Boating activities in North America
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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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Umiak Outdoor Outfitters
Rents canoes ($50 per day) and kayaks ($40) and offers two-hour guided river trips ($45).
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Taku Inlet
This waterway is an excellent four- to five-day paddling trip with close views of Taku Glacier. Total paddling distance is 30 to 40 miles, depending on how far you travel up the inlet. It does not require any major crossing, though rounding Point Bishop can be rough at times. It is possible to camp at Point Bishop and along the grassy area southwest of the glacier, where brown bears are occasionally seen.
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Knik Glacier Adventures
Trekkies take note; Knik Glacier is best known as the setting where a portion of Star Trek VI was filmed. You can get a partial view of the ice floe at Mile 7 of Knik River Rd off Old Glenn Hwy but the best way to experience it is on an airboat ride up the Knik River; Knik Glacier Adventures offers four-hour tours, departing at 10:00 and 15:00 daily and including a cookout within view of the ice.
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Marigalante
If your tot has a pirate fetish, the little lad or lassie won’t tolerate missing a cruise on the Marigalante, a reproduction Spanish galleon that does pirate-themed daytime cruises (adult/child M$1100/550) from 8am to 3pm Monday through Saturday. It departs from the Terminal Maritima in Marina Vallarta, off Blvd Francisco Ascencio opposite Sam’s Club.
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Lake Champlain Paddlers’ Trail
There’s no finer way to enjoy Lake Champlain than to set out on a multiday paddling trip on Lake Champlain Paddlers’ Trail. Paddlers are encouraged to join the eco-friendly Lake Champlain Committee ($40 per year), for which they receive an essential guidebook that details the trails, campsites and rules of the nautical road.
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Pontoon Boat or Wakeboat Rental at Lake Pleasant
4 hours (Departs Phoenix, Arizona)
by Viator
Spend a hot, sunny Phoenix day on your own boat on Lake Pleasant! Choose either a pontoon boat or a wakeboard boat, and let the fun begin as you cruise around,…Not LP reviewed
from USD$48.49 Advertisement
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Yankee Freedom II
The Yankee Freedom II operates a fast ferry between Garden Key and the Historic Seaport (at the northern end of Margaret St). Round-trip fares cost $124/109 per adult/child. Reservations are recommended. Continental breakfast, a picnic lunch, snorkeling gear and a 45-minute tour of Fort Jefferson are all included.
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Codzilla
‘Boating’ may not be the proper word to describe this activity, which takes place on a 2800HP speedboat that cruises through the waves at speeds of up to 40mph. Painted like a multicolored shark with a big toothy grin, the boat has a unique hull design that enables it to do the ocean version of doughnuts.
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Schooner Adirondack
The two-masted ‘Dack hits the New York Harbor with four two-hour sails daily from May to October. The 1920s-style, 80ft Manhattan yacht makes three-hour circumnavigation sunset tours at 6pm, night tours at 8:30pm and day tours at 1pm or 3:30pm. Call or check the website for tour times.
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Potomac Paddlesports
White-water and sea-kayaking lessons are the focus here, but there are also flat-water trips, such as fall foliage tours, moonlight tours of the Potomac and nature-lovers’ tours through a wildlife refuge. Potomac Paddlesports’ office is in Rockville, 21 miles north of the city center.
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Small Craft Aquatic Centre
This small center, on the St John River beside Old Government House, rents out canoes, kayaks and rowboats at $10 an hour. On offer are weekly passes, guided canoe and kayak tours, one-hour to three-day river ecology trips, and instruction in either canoeing or kayaking.
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Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club
This unusual club will supply you with gear (a canoe and a map) for self-guided tours of the canal and the surrounding area. Participants are asked to help clean any garbage they might see on the way. April through October, only. Reserve in advance.
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Murphy's on the Water
Murphy's on the Water runs a range of tours on Halifax Harbour, from two-hour tours to dinner cruises to the popular Harbour Hopper Tours, with tours on the Lark 5, a seaworthy tour bus. Murphy's Company Store, off the Granville St pedestrian area, also sells tickets.
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Eco-Party! Dragon Boat Tours
If you have a group of friends, Eco-Party! Dragon Boat Tours will take the crew for a paddle around the lake. If it's just you and your main squeeze, it also offers 'Love Boat Cruises' (per couple around C$300), where a gondolier chauffeurs you about the lake - very romantic.
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Spinnaker Sailing
Do 'luff,' 'cringle' and 'helms-a-lee' mean anything to you? If yes, captain a boat from Spinnaker and sail into the sunset. If not, charter a skippered vessel, or take classes and learn to talk like a sailor – in a good way.
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Florida Yacht Charters
If you’ve got money to spend and want to buzz down to the Keys or get yourself to the Bahamas, try Florida Yacht Charters, which rents yachts with and without captains (as long as you can pass a practical test) from the Miami Beach Marina.
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Liberty Clipper
Liberty Clipper is a 125-footer modeled after the biggest sailing craft of the 19th century. Dinner cruises (adult/child $79/55) and sunset sails (adult/child $65/45) are both magical ways of getting the salt and sea in your face.
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Boating in Central Park
Set out for a romantic row across Central Park's Boathouse Lake, a tranquil (and fairly shallow) body of water that's home to lots of carp and sun-loving turtles. You'll get to experience the park from a unique point of view.
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Atlantic Kayak
Atlantic Kayak offers beginners’ kayaking classes, as well as tours of the waterways of the Chesapeake Bay. Its main office is located in Fort Washington, MD, about 15 miles south of Washington, DC.
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Miami Beach Marina
Key Biscayne sailing is a pure joy, as is gliding along the waters just about anywhere else off Miami. A good starting point is the Miami Beach Marina, which has 400 slips and all sorts of rentals.
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Tahoe Keys Boat & Charter Rentals
Ski Run Boat Company at the Ski Run Marina and Tahoe Keys Boat & Charter Rentals at the Tahoe Keys Marina both rent powerboats, pontoons and sailboats as well as kayaks, canoes and paddleboats.
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