Recently I turned 30 and celebrated by throwing a three-week long festival. There was the winery lunch in McLaren Vale, the degustation dinner in Bondi and then the boat party on Sydney Harbour.
Sydney Harbour is so ridiculously beautiful, and there’s no better way to enjoy it than be on it. Ever since we moved to Sydney I’ve been gagging to gather the crew and charter a boat for the day – turning 30 seemed like a good excuse.
I’m on a boat!
I actually had THE best day! While the idea of spending the afternoon on a boat, in the sun, drinking, with good music and good company, might make some people want to vomit – in my eyes, life doesn’t get much better.
There’s no better way to enjoy #sydneylife and forget how much debt you’re in than to spend the day on a luxury boat. Cruising past the Sydney Opera House, underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge, then dropping anchor in a secluded bay and milling about with the other fancy AF people on boats. You might even get mooned (more than once) if you’re lucky like we were.
Fun, games and in decent sea aside, private BYO boat parties take a bit to organise (or so I found out). But, now that I’m a boat party veteran, I thought I’d share everything I learnt about the process and how to nail it.
Hiring a boat on Sydney Harbour
Other than calling up James Packer and asking for a lend of his super yacht, I wasn’t too sure how I was going to find me a boat. But Captain von Google came to the rescue (as he always does) and I learnt there’s oodles of charter boat agencies that act as boat dealers, coordinating everything between you and the boat owners. There’s Boat Hire Sydney, Smart Cruiser Sydney, Sydney Harbour Escapes, Sydney Dreamboats, Usain Boat – ok I made that last one up.
Take her to sea Mr Murdoch
Wanderlust for Sydney Harbour
The water toy I hired was Wanderlust – a 43’ catamaran that takes up to 35 people. The four-hour charter, including a BYO surcharge and wharf fees, set us back $2300, which worked out to be $66 per person. A verrry reasonable price for a day of fun.
On the day, Wanderlust’s crew couldn’t have been more helpful, plating up the food we’d brought, taking it around all afternoon and packing the leftovers up for us at the end of the day. The skipper (and owner) even jumped into the harbour to rescue a phone over board. Fortunately, that was the only thing that went overboard. By some Christmas miracle none of us fell into the harbour.
Image credit: Sydney Dreamboats
Tips for having the best boat party on Sydney Harbour
OK, the serious stuff. To have the best Sydney Harbour boat charter experience, this is the checklist you must adhere to (according to me):
- Book in advance, especially if you have a preferred boat and a preferred date, and that preferred date is in summer. Although you probably don’t need to book 12 months in advance like I did *organisation obsessed raise their hand*.
- Food, very important. Drinking, sun – you need food, deh. Many boats have catering options or BBQs. I kind of wish we’d organised a BBQ – the fancy cheese I brought died a painful death in the sun *boating novice raise their hand*.
- Get a nautical dress theme going – it’s way more fun this way.
- Create a ripper playlist – this means starting all sophisticated and shit with songs like Orinoco Flow (Sail Away) by Enya. Then shifting gear into some dance bangers and 80s/90s classics. Naturally, the playlist must have I’m on a Boat from The Lonely Island and T-Pain.
- Only invite people who are fun – no-one likes a whinger. “It’s too sunny.” Of course it is! We’re on a fricken boat!
- Pray to the weather gods for perfect boat weather. 28, sunny and a little wind is the sweet spot.
- Pack sunscreen – for the love of God, do not forget sunscreen.
- And drinking water – you need loads of that stuff.
- You’re gonna wanna take your shoes off – unless you like flirting with the idea of falling overboard.
- Pray to hell none of your crew breaks the toilets – you want your bond back.
- Have a designated sober(ish) person for disembarkment. Trying to get 35 very happy people off a boat in a hurry, when you have a ferry on your six, without any lost belongings is a task only a sober(ish) person can successfully complete.
- Have somewhere pre-booked to continue the party on-land. For us, this was Watsons Bay Hotel. Watching the sun set over the harbour and city was an absolutely magical end to a bloody magical day.
Yep, the 30th birthday festival couldn’t have closed with a more epic finale.
