Boating in DC at National Harbor

I took my son kayaking this Sunday, and we had a great time. Boating in DC at NH has an ample supply of tandem kayaks (great for parents with small kids). There’s not a lot of natural scenery in this part of the Potomac, but my son and I both enjoyed paddling under the Wilson Bridge.
My only negative comment has to do with check-​in time. There tends to be a line, which bottlenecks as the staff try to get customers on and off boats. If they can’t streamline boarding procedures, it would be nice if they’d provide seating and a wider awning to shade customers from the sun.

We came here with a group of 6 people with groupon deal ($ 40 dollars for 2 people for 2 hours boat ride). Once we got here, we had to sign a waiver form at the table in front of the cashier tent. Please read carefully with the terms, don’t say I didn’t warn you, before you sign anything. Then after we turned our form in, we were direct to get our life vest and wait in line to get our paddle board. We didn’t have to pay or anything yet. They will check you out afterward.
We got the paddble board and we were told on how to get on the board and the basic things we need to know before we do it. The people there were extremely nice and helpful. Only bad thing is the water is a big dirty. Falling off paddle board is common, since its harder than kayak.
Once we were done with our paddle boarding, we were in line to check out and pay. The groupon is a big difficult since they didn’t count tax in there and none of us were aware of that. The girl works there was nice enough to take care of all 6 of us and slow explained that we will have to cover the taxes and she scanned all our 3 devices for the deal. I really appreciate her patient. I will be back to try other activities out.

Easy, just walk right up, sign a waiver and off you go. Reasonable rates and a calm, quiet lagoon to paddle around in. Not much scenery but if you’re just wanting to get on the water– this is as easy as it gets.

They ripped us off. Out booking was at 6 but we had to wait 15 min just to get our boat ready. When our boat was ready, the attendance asked to comeback within hour and 15 minutes. We came back within Hour and 10 min and they charged us extra $ 25 10 minutes. I asked the cashing that we were being help during our departure caused our 15 delay. The guy totally ignored us when we ask him about the justification of the extra charge. Seriously.

I prefer the Georgetown location to this one as far as having better scenery while kayaking and space to explore. The National Harbor location is nice as well. They seem to have more paddle boats which is probably good for families with small kids. I went kayaking with a friend in a double kayak. We had a nice time and the price is reasonable.
The only thing is they’re really stickler about their one hour time allowance. We were charged for the extra 6 minutes we were on the water. I could understand if it was 15 minutes or a half hour extra, but 6 minutes? Why? I don’t believe they’re unreasonable at the Georgetown location to penalize patrons for 6 minutes.
The workers were friendly and helpful. They provided us with a ziplock bag to keep our few belongings (keys, cell, wallet) dry.
If you’re kayaking, you will get wet so being an extra set of clothing if you want to spend time at the harbor afterwards.

If you’re out at national harbor getting out on the water is a fun and unexpected experience. $ 20 gets you a double kayak or a stand up paddle board for an hour. They also have peddle boats and 1 person kayaks to chose from. No advance planning or reservations required. Just fill out a waver, one per person and get in line. They have funny looking duck and swan peddle boats here too. Just be aware that if you choose a kayak you might end up with some wet shorts, but it’s all good.

My family and I were really excited to utilize their paddle boats bc it was my daughter’s first time on one. When we arrived, there were forms we had to fill out before going on the boat. After filling out a form, we waited in line to check in, but by the time we got up to the front, they informed us that both my husband and I had to each fill out a form. We assumed only one per party would of been sufficient. Wished they would of written that on the signs. Once we got out on the water, it was nice bc there weren’t too many people out on the water just yet. We did realize though that the area that you can paddle and also kayak is pretty small. It’s ok for paddle boat people but if I were to pay to kayak, I would expect to go out a bit more than the area that they had mapped out. We didn’t have to pay until after the boat ride. The line was long to check out bc their system crashed and the credit card machines were down. My husband paid while my daughter and I were waiting elsewhere. When I looked at the receipt, I realized they had overcharge us and my husband didn’t catch that right away and had to go back to get it fixed. They couldn’t figure out how to give him a refund right away so this took even longer to leave. All in all, ok experience with some hiccups here and there.

