I tried renting a boat with friends and it was so worth it.
Annalise Mabe
My group of eight rented a boat and captain for four hours through Boatsetter for $1,652.
Our captain was knowledgeable and we brought our own food and drinks on board.
The experience was so fun but a little pricey so we'd only do it again for something special.
At the start of the new year, I set out to put myself and my well-being first.
Six months later, I've been doing just that by investing in weekly yoga and setting aside time and money for new, fun experiences. My most recent splurge was a boat rental with friends.
We set our automatic out-of-office messages, pooled our funds, and rented a captained boat for a day on the water with the online rental platform Boatsetter, which has been nicknamed the "Airbnb for boats."
Boatsetter has tons of options for a range of budgets and desires.
A few cities throughout the US have rentals listed on Boatsetter.
Annalise Mabe
Based out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Boatsetter has listings for over 50,000 boats across 700 locations (including Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, and the United States).
You can search by city, choose between two- to eight-hour time frames, and even rent a boat for over 13 people. Some boats are available to rent for as little as $18 an hour while other, more luxurious yacht options can cost up to $608 an hour.
My group knows nothing about boats, so we were thrilled we could rent one with a captain.
I know nothing about boating or how to drive a boat — and I don't want to.
Annalise Mabe
With Boatsetter you can rent a boat captained, meaning you don't have to lift a finger (or touch a steering wheel). This appealed to our group since we wanted a kick-back-and-relax experience where we weren't responsible for a thing.
All we had to do was find our captain, city native AJ Perez, at our meeting spot at Rick's on the River in Tampa at 9:30 a.m. on the day of our rental.
The experience wasn't cheap, but splitting the cost helped.
We split the cost eight ways.
Annalise Mabe
We booked an experience that included four hours of captained boating. Here's the price breakdown:
Boat for four hours: $1,073
Captain: $300
Service fee: $171
Sales tax: $108
Total: $1,652
This wasn't a super cheap experience, but split between eight people it wasn't bad at about $207 a person.
We boarded the boat and immediately set sail.
The wind helped cool us down.
Annalise Mabe
Once on board and settled, we cruised slowly along Tampa Bay, and then picked up speed, holding onto our hats and letting go of pretty much everything else.
Tampa stays pretty warm/hot and humid year-round, and this day was no different, but the high speed of the boat and the wind on our faces cooled us off as we jetted.
Our captain shared information about local wildlife throughout the trip.
We saw birds and dolphins on our trip.
Annalise Mabe
During the trip, Captain AJ gave us a brief history of the Roseate spoonbills we got to see from a marked and restricted distance.
He told us about their migration pattern, and how they almost went extinct in the 1920s due to people using their bright-pink feathers and plumage for hats and fans.
We even saw dolphins.
We saw a bunch of wildlife on our boat ride.
Annalise Mabe
During our trip, we also saw multiple pods of dolphins who were catching the waves made by other nearby boats and barges or hunting for fish close to the shore.
We brought our own food and drinks on the boat.
Our drink and snack break felt like heaven.
Annalise Mabe
Naturally, we paused our journey for a snack and prosecco break. We were able to bring our own snacks and drinks, so we filled our plastic cups to the brim with bubbly, toasted to each other and to the day, and snacked on fresh fruit and premade charcuterie packs.
The food gave us some extra fuel before our next stop: fishing close to the mangroves, a type of tropical plant common in parts of Florida.
Our captain helped us go fishing, too.
We didn't keep the speckled trout.
Annalise Mabe
Because our captain was a Tampa native and he fished in this area as a kid, he knew the best fishing spots. He helped hook our lines with live shrimp and showed us how (and where) to cast.
We weren't all lucky, but one of us caught a speckled trout that was too small to keep.
We also had a cool view of some local real estate.
The boat ride was a nice way to see Tampa.
Annalise Mabe
After we'd given it an honest go and had our fun fishing, we headed back into the Bay, catching views of Tampa's up-and-coming downtown scene that we don't normally get to see from this vantage point.
We looked at all the houses we can't afford to buy and voted on which ones we'd live in if we could. We guessed the rents of the new high-rise condos going up, too.
During the ride, we took pride in our little city that seems to be garnering more and more national attention — Tampa recently earned its first Michelin stars and welcomed its first five-star hotel.
Renting a boat was a super relaxing and fun way to spend a Friday away from work.
The rental was over $1,000 but the price wasn't so bad split between friends.
Annalise Mabe
We all agreed that we'd rent a boat on Boatsetter again, but probably only for a special occasion since the experience can be a bit expensive.
A boat rental like this would be perfect for celebrating a big birthday, a proposal, or a bachelorette party. It could also be cool as part of a festival experience in another city, considering you can rent boats in multiple major cities and on popular lakes.
All in all, the day on the water was just what I needed, and I can't wait to do this again.
