What it's like to rent a Houseboat from Holly Bluff Marina on St John's River

What it's like to rent a Houseboat from Holly Bluff Marina on St John's River - Rambling with Phil

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2 жыл бұрын

We recently rented a houseboat on the St. John's River! What a cool experience to see a natural part of Florida and also enjoy being on the water. If you've ever wondered about renting a floating RV, check out my video of our experience.
In this video, we spent 3 days and 2 nights on a houseboat and tied up to trees along the river so we could sleep at night ... probably so everyone else could sleep too!
If you're not a boater, you will probably be ok as long as you study first ... there are some general rules that you should know before heading out. Once on the river, though, you are good to go!
This was a cool and relaxing way to see the river and spend some quality time with family and friends as well as see a side of the Ocala Forest that many do not.
We really enjoyed it and are planning on doing it again.
Thanks for watching and please don't forget to subscribe to the Rambling with Phil KZfaq channel to see more adventures like this one!
Holly Bluff Marina website:
www.hollybluff.com

Пікірлер: 51

@samdubb2466 2 жыл бұрын

Lake George can be extremely choppy, but silver glen is worth it. It’s a really nice place for the kids to get out and swim. I’ve lived between Astor and DeLand my whole 30 years of life and didn’t know there were houseboats like this for rent in DeLand.. I guess I should’ve figured there would be. Lol. Looks like y’all had fun. Florida is a beautiful place. I love this state. Lucky to have grown up in a place like this

@RamblingWithPhil 2 жыл бұрын

Yes, we did have fun! Thanks for the info on Lake George ... we are planning to try this again in the fall and hope that Lake George won't be so choppy. Wish us luck and thanks for watching!

@pattisunnyflorida8595 10 ай бұрын

isn't there a lot of gators in st john's river, how many did you see?

@glennevans5824 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info of these unique opportunities..many wud never think u cud actually rent and enjoy something like a houseboat excursion.🤙🏻🤙🏻

@RamblingWithPhil Жыл бұрын

We definitely enjoyed this new experience! Thanks for watching and for your comment!

@joshuacastro5468 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing your family adventure. We have been looking for something fun like this to do like this. Really helpful, appreciate you scoping it out.

@RamblingWithPhil Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching! Glad you liked the video & felt it was helpful.

@JamesRiner-rv1mv Жыл бұрын

I was actually born in Jacksonville myself and my granddaughter owned a fish camp that is now walker fish camp.

@glennr9913 Жыл бұрын

Looks like a lot of fun to get out on the river and explore. You can't see that part of FL from the car. It's too bad that the smaller houseboats don't have canopies on the roof. They obviously get as sunny as the larger boats... It was great that you saw manatees. That's something we really want to see. The drone video was a treat too. Thanks for taking the time to share your trip with us all. :)

@RamblingWithPhil Жыл бұрын

This houseboat adventure was pretty fun. We plan to do it again on a different boat next time. Thanks for watching!

@pattisunnyflorida8595 10 ай бұрын

believe it or not there is one portion you can see alot of large boats from the road, it is only about 20 feet of view, on 19 the one that runs off of the middle of the state and not the 19 off of the west coast

@frankbalazs8816 Жыл бұрын

LOOKS AWESOME!!!

@RamblingWithPhil Жыл бұрын

It was definitely a good time! Thanks for watching!

@Bizzenn1976 2 жыл бұрын

We just rented Song of the south this past week and it was amazing! I could easily live on one.

@RamblingWithPhil 2 жыл бұрын

We enjoyed our experience also! Thanks for watching.

@richardr1627 Жыл бұрын

We rented a houseboat at the same place. We had a great time … want to do it again

@RamblingWithPhil Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching and for your comment! We are also hoping to do it again since our family enjoyed it.

@JamesRiner-rv1mv Жыл бұрын

You are a cool captain

@RamblingWithPhil Жыл бұрын

Thank you and thanks for watching!

@nemade Жыл бұрын

Thank you for your video! We are going tomorrow (after having to reschedule from October due to Hurricane Ian) and your video was very helpful! Did you get to see any manatees other than the one you saw at the beginning? Thanks again!

@RamblingWithPhil Жыл бұрын

We only saw the one but it was still a nice experience. Thanks for watching & for your comment!

