile long body of water that wends its way from just southwest of Margaretville, through a chunk of rural Andes, and ends up at the Downsville Dam -- has seen most of the boating action. Numbers released by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which requires boaters to get a free access permit and have their boat steam-cleaned, show that about two-thirds of the permits issued so far this season have been for the Pepacton Reservoir.
Of the 355 permits that were issued between Memorial Day weekend and June 18, 224 were for launch sites on the Pepacton. The Neversink was next, with just 48 permits issued. The Cannonsville, whose recreational boating program is now in its fourth year, had 44 permits. The Schoharie had 39.
Why the difference? All of New York City's west-of-Hudson reservoirs are stunningly beautiful. But as every realtor knows, it's all about location, location, location -- and the Pepacton, just off of a tourist-friendly stretch of Route 28, has the goods.
Mike Brown, a clerk at Al's Sport Store in Downsville, said that the Pepacton gets plenty of tourist traffic:
"It's closer to the main thoroughfare of people coming up from the city," he said. "The Cannonsville was kind of off the beaten path."
Brown said that almost a month into the new boating program, the news that boats are now allowed on the reservoir is still a happy surprise to some of Al's Sport Store's customers.
"We're still getting people that don't realize that it's open yet," he said. "The word's still getting out there."
Below: A report issued on June 18, 2012 by the New York City DEP on reservoir boating permits.
