Boat rental businesses getting people out on the water during coronavirus pandemic

One local tourism industry adjusting to life during the coronavirus pandemic is the boat rental business.

Salty Sam’s Marina near Fort Myers Beach has been offering sales to encourage people to get out on the water.

They’ve also been taking extra precautions, cleaning and disinfecting the boats.

Not only are the people we talked to comfortable renting the boats, but staff say they’re hearing from a lot of people who are thankful their business is not shut down.

“The crew informed us that they were disinfecting the boats, wiping them down. They saw that we brought bleach wipes, and they’re like, ‘We wiped it down, but go ahead.’ They were a very good crew,” said Ron Noyes who was vacationing from Michigan.

People are just grateful that they actually have something to do.

“There’s so much that’s shut down that they don’t have any place to go, and we’re offering them a lot of fun and entertainment for their children and themselves. So they’re very happy,” said Bruce Pierce, captain of “Pieces of Eight” pirate ship.

They’ve been limiting capacity on their larger boats to 50% to make sure people can have space between them and others.

Employees told us they are fully booked for Thursday.