Like the idea of a full day at sea, with plenty of time to explore hidden bays, soak up some rays and stop for some water sports action? There are a number of reputable companies across the world that offer daily boat rentals.
A boat cruises along on the Caribbean sea (Photo: bvi4092 via Flickr / CC BY 2.0 DEED)
Daily boat rentals are popular with travellers who are staying on land but like the idea of a water-based excursion. But unlike group tours, boat rentals are private arrangements for select groups of families, couples or friends, either with a professional skipper included or as ‘bareboat’ (helmed yourself). If you’re visiting a boating destination and are keen to hire your own vessel for the day, we’ve picked out 3 of the best companies standing ready to help you.
Getmyboat
Launched in San Francisco 2013, Getmyboat claims to be the world’s largest boat rental and water experience marketplace, boasting over 150,000 listings in 184 countries covering 9,300 destinations. Getmyboat has rental options for every type of boater, including sailboats, wakeboarding boats, yachts, and party boats all for rent through their platform. As well as day rentals, boats can be hired by the hour, half-day, or multiple days or weeks, depending on availability. The cost depends on the type of boat you want to rent, with pontoon boat rentals starting as low as $200 a day and for something more luxurious like a motor yacht the cost can increase to anything up to $5,000 a day. When we searched for boats in the US, we found thousands available, with prices starting at around $330 per day for two guests to rent a 50-foot catamaran out of Florida’s Ponce Inlet.
Sailo
Sailo are an international yacht rental company that allows boat owners and renters to search for charter companies and their vessels via their platform. Users can pick from thousands of crewed and uncrewed yachts that are available for daily and weekly rentals. Searches are made based on dates, location, price and boat size, and you can also view former charter guest reviews for each vessel. When we looked for daily boat rental options in the Mediterranean, we found a total of 297 available, with rates starting at $80 per week for a 13-foot dinghy available bareboat to hire out of Miami Beach.
Click&Boat
Click & Boat are a peer-to-peer platform that invites boat owners post listings for their vessels along with pictures, spec and price. Renters can then contact them directly via an online messaging service to ask any questions, as well as view feedback from previous renters. Bareboat rentals are the cheapest option, but you can also have a captain onboard for an additional cost. They have particularly strong availability in Europe and when we searched for day boat rentals around the continent there was a huge choice of vessels available, with the cheapest option a 33-foot sailboat that can accommodate up to 5 people, available bareboat from Poland’s northern coastline and priced at $106 per day.