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Inlet Paddlesports! 

Not interested in the adrenaline pumping Jet Ski rentals or Wet and Wild Banana Boat rides? Want to explore Murrells Inlet at your own pace and adventure off the beaten path? Then look no further than our Kayaking and Paddleboarding options! Our self-guided rentals of both Paddleboards and Kayaks are very flexible for activity levels of all sorts! For first timers, we usually recommend our minimum time of an hour to give you enough of a workout without completely tiring yourselves out. For those with more experience or a desire to drift along at your own pace, longer time periods are available up to 8 hours in length! These lengthier periods are only available during the summer months, so plan accordingly.

Our sit-in style kayaks are great options for those worried about tipping over, as they have a lower center of gravity and are very hard to tip with a rouge wave or boat wake. These kayaks are also perfect for all ages and skill levels, so feel free to bring the kids out too! The minimum age for a participant to go solo in their kayak is 12 years of age, but for those 11 and under, our Tandem Kayaks are a great alternative! The single Kayaks have a weigh capacity around 250lbs, while the tandem kayaks allow for nearly double that at 450lbs combined. 

Speaking of experience levels, you don’t need to know much when it comes to kayaking as our crew will give you all a briefing on the area, what to expect as far as tides and boat traffic, and pointers on how to best maneuver around the area! This is also a safety briefing, so be sure to pay close attention. For your safety, USCG-Approved life jackets are provided with every paddlesport rental, alongside the respective paddle ideal for your activity. In addition to this, Paddleboarders will also be provided with hard soled neoprene boots to aid both in stability and grip on the board while also providing an added level of protection against Razorshell Oysters, a native species of oyster known for an incredibly sharp shell. Without these boots, you’d be at risk of slicing a nasty gash into your foot as you land in another inlet native, Pluff mud! This is almost like Inlet quicksand, where you’ll sink down to around the knee at the worst and possibly lose a sneaker in the process of getting unstuck. Unlike most of our other activities we offer, this one we do recommend bringing your phone with you in case you need assistance out on the water, as well as to keep time for your rental! If we do not hear from you by the time you’re due back, our crew will be out on the water to locate and assist you however you need. That cellphone will also be a very easy tool to use as a navigational assistant, so keep that handy!

Paddlesports are also a great way for Inlet Locals to have a day-cation in their own backyard! Many of our locals love to go fishing in these waters, so why not do that at your leisure with a half-day kayak rental? All you’ll need is your own supplies and fishing licence, and you’re good to go! Got your own kayak but you’ve got friends in from out of town? Not a worry! Put your kayak in down at the Murrells Inlet Boat Landing and make your way over to Veteran’s Pier! We’ll instruct your friends on where to meet you and you can enjoy your time on the water!

Family Friendly, furry friends too!

Categories: #Watersports 

Here are Express Watersports, we pride ourselves on being a family friendly establishment, so much so to the point that we’ve been mistaken for being related to one another! We’re always on the lookout to make our offerings appealing to all walks of life, even if those walks are done on four legs with a leash!

What a fair few people don’t know is that there are some pet friendly options for you to bring out the WHOLE family, Fido included! The most common example of this is our Pontoon Boat rentals, as you and your family are the sole members aboard and are welcomed to bring out pets with you. Even our own dogs love to go boating at the end of a busy work day! 

Banana Boating – a Family Friendly Thrill Ride!

Looking for something to do in Myrtle Beach on vacation? Look no further than Banana Boating at Express Watersports! Banana Boating is a wet and wild thrill ride that is perfect for everyone ages 5 to 95! The ride consists of a 35 minute ride from our docks in Murrells Inlet, SC out to the Atlantic Ocean and back, conditions permitting. Similar to our Jet Ski Rentals, the weather and sea conditions will affect the riding area as safety is our primary concern. You’ll still have a fantastic time regardless of the route we take!

One of our most common questions with the Banana Boats are “Will we get wet or fall in?” The short answer is, of course! As we’ve said, Watersports usually include water to some degree, and the Banana Boats are the in the running for the wettest activity we offer, as you’re a step up from tubing and are pretty close to the water at all times. Guests will have life jackets in case their grip gives out or they take a dive by choice or not, so there’s no worry about being able to swim! We do ask that guests at least be mildly comfortable with the water as to remain calm should they go for a swim, that way your Captain can pull the Banana Boat back to you for you to climb back up on top of. 

Our Banana Boats have a handful of restrictions and recommendations to be aware of before booking. The minimum age requirement for this activity is five years old, with no true maximum age. We do suggest not participating in this activity if you have any prior back, heart, or knee issues for your own safety and comfort. Our Banana Boats can hold up to six participants at any given time and are rated for about 1500lbs total mass aboard. Ideally, a rough weight limit of 250lbs to 300lbs is what is enforced, but if guests can physically pull themselves up regardless of their weight, this per person limit can be flexible. We do allow for mixed groups to book at any given time, so you may share your banana boat with another family or two. If you’re looking for a private ride, be sure to book all six seats! During the peak season, we run two banana boats from 9am to 5pm every 45 minutes, so we can run larger groups back to back if need be. We strongly advise guests leave any valuables such as jewellery, cell phones, and any sunglasses/eyewear that you do not want to risk loosing, as the Ocean is known for taking these items from participants if they wind up falling in. Recovery of these is not guaranteed, so please leave the TikTok Live broadcasts for after the adventure!

