If you’ve ever seen the head of the charles and wanted to do it yourself you can take classes and rent row boats at Community Boating in Brighton. You can sign up for $170 per year and there are additional costs for personalized classes on crewing or sculling. They also have an exercise room in their brand new building and many community events. Their website is https://www.communityrowing.org/
During the summers there are gondola rides along the esplanade of the Charles. There are two gondolas you can reserve for rides right near the hatch shell and a standard tour is $99. For $229 you can go all out and get a private hour long tour, accordian player, roses, custom photos, wine and glasses, cheese and cracker basket, strawberries, and chocolate. It’s perfect for a romantic date that’s the same cost as a fancy dinner. The website for reservations is http://www.bostongondolas.com
If you’ve ever seen all the sailboats in the charles and wanted to join in, you can learn to sail and rent out your own sailboat at Community Boating right near the Hatch Shell on the esplanade. It’s $259 for a one-year membership or $199 if you’re a college student. It lets you take classes, rent sailboats, go kayaking, and even join in overnight trips to the harbor islands on the bigger boats in the fleet. You can find out more information at http://www.community-boating.org
Arsenal Park in Watertown rents out grills so you can chill out and grill right on the Charles River.
