Boating Activities
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River Trips
A dawn rowing boat ride along the Ganges to view the ghats and former palaces from the Ganges is a quintessential Varanasi experience. The best time to make the trip is from 05:30 when it is cool, the early morning light is particularly inspiring and all the colour and clamour of pilgrims bathing and performing puja unfolds before you. An hour-long trip south from Dasaswamedh Ghat to Harishchandra Ghat and back is popular, but be prepared to see a burning corpse at Harishchandra.
Early evening is also a good time to be on the river, when you can light a lotus flower candle (Rs 10) and set it adrift on the water. You can also watch the nightly ganga aarti ceremony at…
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Tourist Cruises
The popular cruise between Kollam and Alleppey departs at 10:30 and arrives at 18:30, operating daily from August to March and every second day at other times. Many hotels in Kollam and Alleppey take bookings for one or other of these services; some offer cheaper rates but you'll end up paying the difference on board.
Generally, there are two stops: a 13:00 lunch stop (be aware that you'll pay extra for every element over the standard meal!) and a brief afternoon chai stop. The crew has an ice box full of fruit, soft drinks and beer to sell. Bring sunscreen and a hat.
It's a scenic and leisurely way to get between the two towns, but as a backwater experience the cruise is…
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Fantasea
Offers high-speed catamaran cruises to its Reefworld pontoon on the Great Barrier Reef, where you can snorkel, take a trip in a semisubmersible and check out the underwater viewing chamber (adult/child/family $225/102/589). An overnight 'Reefsleep' costs from $460.
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Zlaté piesky
Zlaté piesky is a lake resort 7km northeast of the old town. It's where locals escape the summer heat. You can hire rowing boats and sailboards in summer. Take tram 4 from Kamenné nám, near the Tesco department store, to the terminus (20 minutes) and walk east for a couple of blocks; the lake will be on your right.
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Waterways Boating Safaris
Be guided around the majestic Marlborough Sounds while piloting your own zippy boat. A unique and fun way to get out on the water, see the scenery and learn about the area’s ecology and history. BYO lunch. Local pick-up/drop-offs.
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Lokrum Island
Take the ferry that shuttles half-hourly in summer to lush Lokrum island, a national park with a rocky nudist beach (marked FKK), a botanical garden and the ruins of a medieval Benedictine monastery.
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Boat Hire
There's a rental site at Bürkliplatz plus one near every official swimming area.
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Dolphin Safari
Dolphin Safari offers Dolphin watching trips. Call for more information.
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Scuna Sul
Boat tours of the bay stop at some pretty 18th-century Portuguese forts.
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Lakeside Holiday Park
Besides lakeside camping, this private park rents out a range of watercraft including kayaks and rowboats. The placid waters of Lough Derg are ideal for a day exploring the shore.
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Whale Watching
Every year between July and September, Baie d'Antongil, just south of Maroantsetra, is the site of the migration of hundreds of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). The whales make their way from the Antarctic northward to the warmer waters around Baie d'Antongil, where they spend the winter months breeding and birthing before the long journey back to Antarctica. En route the whales swim past Fort Dauphin and Île Sainte Marie, where they are often sighted offshore.
Humpbacks can measure up to 15m in length and weigh as much as 35,000kg. Despite their size, they are exceptionally agile, and capable of acrobatic moves such as breaching (launching themselves…
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Dalyan Kooperatifi
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Seafari Cayo Blanco
One of Varadero's most popular cruises is the Seafari Cayo Blanco to - you've guessed it - Cayo Blanco. This trip includes the dolphin show at the Delfinario, open bar, lunch on Cayo Blanco, two snorkeling stops, live music and hotel transfers. This trip comes with a free sunset cruise that can be carried over to the following day if desired. Several readers have reported that these trips were the highlight of their stay.
There are cheaper catamaran tours that are less heavily promoted, but still great fun, with the same excellent snorkeling. Try the stripped-down tour that has no music and dancing, and a chicken, rather than seafood lunch. There's also a two-hour guided…
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gondola
Getting to Bled Island by a piloted gondola is the archetypal tourist experience; there are jetties below the tourist office, below Spa Park (Zdraviliški Park) to the north, in Mlino on the south shore and near Zaka Regatta Centre. You get about half an hour to explore the island. In all, the trip takes about 1½ hours. Alternatively, you can rent a rowing boat at the Castle Baths, at Mlino or at the large beach at the southwest end of the lake.
The boat sets you down on the island's south side at a monumental South Staircase (Južno Stopnišče) built in 1655. As you walk up you'll pass the Chaplain's House (Meznarija) and the Provost's House (Stavba Proštije) from the…
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Grotte du Sdragonato
Don't leave Bonifacio without taking a boat trip around its extraordinary coastline, where you'll get the best perspective of the town's precarious position on top of the magnificent chalky cliffs. Two itineraries are offered. The first includes the goulet, the calanques (deep rocky inlets; calanche in Corsican), with their clear aquamarine waters, and the magical Grotte du Sdragonato with its gloriously multicoloured sea bed.
