CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK — Llao Rock, the Devil’s Backbone, Wizard Island, the Old Man, Garfield Peak, Chaski waterfalls, Phantom Ship, Pumice Castle and, most of all, up-close views of the clear, deep-blue-blue waters of Crater Lake. It’s again possible to see and experience Crater Lake and its many features from lake level.

Seeing Crater Lake from the lake itself is always a delightful, insightful experience. There’s truly no better way to appreciate its geology, human stories and its size than from the surface of the lake. For most visitors who hike to the lake, the experience ends at Cleetwood Cove. But even better — far better — is seeing Crater Lake on a concession boat tour.

After a series of delays, a trio of larger capacity, much quieter new boats are transporting visitors around the lake’s perimeter and to Wizard Island. Operated by Crater Lake Hospitality, Crater Lake National Park’s concessionaire, the 41-foot-long boats are capable of carrying up to 49 passengers. Three options are being offered — standard two-hour tours with a ranger interpreter, shuttles to Wizard Island, and lake cruises with three-hour layovers on Wizard Island.

A two-hour ride Friday proved the new boats are indeed quieter. For the past 20 years, the since-removed boats were too noisy to allow a park ranger to tell tales — most of them true but, depending on the ranger’s sense of humor, a bit fanciful — while the boat was moving. That’s no longer a concern.

Jerry Rutiz, a volunteer interpreter who is one the rangers who narrates the standard and Wizard Island layover tours, provided a Google’s worth of information during our ride.

Samples: While it fairly well known that with a maximum depth of 1,943 feet, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, less known is that the lake contains nearly 5 trillion gallons of water. Tours try to go alongside the Old Man of the Lake, a log that has been floating upright in the lake for more than 100 years that rises 5 feet above the lake and extends 30 feet below. From lake level, most impressive is Llao Rock, which is named for the legendary Llao, the god of the underworld in Klamath Indian mythology who fought a losing battle with the god of the sky, Skell, that caused the eruption of Mount Mazama.

More tidbits — the Phantom Ship, composed of rocks estimated at more than 400,000 years old, was part of the interior of Mount Mazama before the mountain blew. Its dagger-like rocks come alive on circuits around it. The rare Mazama newt, found only at Crater Lake, is becoming endangered because crayfish, introduced decades ago to provide food for non-native fish planted in the lake, have multiplied and inhabit an estimated 90% of the lake’s shoreline. And, no, despite some theories, the caldera was not created by a meteor.

There were factoids blended with humor. Filling up water bottles with lake water is only allowed from a tour boat. Crater Lake’s pure and clear waters are regarded by many as the clearest in the world. The water is so pure, Rutiz deadpanned, that although he was born in 1930, since he’s been drinking lake water on boat trips he looks and feels younger and more vigorous than most 120-year-olds.

The tours provide spectacular views of geologic features not appreciated from Rim Drive overlooks. It’s from lake level that the features of the Devil’s Backbone, a 1,000-foot-long vertical wall of andesite lining a section of the caldera’s cliff wall, can be appreciated. As Rutiz explained, traveling in a boat below the Backbone provides a dramatic view “of the inside plumbing of a volcano and the inner arteries of a volcano.”

Most of all, being on the lake provides a truly intimate connection with its indescribably blue waters and its legendary clarity. In some areas, peering into the water from the boat it appears the bottom is almost touchable, just a few feet below the surface. Looks can deceive — in reality, its many, many feet below.

Opportunities to tour the lake are limited. After a later than hoped-for start, this summer’s tours will end Sept. 17. Although boat tours will resume next summer, the pending closure of the Cleetwood Cove Trail, which provides the only access to the lake, means the trips will not be possible after the summer of 2024 for a multi-year period.

No matter how many times someone — and I’ve made the journey more than a dozen times on a concession boat tour or with park researchers — seeing Crater Lake from lake level is an unforgettable, always unique, eye-popping experience.

Concession-operated boat tours on Crater Lake, which began last week, are available until Sept. 17. No tours will be offered on two of those days, Sept. 9 and 16, because of the annual Ride the Rim event.

Three tours are offered: a two-hour Standard Lake Tour, $44 for adults and $30 for youth age 3 to 12; Wizard Island Layover, $55 for adults and $37 for youth age 3 to 12; and Wizard Island Shuttle, $28 for adults and $18 for youth age 3 to 12. All trips leave from the Cleetwood Cove boat dock, which requires a 1.1-mile downhill hike from the Cleetwood Cove parking lot/trailhead and a strenuous 700-foot elevation gain from the dock back up to the parking area.

Reservations are advised and can be made at the Crater Lake Hospitality website at www.travelcraterlake.com/things-to-do/boat-tours/. Same-day tickets can be purchased up to two hours before departure at the Cleetwood Cove kiosk, Mazama Cabin/Campground Registration Desk or the Crater Lake front desk. Only half the tour boat seats can be reserved in advance.