eBoats Tampa — Attraction in Tampa

“How do the rich and famous live?”--- I say ironically every time we toast as we ride an eboat. No need for socially conscious replies. “Salud!” as we look into each person’s eyes. The rich live as we do, at that moment. Uncomplicated. Maybe they own a yacht, a big boat or a sail boat. Ours is just smaller, like an out place Venetian gondola. One huge table in the center with wholes to hold drinks. Padded seating all around. A battery operated candle in the middle. You can bring all the food and the drinks you want. The company provides the ice. You can play your ipod music through the speakers. I immediately get the Pandora station for Michael Bublé, Sinatra, Bruno Mars, Jack Johnson. Since the boat is electric there is no noise and the conversation flows. The eboat sits up to ten of my friends who appear every time I mention someone is coming from out of town. We split the cost and it turns out to be $15 to $20 per person. A steal! I bring a fancy red porcelain tray we fill abundantly with prosciutto, Serrano, various cheeses and crackers. I bring a white porcelain concave plate to hold stuffed olives, hummus, pita chips and grapes. Bottles of red wine and home-made sangria appear magically from our bags. A generous pot luck. I pull out my glass-looking plastic wine glasses. One for each person in the boat. I bought them at Publix Greenwise for two dollars each and I get scolded at all pools for “using glass.” I love to look stunned and throw the fake glass on the pavement to prove them wrong. A really great buy as I love “big beautiful things.” Every occasion must be celebrated grandly. Wine in a plastic cup just does not feel the same. I can be a snob that way. We fill our glasses with wine and bask in the orange and pink and lavender of the sunset. A Monet painting… A peach kiss from heaven. I have rented eboats around five or six times. Every friend visiting me from out of town gets to go and see Tampa as I love to see it. I found the company through fate. I was searching through “Living Social” discounts when I saw it. You call and make a reservation for the hours you want to use it. My favorite is to rent it right before sunset for two hours. This way we go upstream toward Davis Island and enjoy the many beautiful homes and gardens. The home owners wave goodbye and, often they are enjoying a cocktail and cheers with us from afar. Little kids stand near the private harbor and go crazy with happiness. By the time we reach “Rick’s by the River” and park is nightfall. Sometimes we park the eboat and enjoy some hot wings at the bar. If you decide to do this then rent it for three hours instead of two. When we return we are mesmerized by the color displays of the downtown buildings, the fountain at the Straz, the silver Moorish minarets of UT, the fluorescent orange of Aloft, and the changing colors as we pass under each bridge. We return without stress free. No need to lift the boat, clean the boat and become cranky in the process. The company does that. We return to the canal giddy with content, eager to continue the party elsewhere…completely aware that we are lucky to be friends in this magical city. “How do the rich and famous live?”---Not any...

I give the service and staff 5 stars (super nice!), I give the boats 3.5 stars….

They have meter parking right near their dock. Staff brought boat around and gave us a thorough intro. We felt informed enough to go off and he answered questions on what was in which direction. Genuinely, very nice!

Five of us went out on a Sunday morning and unfortunately other “normal size” personal boats were not observing the “no wake” rule, causing our smaller craft to wobble over some fairly large waves and even splash inside the boat. These boats don’t go more than 5mph so while relaxing, we were no going faster than the people on kayaks next to us. At this speed, there were times of no cooling breeze at all. When we returned, we mentioned this and he said the larger premium boat doesn’t have the issue of wobbling over the waves. I don’t know if they’re faster but we were going to slow you couldn’t even really compensate for how it threw the boats around.

It took a full 25-30 min at that speed to get from the doc down to Armateur Works. There were docking areas there if you planned to get out and eat.

Boat was clean, the table was nice if we had brought food with us or to even play a game on. Had other boats not been out causing the wake we would have been more comfortable. This wasn’t the fault of the company and at $89/hr, you really can’t complain!

Some pretty views a long the water. I wish the water was cleaner, sadly the waterside is over polluted and with all the building, I’m sure the construction just adds...

We were fortunate enough to book our reservation with eBoats with ease and took our ride after a great meal at Ulele's! The dockhands were very informative and were thorough with their safety briefing. We brought our own cooler too! They even made it a little fun since all of us are seasoned boaters. We enjoyed a little cruise down the Hillsborough River to Rick's on the River, which is about 30 mins away from the dock. That is about as far south as you should go for a two hour rental since these boats cruise at 10-12 mph. We docked at Rick's, used the restroom and grabbed a couple cold drinks and headed back north to the dock which is right next to the convention center, in front of the Sail Pavilion. We enjoyed the ride and it was very comfortable. It was Father's Day weekend and a Saturday so the river was especially busy with boat traffic. Be aware of your surroundings and of other boaters ignoring the no & minimum wake channel markers. Some people are rude and reckless and ignore the smaller watercraft on the river. That is no reason to pass on eBoats. This is a great way to experience life along the Riverwalk and take in downtown Tampa. Great people and a great addition to the local business in Tampa! Highly recommended for family, business outings, tourists, or just a day or night out...