A 50-minute tour focuses on the Îles Lavezzi and boats are operated shuttle fashion, so you can linger on the islands. But, if you do, take your own food and drink since you won't find any there. On the way back, the boats pass close to Île Cavallo,…
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Swan Boats
On the tranquil lagoon of the Public Garden you will find the slow-going swan boats, which seem out of place in today’s fast-paced city setting, because they are. The story of the swan boats goes back to 1877, when Robert Paget developed a catamaran with a paddlewheel that was propelled by pedal. Inspired by the opera Lohengrin, in which a heroic knight rides across a river in a swan-drawn boat, Paget designed a graceful swan to hide the boat captain. While today’s swan boats are larger than the 1877 original, they still utilize the same technology and they are still managed by Paget’s descendents. A relic of Boston’s bygone days, the swan boats present an image of…
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Hawaiano
Various boats and yachts offer cruises, most of which depart from around Playa Tlacopanocha or Playa Manzanillo near the zócalo. Cruises – from M$120 for 1½ hours to over M$250 for four hours – are available day and night. They range from glass-bottomed boats to multilevel craft (with blaring salsa music and open bars) to yachts offering quiet sunset cruises around the bay. The Victoria , Hawaiano , Fiesta and Bonanza cruise operations are all popular; you can make reservations directly from the eager captains at the marina or through travel agencies and most hotels.
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Bonanza
Various boats and yachts offer cruises, most of which depart from around Playa Tlacopanocha or Playa Manzanillo near the zócalo. Cruises – from M$120 for 1½ hours to over M$250 for four hours – are available day and night. They range from glass-bottomed boats to multilevel craft (with blaring salsa music and open bars) to yachts offering quiet sunset cruises around the bay. The Victoria , Hawaiano , Fiesta and Bonanza cruise operations are all popular; you can make reservations directly from the eager captains at the marina or through travel agencies and most hotels.
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Burlington Community Boathouse
Approximately 120 miles long and 12 miles wide, Lake Champlain is the largest freshwater lake in the country after the Great Lakes. Consistently good wind, sheltered bays, lack of boat traffic, hundreds of islands and scenic anchorages combine to make this immense lake one of the top cruising grounds in the northeast. The departure point for hourly and daily boat cruises and boat rentals is Burlington Community Boathouse, a popular hangout fashioned after Burlington’s original 1900s yacht club. Traveling with your own yacht? Transient dock space is available. The boathouse is easy to spot on the waterfront’s 8-mile recreational path.
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Si-Kat
A convenient way to get from Manila to Puerto Galera (via Batangas) is by the combined air-con bus and boat services offered by competitors Si-Kat and Island Cruiser. Both have booking desks in Manila and at Muelle pier in the township of Puerto Galera.
Both services depart from A Mabini St in Ermita, Manila at 08:00: the Si-Kat bus from the Citystate Tower Hotel and the Island Cruiser bus from the Lotus Garden Hotel. They connect with pumpboats at Batangas at around 10:45 and arrive at Muelle pier at noon. Return trips depart from Muelle pier at 08:00 and arrive in Manila around 13:00. Si-Kat costs around P500/around P1000 one way/return.
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Sadarghat Boat Terminal
Among all the large ships are the tiny wooden ones that you can hire. These are available almost everywhere along the waterfront, though most people hire them from around Sadarghat boat terminal. An increasing number of foreigners in Dhaka are starting to hire boats out, so things are becoming more organised and most boatmen will know what you want to do (a lack of a common language isn’t much of a hindrance). It does however mean that prices are starting to rise and touts are beginning to come to life. The standard rate is Tk 100 per hour but many boatmen will push for a higher price.
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Antigua Boatsheds
Dating from 1882, the photogenic green-and-white Antigua Boatsheds are the starting point for Punting on the Avon, where someone else does all the work during a half-hour return trip in a flat-bottomed boat. There’s also an excellent cafe (opem 7am to 5pm), which is a great spot for brunch or lunch. Kayaks and rowboats can be rented for independent Avon River exploration.
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Gentle Giants - whale watching
The second whale watching operator in Húsavík is Gentle Giants, with two boats making trips up to five times daily from June to mid-September. Hot chocolate and pastries are provided during the trip, but it's still a good idea to wrap up well before departure as it can be bitterly cold out on the boat, no matter how warm it feels in town. In early and late season both operators may have only one departure daily, so check in advance.
If there are no sightings, you can usually get on another trip for free. You can buy tickets from the 'lighthouse' ticket booth opposite the church.
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Boats departing Liberation Bridge
Boats run between the hours of 08:00 and 22:30, departing from Liberation Bridge, nosing up the Li River and under Mulong Bridge to Mulong Lake (木龙湖; Mùlóng Hú), through Baoxian Lake (宝贤湖; Bǎoxián Hú) to Rong Lake and the pagodas of Shan Lake, before drifting down the Taohua River (桃花江; Táohuā Jiāng) to Wenchang Bridge (文昌桥; Wénchāng Qiáo). Departure and destination points can vary according to the season.
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Chongqing Changjiang Sightseeing
Buy tickets for a river cruise at most hotels or the travel agencies around Cháotiānmén including Chongqing Changjiang Sightseeing. Cruises board at 18:30, serve dinner at 19:00, and cruise from 20:00 to 22:00. Just don't expect too much out of the food. They depart nightly, March through January, from Cháotiānmén Dock.
Most cruises sail around the peninsula and pass under both the Jialing and Yangzi bridges, giving you a good look at Chóngqìng by night when the grey is dressed up with a flash of neon.
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