Although the weather is cooling down up north, the weather here in Tampa is just right for a day out on the water. It was a no brainer when we heard Kraken CycleBoats had set up shop at the docks by Sail Pavilion, so we reached out and they set us up for an afternoon of fun down the Hillsborough River!
Thanks to an invite from Kraken CycleBoats, we had the opportunity to enjoy a complimentary boat tour in exchange for some social media love and a blog post. All opinions are my own.
If you have been following us for a while, you know that we have recently been working to kick our butts into shape for our upcoming wedding in the spring. We recently hosted a class at Camp Tampa (stay tuned for more of those in the New Year) and have started working out with help from our friend, Aaron Wagner (owner of Aaron Wagner Fitness). So when we learned that Kraken combines some of our favorite things: cycling, sightseeing, and drinks… we were ALL about it!
The “Kraken” is a human-powered 32-foot Catamaran with a large paddlewheel in
the back that can accommodate up to 15 guests.Lucky for you, if cycling is not your forte, there are only 10 seats for pedaling. So, we invited a bunch of friends, packed the cooler full of snacks and beer and wine, and headed down to meet the Kraken team at the docks by Sail Pavilion. We were welcomed on and given a quick tour (the boat is not much larger than the typical Pedal Pubs that you may have seen driving around St. Pete). The guys loaded our drinks into their coolers as we worked to fill out some waivers before we could head out.
Once we got things situated, we each grabbed a seat and the late comers took the first “bench seat”. With our music playing through the speakers and the sun getting ready to set, we were off down the river on our adventure to Pedal, Pedal, Drink (that’s their tag line btw). To be honest, the cycling was not as leisurely as I was expecting, but we all commented that with all of the great sights and the fun we had while sipping on drinks, none of us minded AT ALL!
After about 45 minutes of taking turns pedaling, we made it to our destination, Rick’s on The River. We were able to hop off for about 25 minutes; enough time to grab a drink and listen to some live music before heading back onboard. The sun was just about setting, so the 45 minute ride heading back was super comfortable and made for great views. From experience. whether you realize or not, EVERYONE should take a bathroom break at Rick’s, seeing as we had one lovely guest who almost didn’t make it back to Sail 😉
With about two hours or so needed for the excursion, Ww made it back in time to grab some dinner downtown after the sunset. The ride was so much fun and we were very impressed with how great the team from Kraken was. We definitely recommend you checking them out. And a cool thing they do for return customer is give you a discount on future rides. So get some friends together, grab some local beer, and head over to Kraken CycleBoats, it will be a great time!
-Nicholas
NHIE Guys 