River cruises vanish due to lake levels

BURNET COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) - Shoving off from the shore on the Burnet County side of Lake Buchanan, lately Shane DeVaney, owner of the Vanishing Texas River Cruise, has a lighter load.

"Typically, our business is built on navigating the canyon down the Colorado, past the waterfall through the ranch country, where you see a lot of native Texas wildlife, birdlife," said DeVaney. "That area's unfortunately right now inaccessible to us."

The Lower Colorado River Authority said Lake Buchanan is down by 14 feet, while Lake Travis is down by 28. Each lake only received a half foot to a foot in rain runoff this week, barely enough to make a difference in either lake's lever. The shallow waters and lack of attractions brought down DeVaney's business by 60% this spring.

"I wanted to go up to the winery with them," said passenger Dorothy Carden. "It was disappointing, but I guess the drought is everywhere in Texas now."

"Probably have to come back when the waters up again and re-take some more pictures," said Marie Priehs.

DeVaney is still afloat. Through the drought, he discovered sites not seen with all the water.

"This would all be under water," he pointed out. "This would be 10 to 15 feet underwater."

The old Bluffton settlement disappeared when crews finished the lake about 70 years ago. Now DeVaney's visitors can once again walk its shores, giving him hope that even in the toughest of times, opportunity will always appear.

"We've been here for 27 years, through five droughts," he said. "I think we'll survive this one."