Florida vacation rental with boat

[NCDavid]

Good morning,

I'm planning a dive trip with the family for 2022 and was searching for a vacation rental home in the south florida area that might include the use of a boat or rental for diving. I searched VRBO and AIRBNB and have only seen properties with a boat dock. Let me know if you know someone that does this sort of arrangement.

Thanks,
David

 

[Shabaday]

I can't imagine for the life of me anyone would do this...the liability must be enormous to rent out your own boat for someone else to dive from....but what do I know??

 

[arew+4]

Holiday key in Marathon, might be good fit, but like the other guy said finding an included boat will be tough. There are several boat rental places in that area, but it will likely cost more per week than the house rental.

Edit,
I have stayed here several times, my wife and our three children are all certified and I used to own a boat. I considered towing it down but in the end I decided the additional risks involved,
No non diving surface support.
No dive specific first aid or O2
No local knowledge.
Only one competent boat operator.
Potential insurance issues should there be a problem

Far outweighed any perceived benefit in cost and "scheduling freedom"

 

[flyboy08]

You'll most likely have to rent the home and then the boat separately. There are plenty of rental places among the keys.

 

[gamon]

I've looked into doing the whole "rent my own boat for my dive group" rather than going the way of the dive charters.

Most if not all boat rental places will not allow the use of dive gear on their boats. Sure I guess you could break their rules and do it anyway but that comes with it's own potential downfalls.

Just as I did you're probably better off giving up on the idea and just booking a private 6 pack charter for the days you're looking to dive. Then you get the benefit of an experienced Captain who will take care of all the logistics and headaches and it probably won't cost you more, and possibly will cost less than the boat rental would have been.

Note that full boat charter prices vary significantly. In my dive notes for Florida Keys, I've got Quiescence at $450 per half day and Sun Sports Islamorada at $750 for a half day. I've never dived with Quiescence and probably never will despite them being highly rated and reviewed, because they've got a rather odd and restrictive policy of only one deep dive per day and I'm all about the wrecks. I've never dived with Sun Sports even though I booked with them once because when they told me the price I was like "why so much?" and they said it's because of their concierge service.. yeah that's ok I'll bring my own sandwiches and save the $300 (or about double that for a full day charter).

If you're diving from Fort Lauderdale to Pompano check out Miss Conduct charters. Conrad will run his 6 pack with a 2 diver minimum, 6 diver max, and he'll take you where you want to go. I suggest you avoid Seefish charters, I've had bad experiences with Brett changing requested and promised dive sites last minute and canceling dives the night before for 'unexplained personal reasons".

Don't know of any private charter boats in Boynton or Jupiter but the area dive Ops don't tend to be of the "cattleboat" variety even though in West Palm, Pura Vida can load up their boats with a good amount of divers from time to time.

 

[NCDavid]

I've looked into doing the whole "rent my own boat for my dive group" rather than going the way of the dive charters.

Most if not all boat rental places will not allow the use of dive gear on their boats. Sure I guess you could break their rules and do it anyway but that comes with it's own potential downfalls.

Just as I did you're probably better off giving up on the idea and just booking a private 6 pack charter for the days you're looking to dive. Then you get the benefit of an experienced Captain who will take care of all the logistics and headaches and it probably won't cost you more, and possibly will cost less than the boat rental would have been.

Note that full boat charter prices vary significantly. In my dive notes for Florida Keys, I've got Quiescence at $450 per half day and Sun Sports Islamorada at $750 for a half day. I've never dived with Quiescence and probably never will despite them being highly rated and reviewed, because they've got a rather odd and restrictive policy of only one deep dive per day and I'm all about the wrecks. I've never dived with Sun Sports even though I booked with them once because when they told me the price I was like "why so much?" and they said it's because of their concierge service.. yeah that's ok I'll bring my own sandwiches and save the $300 (or about double that for a full day charter).

If you're diving from Fort Lauderdale to Pompano check out Miss Conduct charters. Conrad will run his 6 pack with a 2 diver minimum, 6 diver max, and he'll take you where you want to go. I suggest you avoid Seefish charters, I've had bad experiences with Brett changing requested and promised dive sites last minute and canceling dives the night before for 'unexplained personal reasons".

Don't know of any private charter boats in Boynton or Jupiter but the area dive Ops don't tend to be of the "cattleboat" variety even though in West Palm, Pura Vida can load up their boats with a good amount of divers from time to time.

Thank you for your feedback.

 

[Belzelbub]

You'll most likely have to rent the home and then the boat separately. There are plenty of rental places among the keys.

Agreed. The only places I’ve seen where a boat is included is when the boat is the home. But, in those rentals, the boat doesn’t leave the dock.

For the past several years, we stay down in Cudjoe Key. I take my own boat. Occasionally, friends will rent a place nearby and rent their own boat. That’s worked fairly well. They’ve rented from Cudjoe Gardens Marina. I went along to pick up their rental a few years ago. I could be wrong, but I don’t recall any rules against dive gear. Mainly, they were concerned with condition of prop and that the boat was at least rinsed.

 

[NCDavid]

I'll check them out. Thanks

Agreed. The only places I’ve seen where a boat is included is when the boat is the home. But, in those rentals, the boat doesn’t leave the dock.

For the past several years, we stay down in Cudjoe Key. I take my own boat. Occasionally, friends will rent a place nearby and rent their own boat. That’s worked fairly well. They’ve rented from Cudjoe Gardens Marina. I went along to pick up their rental a few years ago. I could be wrong, but I don’t recall any rules against dive gear. Mainly, they were concerned with condition of prop and that the boat was at least