Do you love boating? Do you like taking vacations where you can rent a boat? One of the coolest things about knowing how to drive a boat is being able to use one when you travel. Granted, most of the time, you’ll have to go on a tour if you want to explore the waters using more than a rowboat or a small motorboat. However, it’s possible to find rentals that will allow you to drive a cool boat.
If you’re looking for a fun vacation destination, whether you’re going alone or taking your family, check out these five cool boating destinations around the world.
1. Tour the Elkhorn Slough in the Monterey Bay
Monterey Bay is stunning. It’s teeming with sea life, including sea otters, elephant seals, whales, dolphins, and all kinds of fish. Since the Pacific Ocean is nearby, the Monterey area is one of few places where you can see the sun both rise and set over the water.
If you’re visiting the bay area in California, there’s a fun catamaran tour provided by a company that values eco-conscious principles. Several years ago, a company called Elco created an electric catamaran powered by two custom electric outboard motors. Their electric catamaran, named El Cat, provides an hour and a half tour on the Elkhorn Slough in the heart of the Monterey Bay in California. The best part? The boat doesn’t burn any fossil fuels. Its all-electric design makes it eco-friendly.
If you value companies making the effort to reduce waste, you’ll be happy to know Elco’s electric boat motors are built with minimal materials, which means less waste. So, when you’re touring the Elkhorn Slough, you can also be assured you’re not harming local wildlife.
2. The French canals
What’s better than taking your family out on the French canals, where you can enjoy a nice meal on deck, get a good view of some old castles, and appreciate the Franco-German culture of Alsace in Strasbourg?
French Waterways offers one the best self-guided boat tours you’ll find. The boats are easy to drive and you don’t need a license. You’ll be briefed regarding basic waterway rules and the controls are simple. Even if you’re normally the captain, your family members can take turns driving without any special training.
When you book a tour with French Waterways, you’ll get three boat styles to choose from: economy, first-class, and luxury. The largest luxury boat can sleep up to 12 people and comes with a private bathroom in each cabin. All boats can be rented by the week and travel around 5 km/hr.
You can also take your pet along for the ride. Just make sure you put your pet in a life jacket to keep them safe in case they jump or fall into the water.
3. Tour Britain on a boat
There are plenty of boat tours around Britain, and you can search for your perfect tour online. You can look for pet-friendly tours, tours for families, and tours with smaller boats better suited for one or two people.
Some of the boat tours last between 3 and 7 nights, but you can book a couple of weeks if you prefer.
4. Rent a boat with a floating cabin
Floating cabins are kind of like houseboats, except they’re built into the shore. While you may not find many floating cabins in the U.S., you’ll find plenty in England. There just happens to be an opportunity to rent one of these cabins at a boatyard on the Suffolk-Norfolk border. You can kayak, observe nature, or just enjoy the peace and quiet from the shore.
Renting a floating cabin is ideal if you want to be on the water every day, literally 24-hours a day. Although, you’ll probably be traveling in a rowboat that comes with the cabin rental, but that’s always a fun adventure, especially when you’re used to having a motorboat.
5. The Broads National Park
Another cool place to go boating on the Norfolk-Suffolk border is “The Broads.” This is a manmade network of waterways consisting of rivers and lakes that will take you through the English countryside.
The lakes are the result of flooding many years ago, and the land became a national park in 2009.
You can never spend too much time on the water
No matter how much time you spend boating at home, you can never spend too much time on the water. When you get some time off, take a boating vacation – you’ll be glad you did.
