Fort Lauderdale is extremely well set up for yachting visitors, with those seeking a motorboat, catamaran or sailing charter having no shortage of options at their disposal.
Yachts moored in Fort Lauderdale (Photo: Rob Olivera via Flickr / CC BY 2.0)
With its vast systems of canals, Fort Lauderdale is often referred to as the “Venice of America”. Yet unlike the narrow network of waterways in northern Italy, the city is also a boating mecca, attracting large numbers of yachting enthusiasts every year. The buzzing sights and sounds of South Beach are a day’s cruising away, and the natural beauty of the Florida Keys and Key West are just a little further afield. We’ve picked out three companies that we’d recommend for yacht rental deals in the region.
Sailo
Sailo are a global company specialising in short term yacht crewed and bareboat rentals., with their inventory spanning 3 continents, over 50 countries and 500 locations across the globe. Prospective guests can search for vessels on their seamless, secure and easy to use platform by selecting from a huge number of yachts based on date, location, price, size, guest testimonials, and other trip requirements. When we conducted searches for boat charters in Fort Lauderdale we found over 700 available, including cats, sailboats, and motoryachts. The cheapest we unearthed was a 19ft Hurricane SS188 Sport Edition motoryacht available as bareboat for either 2, 4 or 8-hour rentals, with prices starting at $175 for a 2-hour hire.
Boatbookings
With one of their four global offices being located in Fort Lauderdale, Boatbookings are well-acquainted with the area and the scope of their charter offerings reflects this. The company has a total of 46 vessels available to embark on Fort Lauderdale charters, with pretty much every budget and preference catered for. Among their fleet are yachts ranging from 11 to 49 metres, four of which are offered as bareboat (no skipper or crew) and the rest as crewed yachts. However, one category where Boatbookings do not fare so well is catamaran rental, with only three on offer in Fort Lauderdale. In better news, Boatbookings do offer a handy reviews section so you can read about the experiences of previous guests. What’s more, the company also says that they personally pays a visit to each of the boats listed, while their online search function allows you to search for particular on-board equipment such as sport fishing or scuba gear.
Yolo Boat Rentals
This South Florida-based yacht and boat charter company specialises in luxurious yacht cruises to exclusive, exotic locales. As well as a selection of 14 motor yachts available for charter in and around Fort Lauderdale, Yolo cater extremely well for more ‘frivolous’ fun-seekers with their range of water toys such as jet skis and banana boats, as well as parasailing and snorkelling equipment. Focussing on their yacht fleet, their vessels range from 18 to 31 metres and are offered with an experienced captain and crew well versed in the region’s most popular stop-off sites, as well as more off-the-radar attractions.