Have you ever wanted to rent a speedboat on holiday but never had to balls to haggle? Well, this takes that conundrum out of your hands completely.
Considering my paycheque pretty much goes on food and Ubers (on top of the obvious, of course), I was keen to try out the new UberBoat service, now available across Croatia, while holidaying in Split.
Now, it's worth noting that my designated role on said holiday was booker and organiser so not knowing how the hell it would work gave me some serious anxiety. Especially when my two friends kept asking me what I was expecting because honestly, I had no idea.
Upon opening the app and browsing over the UberBoat option, I get a WhatsApp message from UberBoat asking if I had any questions which brought me some reassurance because it's like having customer service on tap so I showed my pals that and it put them at ease.
I then got up the ad and shared the promotional photos, which showed a small, open speedboat zooming around the waters with happy, relaxed - and most alarmingly - non-sweaty models, and we all winced.
We were in over 30 degree heat after all and none of us looked that composed after 20 minutes in the open sun. So, we packed loads of SPF, hats, cover-ups and retired to the fact that we were probably going to get sunstroke or at least sunburn.
But, we needn't have worried as when I opened the app, ordered my UberBoat and followed the directions to a five-minute harbour nearby, we were greeted by our skipper Zoran who showed us to his boat, complete with shelter (AKA shade.)
Like Uber car rides, each boat is from an individual so none will look the same but judging from the quality on the harbour, they seem to all be similar to the one I had - which even had its own toilet, stove and fridge box (filled with beer, juice and water no less). And, knowing that there would be a record of who I was with and where I was amid the Adriatic sea definitely comforted me.
Asking us where we wanted to go, I gave him an idea of the roundabout price range I was looking at (around £600 split between us) and where I definitely wanted to go which was the Blue Cave. That might seem like a lot but considering the boats can fit up to eight people, it'll be cheaper the more of you there are.
So, we left Split harbour and started our journey towards Bisevo Island where we were dropped off to get onto the Blue Cave tour.
Then, we got back on the boat towards Stiniva Beach in Vis where we jumped off and swam to the cove. Naturally, after a swim, we headed towards Seta Nedilja in Hvar to sample some of the bottles from the Zlatan Otok winery.
By this point, we'd been on the boat from around 11.30AM and it was now 6PM (because yes, we also stopped for some pizza, k) so our driver called head office and found out how much our ride was costing us so far (taking in mind fuel and time) and decided to take us home.
Now, on reflection, the less time you spend off the actual boat, leaving it stationery, the more you get to do with on it - but then again, I never regret wine or pizza.
And, if you ask really nicely, your Uber boat driver might just let you steer the boat (at least for a little bit.)
