Boat trip round the Sceptred Isle.

[oldgit]

Anyone.
Good for him.

Pub boss launches luxury ferry trips from Sheppey ​

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Luxury ferry trips from Sheppey to Southend have launched after a businessman splashed £185,000 on a motor yacht. And next Adam Ervin plans to start a trip along the Thames and sun-set cruise. He took delivery of the twin-engined vessel, which has a top speed of 35 knots, a month ago and launched the Southend service last Saturday. The 27-foot boat, named the Merry Phillippa Ferry, is moored on the creek behind his Queen Phillippa guest house at Queenborough. Adam, 57, from Bermondsey took over the former pub in 2014. He said: "I've been working on this idea for nine months. It's a little extra experience to offer our customers." He says he spotted a gap in the market after many visitors asked what they could do on the Island. A half-hour cruise to Southend with a four-hour stay works out at £40 per person. The boat is licensed to hold five and the captain. Adam is also introducing two-and-a-half-hour sunset cruises (£80) and trips along the Thames to London at £100 each.​

 

[Concerto]

I read about it and though it was a way to reclaim the VAT on the boat. I expect he will soon find that the fuel cost will not make the crossing with 4 paying passengers to be worthwhile. The same article also mentions:

"Rochester-based Jetstream Tours, which is run by Richard Bain, restarts its Queenborough to Southend service on April 1 using the 100-seat Jacob Marley ferry. It charges £22 (£15 children) and also operates trips to the wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery Second World War bomb ship."

Much more likely to make a profit.

 

[Capt Popeye]

Knowing the area pretty well ,(lived nearby for 50 years) these ventures are I say most welcome ; pity that I now live a couple of hundred miles or more away