Yacht charter and boat rental are among the most popular activities in Singapore, they have become progressively more available and affordable with different experiences from fishing and wake-sport activities to full-day and overnight trips.
As of the last count, there are 55 charter operators in the leisure, fishing, diving, wake sports, sailing, and outbound business with 84 unique SZH charter boats across 7 marinas in Singapore
Types of yacht charter and boat rental experiences
Southern Islands
Pulau Hantu
Pulau Ubin/Ketam
Overnight
Fishing
Wake Sports
Diving
Sailing
Heritage Tour
RHIB Ride
Jet Ski Rental
Bareboat Rental
Superyacht
Types of yacht charter experiences and boat rental Singapore
Day Trip to the Southern Islands (St Johns Island, Lazarus Island)
Until recently this four-hour cruise was dominated by corporate gatherings or a party trip out to anchor at Lazarus Bay or St Johns. These days, a cruise out to the Southern Islands has become one of the most popular activities for families or friends looking to get together and enjoy an escape from Singapore. With a growing number of charter operators, a four-hour trip to the Southern Island is quite affordable for a luxury group experience.
Featured Companies: Ximula Sails, Luxury Charter Singapore,
Pulau Hantu Trips
This little pocket of paradise gives you a whole range of interesting things to do, the most well-known of them are diving, if you aren’t into diving this is still a very interesting Island to explore. With smaller draft vessels you can go inside the lagoons to get a more exclusive location, for the bigger boats, they stay outside the lagoon and will run tenders/small boats from the boat to the island. At low tide is also a sight to see as the lagoons dry out you can make your way across from Island to Island or search around the tidal zones for unique marine life
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Ketam Channel is possibly the most tranquil and peaceful place in all of Singapore, located between Pulau Ketam and Pulau Ubin you have a space of water that is calm with river estuaries running through Ubin ripe for exploring by kayak or SUP, at high tides you can go all the way through the island’s waterways.
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Overnight Trips
Pre-Covid in Singapore, this was probably not a thing to do but recently with the influx of regular charterers and a nation-wide drive for “stay-cations”, overnight trips have become a lot more interesting for those in Singapore, and why not, you get to see two of the most beautiful times on the water, the sunrise and sunset all while being looked after by crew cooking bbq while you take in the stars.
Featured Companies: Ximula Sail
Fishing Trips
The Fishing Kaki’s of Singapore has always been a strong group amplified by the abundance of fishing sites and range of species in Singapore waters. Many of the fishing charter boats have dedicated areas they operate in, out of Marina’s in the North they will stick to northern islands, out of ONE15 Marina and Keppel Marina they will stick around the Southern Islands, RSYC and Raffles Marina will be active around Cyrene Reef, Raffles Lighthouse and Tuas break wall.
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Wake Sports
Wakeboarding, wake surfing, and wake foiling charters almost exclusively operate around Seletar out of SAF and Punggol Marina, there are also operators out of Raffles Marina who make their way to Pulau Sarimbun. Cost of wake sports are pretty inexpensive for a few hours on the water, unfortunately, due to Singapore’s congested marine space, there is only a hand full of wake sports areas that operators can go to.
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Diving
Singapore has a very active diving community, each week the diving locations of Pulau Hantu and Pulau Jong will be visited by dive instructors and charter operators. Mostly operating out of the ONE15 Marina, Keppel, and RSYC, a few of the charter boats are also dive instructors though there are a number of dive instructors who charter specific dive-friendly boats for their customers.
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Sailing
Sailing charters have traditionally struggled in Singapore, sailing courses on dinghies are available out of most marinas, Changi Sailing Club, SAF, Constant Winds, RSYC, and Raffles Marina but these predominately stay around the marina areas. In recent times, there has been an emergence of sailing charters out of ONE15 Marina and Keppel Marina that include passage planning and overnight trips from South to North.
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Heritage and Scenic Tours
Tours and marine tourism have never had as much emphasis as now, which comes at a critical time to rediscover Singapore’s marine history and culture by experiencing it at sea, yacht, and boat charter tours sail you around areas of interest and landmarks along the southern coast of Singapore. You will hear about interesting stories through guides. Depending on the tour, you will be able to stop off to explore different Islands or belongings along the way.
Featured Companies: RHIB Rides
Bareboat Rentals – Self Drive Charters
Bareboat charter and self-drive rental are well known around the world as a convenient and cost-effective way to drive your own boat with no crew, or provisions; instead, the people who rent the vessel from the operator take full responsibility for any damages occurred. As Singapore requires a Personal Pleasure Craft Drivers License (PPCDL) to drive any port licensed vessel this has made bareboat offering limited to those who have passed the local license along with additional training by the operator.
Featured Companies: The Boat Shop Asia
Jet Ski Rental
One of the funniest ways to get around the islands and into marine areas that boats generally can’t get into, in order to rent a Jet Ski in Singapore the driver will be required to have a Power Pleasure Craft Driving License (PPCLD). Similar to bareboat charter, the thrill of being in control of your own vessel without the drag of owning makes these activities very popular.
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RHIB Rides
Rigid-Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIB) tours are a new way to experience boating in Singapore, a fast and comfortable ride around Singapore’s southern area, typically taking in the beautiful sight of Singapore Harbour and Skylines of the city, stopping at the Southern Islands and getting insight to the marine heritage of Singapore
Featured Companies: RHIB Rides
Superyachts
Superyacht Charter is the epitome of the charter industry, the most bespoke and luxurious vacation available. Superyachts come with experienced crew and staff that cater to the highest level of service for ultra-high net worth individuals. Unfortunately due to Singapore’s lack of destinations and strict commercial guidelines, there is less than a handful of luxury superyachts available for charter.
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Association of Boat Charter Singapore (ABCS)
Formed in 2021, the Singapore charter boat industry has grown exponentially over the past years, in many ways it has become one of the most important business types in the pleasure craft industry in Singapore. The regulations, policy and promotion for charter operators vary across different government agencies, as charter operators and businesses we need to plan and prepare ourselves for the best possible outcome to run a successful company.
Singapore Marine Guide is proud to have played a small role in forming the Association of Boat Charter Singapore (ABCS), the initial drive of the association was back in 2019, maybe even earlier but never got going officially, following on from our first charter webinar with Minqi Wong (Ximula Sails), Clement Chua (The Boat Shop Asia) and Wee Teck Quek (Wanderlust Adventures), the motivation was back to set up an official association lead by Wee Teck Quek, Minqi Wong, Ang Chee Boon, and Andy Soo. Singapore Marine Guide had a number of tasks in the set up of the association, firstly as acting treasurer, to be a neutral party in collecting funds and driving memberships, we then went on to design the logo and develop the ABCS website. Although we have no more official role to play, we are in full support of the committee and wish them the very best in strengthening the yacht charter market in Singapore.
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