I have to say, I was less than impressed with this business. Don’t get me wrong, I had a great time when I was on the water, but the employees and lack of organization will likely prevent me from coming back anytime soon.
My boyfriend and I wanted to go paddle boarding, and this location is much closer to our house than the Key Bridge location that we have been to before (and enjoyed) so we thought we would give it a try.
We came with the bare minimum in tow (wallet, keys, and the clothing on our backs) but were surprised to find that they did not have any lockers for us to put our stuff in and they told me to «just keep $ 40 to pay for the paddle boards when we come back and put the rest of the stuff in the car while your boyfriend checks in). So that’s what we did. Ironically, as soon as I came back from the car (which was parked pretty far away) they asked for our IDs to check us in. I reminded the guy that he literally just told me to put all of our things in the car and I did not have our IDs on us anymore. He said it shouldn’t be an issue, and let us go anyway.
We go down to get the paddle boards and still don’t really have a place to put our flip flops, keys, or additional clothing. If we were kayaking, it wouldn’t be much of an issue, but when you a potentially will fall into the water, that might not work quite as well. They said their lack of lockers was due to the fact that they were new and we should just leave our stuff in a pile on the dock. Not awesome.
This was our first time paddle boarding, but it seemed that we knew more about what to do than the staff. One of the guys was giving instructions to my boyfriend and was about to send him on his way, when we asked if he should strap his ankle into the safety line. «Oh, uh, maybe. I don’t think it’s that important» was the staff member’s response…
Paddle boarding was fun, but not nearly as scenic as in Georgetown and you can really only go as far as the end of the cove and back, so I would not recommend going for more than an hour or you will just be going around in a circle.
When we get back the place is a madhouse and there are lines of families all waiting for the duck and swan boats to come in. We get in at the same time as two girls, but let them go a head of us. Eventually we find out that they have two friends who weren’t out of the water and we would have to wait for them to get back since they already started the check out process.
When I finally get up to the counter (10 minutes later), they ask which person scanned their ID, and we said neither, because you told us to put our stuff back in the car. They said, «oh, that will make things more difficult, you really should have scanned your ID» as if it were our fault. They then say it will be $ 42.50…with taxes. I remind them that they told us to only keep $ 40 on us and to put everything else in the car. They guy was less than sympathetic and said, «sorry man, taxes». So I literally ran back to the car to get $ 2.50 and come back to another HUGE line and wait another 15 minutes to check out again.
During this time, children were running all over and no one really seemed to be in charge. People we given pretty unclear instructions, and told to just pick up life jackets, so parents were putting giving their kids the wrong size. On two separate occasions, the guy checking people out had to YELL over the balcony for parents to put on other life jackets located in a different place than the big messy pile people are instructed to get things from.
When I am next in line, the guy checking everyone out yelled to his co-​worker, «Hey, I think that beef-​cake guy with the mohawk and his girlfriend skipped out and didn’t pay their bill, what jerks!» (he was talking about me and my boyfriend as I was standing right in front of him).
I told him I was there and had been here for quite some time. He never apologized for insulting my boyfriend nor the lack of communication that kept us running back and forth between the dock and the parking lot.
I paid my money and got the heck out of there.
My suggestion for this company is to:
— Get some lockers for people to put their things in
— Properly train your employees (both in proper boating and common courtesy)
— Hire more staff to handle busy days
— Get more duck boats so customers are waiting in a line to get in one
— Don’t insult your customers when they are standing in front of you.
Blaming your lack of organization on being a new business is BS. Maybe don’t open until you are ready to handle the customers properly.
My suggestion for anyone thinking about going here:
Make the drive to Key Bridge.

Had a really fun outing at the National Harbor thanks to Boating in DC’s new location. Went early on a Sat to beat both the heat and any crowds. We were successful on both fronts. The staff were helpful even though they seem to be still working out the process for checking out boats.
The National Harbor is a great place for beginners like myself. The calm waters and easy to navigate cove were a great place to get used to being in a kayak. I’m not sure it’s the most scenic place to go and probably doesn’t present much of a challenge for a skilled kayaker. However, it was really great for a pleasant hour on the water learning which end of the paddle was which.
I used an Amazon Local coupon that created a bit of confusion on check out. However, once I pushed back a little, the staff were very helpful in making sure we were able to use it for the correct amount.
I highly recommend this for a fun morning outing. It’s a good chance to get some exercise, test the waters (come on I had to), and see what the Harbor has to offer.

Went kayaking last weekend and am so happy the National Harbor offers kayaking, paddle boats, and stand up paddle now.
The guys manning the front registers and taking the waiver forms were super friendly. I liked that the waivers are all on a table to make the process go a little faster. We were told to walk down to the kayaks to get ready to go, and the young lady assisting us onto the kayak was super helpful and friendly as well.
An hour was $ 20 and we were able to go under the Wilson Bridge to the other side with plenty of time to spare.

HI, I was excited to try out kayaking at National Harbor today. Saw the presser in the Washington Post.
I arrived 1:30pm and was told the winds were too strong. No worries.
So I grabbed a bite and came back in 2 hrs when the wind subsided, and was told you had run out of waiver forms.
There wasn’t a whole lot of people boating today. There’s no excuse to run out of forms on a Promo Day and you guys could have taken advantage of the time during the lull to print out some forms.
I was told a colleague had run back to Georgetown to burn copies. Unsat — running out of forms is understandable perhaps but you must have a plan to burn copies expeditiously — and within National Harbor
I had come all the way from DC with the traffic, paid for parking and now this.