Cheap California Boat Rides to Enjoy

Newport Beach Harbor's boats in the bay include the Catalina Flyer high speed catamaran, kayak rentals, and the Newport Beach Ferry.

It costs a lot of money to own and maintain a boat to ride in the Pacific waters off California's shores. The cheapest ownership is the boat that sits on a driveway of your home and gets carted to the beach each time you want to take a ride. Even the little Duffy electric boats that park at docks and slips aren't cheap to operate and park.  So for those of us who love the ocean but don't have enough commitment or cash to buy into the dream, there are some ways we can get our fix...and we're not talking about kayaks and canoes.
 

If you want to be out on the water a lot, you can swap cleaning services and other tasks for rides, and fishing trips. Of course you can always get a job working on a boat, too. But for those who just want joy rides on a variety of craft, you come ahead by buying your pleasures, one ride at a time.

Cheapest water rides are the ferry boats. They often are used as a form of public transportation, so your ride gets subsidized by a municipality or government agency. Ferry rides in California are located in San Diego (between downtown and Coronado); Newport Beach (between Balboa Peninsula and Balboa Island); Long Beach (between Shoreline Village and Alamitos Landing); between Vallejo, Alameda and Oakland to San Francisco; and perhaps there are a few more. For the casual boat rider or tourist, this covers the major waterfront cities in California. The rides mentioned range between $1 to around $10/ one way.

Pleasure rides. The most expensive pleasure boat rides in California are the Carnival Cruises, an all inclusive trip with meals and accommodations. There are ports in San Diego, Long Beach, San Pedro, and San Francisco, allowing you to book a cruise that can span the globe. Prices range from a few hundred bucks on the  Baja Mexico trip to thousands for global exploration.