@JamesRiner-rv1mv Жыл бұрын

Snacks are good ain't they baby?lol

@JamesRiner-rv1mv Жыл бұрын

Give me bite of subway move ya fingers? lmao

@wayaboveme Жыл бұрын

Phil, nice video. My wife and I live in Naples and have wanted to do this for a few years. Question, how were the bugs? My wife seems to attract mosquitoes and we've experienced major swarms when tying up to mangroves over here in Naples while boating. we would probably do this in the spring unless a different time of year would be less bugs.

@RamblingWithPhil Жыл бұрын

I am a mosquito attractant also! We went in mid October 2021 and the temps were comfortable for us. The mosquitos weren't too bad at night but there were a few. Not so much that I was against doing this again. My understanding, though, is that these rentals are all cancelled until the end of 2022 due to Hurricane Ian and how it affected the river, etc. (we were actually planning to go again this past October) It was a fun trip though and I really liked the experience! Thanks for watching and for commenting!

@jameskramer6901 Жыл бұрын

I know that it has been a year already …. But was curious about the price of renting the houseboat … I may be interested in doing something like this in the future. Thanks for your video .

@RamblingWithPhil Жыл бұрын

I checked their website & costs range from $1,600 (weekend low season) to $2,500 (week high season) but there are taxes & you have to pay for the gas. They also have an option to add insurance. I would check their website for more information & costs based on the specific house boat you are considering. Www.holly bluff.com Thanks for your comment & for watching!

@dougwise5134 2 жыл бұрын

Were there sandbars are someplace to beach the boat for the puppy to use bathroom.

@RamblingWithPhil 2 жыл бұрын

There were a few spots that the marina suggested but some were busy so it was difficult at times to find a place for our pup.

@bonezzzz6330 Жыл бұрын

Thx for the video, i want to do thus but what was it like at night? Can you go outside or is it all.bugs???

@RamblingWithPhil Жыл бұрын

We were ok outside at night (it was October). Thanks for watching and for your question!

@westtexasdave2140 Жыл бұрын

Just curious, why did you have them lift the bridges? The boat would fit with plenty of room to spare.

@RamblingWithPhil Жыл бұрын

The marina recommended that we have the bridge master raise each bridge "just to be safe". If we hit the bridge, we would have been liable for any damage so we didn't want to risk it. We probably would have been fine but this was our first trip up the river. Thanks for your question and for watching!

@annaguy4879 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for sharing. Your post is so helpful for our coming houseboat experience in Holly Bluff. By any chance, do you have cell phone reception? Thank you.

@RamblingWithPhil 2 жыл бұрын

We did have cell phone reception most of the time but not the entire time. There were a few locations when we didn't but I don't remember exactly where those locations were ... likely when we were farther away from "civilization".

@JamesRiner-rv1mv Жыл бұрын

Grandfather

@mikeseda6350 Жыл бұрын

How much was it ?

@RamblingWithPhil Жыл бұрын

The cost ranges from $1,600 to $2,500 depending on length of rental and/or whether it's during the weekend or week. Thanks for your question

@glennwatson3313 Жыл бұрын

How much?

@RamblingWithPhil Жыл бұрын

Currently on their website www.hollybluff.com the Serenity rates range from $1,600 to $1,700 on the weekend and from $2,400 to $2,500 for a week. Taxes and fuel are extra. They also require a $500 security deposit. Of course, their costs can change ... Thanks for your comment and for watching!

@tomjohnson308 Жыл бұрын

We're alligators a problem?

@RamblingWithPhil Жыл бұрын

We didn’t see any on our trip but they are supposed to be out there somewhere … thanks for watching!

@maxsdad538 Жыл бұрын

if you have water, you'll have gators. YOU may not see them, but they're there.

@mikeseda6350 Жыл бұрын

We’re is the dog pooping?

@RamblingWithPhil Жыл бұрын

We actually brought a synthetic grass potty tray for the dog. I have heard that some people try to tie up and take their dogs onto islands, etc. along the river.

@georgeknight2676 Жыл бұрын

Did you catch any fish?

@RamblingWithPhil Жыл бұрын

No one was lucky enough to catch anything but I think they had fun. Thanks for watching and for your comment/question!

@bonnieholton7138 2 жыл бұрын

why get back to civilization stay out on river up the creeks big catfish

@RamblingWithPhil 2 жыл бұрын

It was definitely nice seeing nature "on our own". Thanks for watching and I hope you will check out my other videos as well as subscribe to my channel if you haven't already!