good-times-rollin: Lower Colorado River Excursions

Sunday, March 1, 2026

Lower Colorado River Excursions

Cocopah RV and Golf Resort

Yuma, AZ

March 1, 2026

Popcorn Senna bush at Cocopah

The history of paddle boat cruises in Yuma began 175 years ago.. It all started with Captain James Turnbull's "Uncle Sam" which supplied Fort Yuma in 1852. Today, the tradition continues with modern, scenic cruises on the "Colorado King" wheeler operating near Yuma. The Colorado King was built in 1993 on site on the banks of the river at Fisher's Landing on Martinez Lake. This easy going boat is 52 feet long, weighs 52 tons, and is powered by the paddles itself...no help from outboard/inboard motors.

Lower Colorado River Excursions offer a variety of scenic cruises including brunch cruises and sunset dinner cruises, narrated scenic cruises and private charters. If you have a need for speed, you might enjoy the "Liberty Jet" lower or upper river cruise. The four of us reserved tickets for a sunset dinner cruise last week and what a wonderful experience we had! Dinner is a themed buffet...Fiesta, Western, Taste of Italy, and Hawaiian. We chose a Thursday night for Italian with seating on the upper deck which is covered, but has a delightful breeze. Seating is limited and reservations are required for both lower and upper decks on the dinner cruise. Our excursion was a 90 minute easy going...slow and smooth...trip. The staff was wonderful and worked so hard to make sure we all had everything we needed and that we enjoyed ourselves.

Joe and Ronnie

I have no photos of appetizers, dinner or desert. It was all quite tasty and as most times at dinner with friends, we were all enjoying the conversation, the scenery, and filling our tummies. Lower Colorado Excursions is nestled within the bounds of the Kofa Wildlife Refuge. I did get a few photos which were hard to pick from...it was so pretty being on the river.

Captain Kelly...a U.S. Coast Guard certified captain...ensured smooth sailing.

Carol

A selfie! And all smiles!

Back at Belle, it has been HOT! Yep, we have had a heat wave in Yuma. The kind of heat wave that sets new records on the temp chart. The mornings and early evenings are nice so we get our walks in then.