[Ad- gifted experience] Dann and I have driven some boats before, primarily during our yearly holiday, however we have not tried out GoBoat before right on Canary Wharf! When they reached out, they explained we could have up to eight people in the boat. As someone who has not fully seen these types of boats in real life, I invited six of my friends into London to try out the boat, assuming we’d be cozy at eight people.
When it comes to booking a GoBoat, you can do this online, adding a bunch of little add-ons like snacks and alcohol, if that’s what you would like to do. You can even purchase a captains hat for whoever is in charge of driving the boat! Once our booking was in, we headed to London. The GoBoat station is a little out of the way, but was easy to find with the various signs and directions from their website. We had picked a Sunday evening, when the sun had set and it was a little on the rainy side, but we all arrive early and excited.
The GoBoat instructor had us fill in a safety form, then explained a bunch of things to us. They had this little map that they drew on so that we could know where we could take the boat and where we should not take the boat. There is plenty of places that you can drive it, with two large, open areas where you can just sort of float about, which is great. Then, we purchased some drinks and got ready to test drive! GoBoat offers plenty of alcohol and soft drinks that you can purchase before getting on the boat and you can also take snacks on with you, if you’d like. There is a two drink per person limit to start, with the driver of the boat needing to not have more than two drinks total, and if you’d like more drinks they send a little boat out to you with them. During the wintertime months, there is also a free mulled wine per person before you get on!
At that point, we had our little driving test! Quang, who is a responsible adult, was the major driver in our group. The GoBoat is controlled by a sort of pillar that goes into the boat from the back, attaching to the rudder. You twist the black top one way to go forward, another to go back, and then move the entire pillar left and right to turn the opposite way to where you are moving it, if you go forward. This might seem intimidating, but you quickly get use to it and can just float around if you don’t feel like driving.
The GoBoat itself was very cozy! There were heated seats (with a switch to turn them off, it it’s too warm), along with blankets, pillows, and a decent sized table inside. The whole thing was covered, which was perfect for the light rain, and there were fairy lights all around along with some light winter-y decorations. It all felt really good! We fit in easily, and having eight people wouldn’t be too much of a squeeze at all. The inside was nice and warm, and none of our stuff fell off the table, even when Quang did some boat donuts!
My pictures of the inside of our GoBoat, due to the rain, do not do the view justice. During the wintertime months, the lights of London are stunning. It was very moody out, with fog rolling in, and we absolutely loved taking in the view. You do get a full two hours on the boat, so there is plenty of time to see all of the different areas of Canary Wharf and just float about, hanging with friends. We did order some drinks to our boat by calling them, which was very neat! They just brought their boat over like a little delivery.
A lot of our GoBoat experience is in the people. I had a fantastic time with our friends, chatting, catching up, and eating little snacks while checking out a fantastic view. A few of us gave driving a go, which was pretty fun, if not a little bit of pressure. We did agree that having some sort of speaker, so that we could play music, would add a lot to the experience, but felt the entire thing was a fun event and way to hang out with your friends, doing something a bit differently! I am sure if you go at sunset or when it’s a bit less rainy, you’d be able to get some fantastic pictures of London as well.
You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!