We went out on Lake Lanier on a 24-foot pontoon rented from Aqua Sports Adventures in Buford. We…read morehad a good time, but my experience wasn't as fun as my previous boat outings on Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona.
We originally wanted to rent a boat with an upper deck, slide, wet bar, and toilet (like the boats I've gone out on in the past from different boat rental companies), but Aqua Sports Adventures didn't have any so we were "stuck" with a 24-foot pontoon. This pontoon had a max capacity of 14 passengers. We used the entire 14-person allotment and after fuel, fees, taxes, and gratuity, our total per person cost to rent the boat all day (9am-5pm) was $34.
It wasn't a bad price, but it wasn't as good of a deal as other bigger and better boats I've rented from businesses like Port Royale in Gainesville ($25: https://www.yelp.com/biz/port-royale-gainesville-3?hrid=p9tlB4H5UfFBNDjPXg0AtA) and Paradise Rental Boats in Acworth ($32: https://www.yelp.com/biz/paradise-rental-boats-acworth?hrid=4OA7jBULdk2refVmaBfiHg). Granted, a lot of factors go into the price you pay including the number of people you bring with you to split the cost. Ultimately, however, I paid more for a smaller boat which was not as enjoyable.
I do not recommend maxing out the boat's passenger capacity. Naturally, the more passengers you have, the less space there is on the boat and this includes the space needed for bags, coolers, floatables, and other stuff. We were crammed for space. It was tight and got uncomfortable at times. The pontoon had limited shade (what seemed like less coverage than other pontoons I've been on in the past) and because we had several people, it forced several to have to sit and bake/burn in the sun.
As for the boat itself, which was 90-horsepower, it was in OK shape at best. Like renting a car, we walked around the boat (with an Aqua Sports Adventures employee) and marked on a sheet of paper any existing damage which included some pretty big dents. After leaving the dock, we discovered that the front door to our boat was broken. Through wear and tear, the hinge had become unscrewed. And despite our efforts to balance the weight, the boat always seemed to tip to one side. This may or may not have been related to steering problems which I noticed when driving the boat. At higher speeds, no matter how hard I turned the steering wheel to the left and no matter which direction the current/wakes seemed to be going, the boat always drifted right. The steering was out of whack. Therefore, I had to drive at moderate to slow speeds.
Anyone who wants to drive a boat has to watch a 10-minute safety video and take a 20-question boat safety test. If you want to save time, you can watch the video and take the test ahead of time here: https://aquasportsadventures.com/booking/index.php/safety/. Obviously, this is a great idea. However, what they don't teach you is what all the different signs and buoys mean out on the lake (some, but not all), how to dock and undock, and how to anchor. I guess the staff just assumed we knew how to do all this on our own. Fortunately, some of us had boating experience, but it wouldn't hurt for folks like me who needed a refresher.
We ended up taking our rental boat north to Van Pugh North Park with the intention of grilling. Unfortunately, all of the grills were taken so we went south to Burton Mill Park. We were able to find an open grill here. Both Van Pugh North Park and Burton Mill Park have beaches, grills, and restrooms, both of which were fairly clean. Since our pontoon didn't have a toilet, the park's restrooms were important. If you rent a pontoon, it's good to know where the parks and restrooms are beforehand. A map is provided on the boat and you can also use your smartphone (we relied on Google Maps). We found a cove to anchor down at near Burton Mill Park, grilled, ate, drank, and played on the beach and in the water. It was nice and relaxing once we finally got settled down.
All of the Aqua Sports Adventures employees I encountered were young and friendly.
The company is located at Holiday on Lake Lanier (Holiday Marina) on the south end of Lake Lanier. It's situated just outside Lanier Islands Resort, so no, you don't have to pay a gate fee. There is a guardhouse to Holiday on Lake Lanier and they will direct you to Aqua Sports Adventures which has a spacious parking lot and restrooms.
While not bad, given my better experiences with other boating companies, I'm not sure I would rent from these guys again.