Our Banana Boat rides take place from early March to Late October so there are plenty of options for you! For those shoulder months, we provide wetsuits free of charge if the water’s still too cold to be enjoyed with just a swimsuit. Goggles are available for an additional $1 fee should you forget to bring your own from home! A fair amount of folks in the past have asked us about sharks, alligators, and other wildlife perceived as “dangerous” by the general public. To better put your mind at ease, the only sharks we see in the riding area are usually no bigger than your foot, as they’re little shark pups that get swept in with the tides very rarely! As for the Alligators, they are incredibly rare to be spotted in Murrells Inlet, as Alligators are fresh water dwelling creatures and will avoid the salt water of Murrells Inlet if they can help it. Your captains work for tips, so if at the end of the trip you’ve felt they gave you a fantastic ride, they appreciate gratuities of any amount! We have an ATM on site, and our captains have Venmo, Cashapp, and Zelle!

Jet Skiing with Express Watersports

Looking for a thrill ride on your vacation to sunny South Carolina this summer? Look no further than Jet Skiing at Express Watersports! This action-packed adventure is perfect for thrill seekers that want to experience the water at up to 40mph speeds! There are a couple requirements in place for everyone’s safety that we need to go over first, so bear with us.

Firstly, your Rangers are out there to keep you and everyone else on the water safe while you enjoy our brand new Yamaha VX Jet Skis, so being able to communicate with and understand them is key! That being said, we require all guests that will be operating the jet skis to be fully fluent in English. In order to operate the ski, we also require guests to be at least 18 years old with a valid Driver’s License, ID Card, or other official document to prove age. We’ll hold onto this form of identification alongside a credit card for liability while you’re out on the ski, but don’t worry! These will be held in our secure lockbox behind the counter for the duration of your activity. If you do not have a credit card or debit card to leave behind the counter, we can also take a cash security deposit of $500 that will be returned with your ID at the conclusion of the activity as long as no damages occur while you’re on our skis. Think of this as a security deposit when renting a car! However, if you leave your Credit or Debit card, we do not initiate any hold on your funds, just to physically hold the card behind the counter. 

Now that you’ve gotten all that out of the way, and you’ve completed your waiver, we move onto the preparation stage! We kindly ask all guests to leave their personal belongings in their vehicle, especially cellular devices! These can be a major distraction to you or your passenger and usually wind up causing more harm than good. We’re happy to hold onto your keys behind the front counter for safe keeping while you’re on the water so you have peace of mind! Once you’ve stored your belongings and grab a life jacket from our life jacket racks, you’re ready to go! Your Ranger will meet you and the rest of the group at our shop, then we’ll all walk down to the docks together where your rangers will instruct you on the basics of Jet Ski operation, what to expect out on the water, and the game plan for your trip. Please bare in mind, we prioritise safety over everything else, so you may not be headed out to the ocean if conditions are too roug

You’ll have a full hour on the water with the jet skis one way or another though, and this briefing does not cut into that ride time! Your Rangers will be with your group at all times during the activity in case of issue and to ensure everyone’s safe. If you need their assistance, they’ll come to you and help you however you need. The Rangers being out there comes at no additional cost, but these fine folks do work for tips, so feel free to leave them a small token of your appreciation if you enjoyed your time out with them!

Got family or friends that want to join you on the water, but don’t want to drive? We have tandem jet skis available where one driver and one passenger can have a blast out on the water! Tandem skis work best when they’re loaded with 400lbs or less of weight, so please keep that in mind while making your reservation. Anything more than that, and you may wind up toppling into the water a little more frequently than you’d expect. The passenger age limit is also only five years old, so you can bring your child out with you! We do limit the Tandem skis to only one driver and one passenger, so if you’ve got multiple kids, you’ll need multiple drivers! Once we leave the dock, we do not return to dock unless time’s up or there is a medical or weather based emergency so there’s no swapping passengers out with people at the docks.

The Jet Ski Eco Tour is similar with a few key differences from our standard rentals. The Eco Tour takes place early in the morning on certain days so they’re not always available and is recommended to book in advance. We also suggest that guests have a mild amount of experience handling jet skis or watercraft in general for this. First timers are welcome, but this will be a lot of riding at speed in order to cover as much ground as possible to try and find wildlife native to the coasts of South Carolina! Given this goal, our Eco Tours are also 90 minutes in length as opposed to the rental’s 60 minute time limit. Your Rangers as well will be guiding you on this tour instead of marking boundaries to free ride, so be ready to ride on till you find something or stop for a little history of the area. It is never guaranteed to see wildlife on these sorts of endeavours, but our crew at Express Watersports has had a fantastic rate of finding our local pods of Dolphin over the years. The Eco Tour isn’t limited to just dolphins, mind you! Depending on the time of year, there can be a chance for turtles, stingrays, and many of our feathered friends such as Ospreys, Eagles, and other inlet birds you may see!

Our Jet Ski season typically runs from early March through to the end of October. This can be effected by weather, so if you’re planning a trip months in advance please be aware that we may have to make adjustments during hurricane season. For the chillier months of March, April, and late October, we offer wetsuits free of charge!