After 23 years in business, Just For Fun
Watercraft Rentals is celebrating their best year yet during this
Fourth of July holiday - and it's a far cry from what businesses along
the Highland Lakes were experiencing last year during an epic drought.
The rental shop, which deals in party pontoon boats and other
aquatic pleasure crafts, hit a record this 4th of July weekend on Lake
Travis - renting out their entire fleet of 77 boats, jet skis, and
houseboats.
"This weekend has been
fantastic," says Roth. "Our guys got beat into the dock and the loved
every minute of it. We had tons of people. Everybody came and had a
good time. Our boats were all rented out."
Indeed. The Highland
Lakes were dangerously low at this time last year, severely curtailing
boat activity - a staple of July 4th celebrations - and resulting in
only one boat ramp open at Lake Travis alone, an illustration of how
little revelry was going on during America's birthday celebration of
2009.
As for those who patrol the Highland Lakes ,
it was much the same as last year; very light and less than what
officials expected. They planned for a high traffic weekend. Their
expectations were not met.
"What we normally see is a lot of
boats, a lot of congestion at the ramps, a lot of violations, a lot of
injuries," says LCRA
patrol officer Len Snyder. "Fortunately, we didn't see any of that."
On this unexpectedly light holiday, lake patrol still conducted safety boat safetyinspections looking for updated boat certificates,
life-vests, working fire extinguishers, Type 4 throwable floaters, and
alcohol-free drivers.
"I don't know that we made any arrests
overall for BWI cases," says Snyder. "Which doesn't disappoint us. We
are very much into voluntary compliance if we can get it."
The
reason for the lighter holiday, LCRA officials blame it on the rain
saying, the rain and the threat of rain may have changed plans for many
would-be boaters
