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!
