TAMPA — Imagine dinner at Ulele, then a water taxi ride to a concert or hockey game at Amalie Arena.
Troy Manthey already has, so he's launching three such water taxis this month.
Manthey, 49, owns Yacht StarShip Dining Cruises and announced last week he is expanding his fleet with three pirate-themed (think Gasparilla) water taxis that will go into service Feb. 27.
"We always knew Tampa would support something like this as the waterfront evolved," said Manthey, who moved Yacht StarShip to Tampa from Biloxi, Miss., in 2001.
Originally, the company came to ferry passengers for Super Bowl XXXV in 2001, but Manthey said he fell in love with Tampa and thought about water taxis from the start.
"We were just waiting for the right time," he said. "With record tourism, our business has been doing very well."
The 50-foot vessels will be able to carry 40 to 50 passengers, have restrooms and concessions. Their captains will be dressed as pirates and will offer tours and a light historical narrative in character.
"What's really cool about these is they're going to be as much attractions as they will be transportation," Manthey said.
They'll run from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 10 a.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays. They will make what are expected to be 14 stops along the Riverwalk, in the Channel District and on Davis Islands.
Tickets will be sold onboard as well as online at PirateWaterTaxi.com. The tickets — $15 for adults and $8 for children — will allow passengers to get on and off the taxis for unlimited boarding all day from any of the stops. A one-hop, one-way pass will be $8 for adults and $5 for children.
Water taxis are gaining currency as the city turns more to a riverfront that it historically treated as a zone for shipping and industry, not tourism or recreation. Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik often talks about water taxis providing a transportation alternative at the $2 billion redevelopment he and his partners at Cascade Investment plan near Tampa's downtown waterfront.
The taxis would be one way, it's thought, for University of South Florida's medical students to get from USF's new downtown building to Tampa General Hospital.
And, if talks under way lead to ferry service between downtown Tampa and St. Petersburg, Manthey said he would coordinate his taxi schedules so passengers from St. Petersburg could get off the ferry at the Tampa Convention Center and go east toward the Channel District or up the Hillsborough River. He also wants to make arrangements with restaurants and businesses along the route to offer discounts to passengers.
This is not the first time Tampa has seen an attempt at water taxis or something like them. The Tampa Town Ferry offered tours from a dock behind the Florida Aquarium starting in 1994, but nearby retail didn't develop as expected, and business sputtered. The company was dissolved in 2002, according to state records.
For more than eight years, Larry Salkin has run the Tampa Water Taxi Co. to offer dolphin and eco-tours, tours of the homes of famous Tampa residents such as retired New York Yankee Derek Jeter, sunset tours and other charters. He said he carries probably more than 2,000 people a month, and all tours are run in response to customer demand.
Running a water taxi on a regular schedule is a different matter, Salkin said.
"Tampa is a different market, I've found, than a place like Fort Lauderdale (or) Miami, where you have a multitude of venues along the water where you could stop and go, stop and go," Salkin said. "We only have a few."
But Manthey said that as tourism has set records this past year and the Riverwalk connects more destinations, he thinks Tampa will be as viable a market for water taxis as Fort Lauderdale. He estimates startup costs at $500,000 to $750,000 and said he has estimated conservatively and committed resources to take the time he needs to build the business.
"We don't anticipate that this will be a moneymaker in year one," said Manthey, a fifth-generation Mississippi River pilot who grew up in the family business in New Orleans. "Traditionally, these businesses take one to two to three years to mature and take off."
Contact Richard Danielson at rdanielson@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3403. Follow @Danielson_Times