Guide To Boating & Water Sports in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland

A summer vacation in Deep Creek Lake would be incomplete without spending a day on the boat! With several different types of boats and water sports available, boating is the top thing to do in the summer in Deep Creek. Let’s explore it all in this guide to boating and water sports in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland.

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Boating Options in Deep Creek Lake

There are several different ways to access Deep Creek Lake by boat. If you own a boat, you can launch it at Deep Creek Lake State Park’s boat ramp for a fee. It’s important to note that most rental homes do not allow boat trailer parking, so you will have to make arrangements for overnight parking at the State Park if you are bringing your own boat.

Renting a boat is the most common way to access the lake in Deep Creek. For those staying in lakefront vacation rentals with a private dock, you can rent a boat for multiple days and keep it at your rental home. Be sure to check out my post Stunning Lakefront Vacation Rentals in Deep Creek Lake.

Boat rentals are available at these marinas:

Aquatic Center

Lake Life Boat Rentals

Silver Tree Marine

Fun Time Water Sports

Bills Marine Service

If you aren’t comfortable driving the boat, High Mountain Sports, Fun Time Water Sports and Wisp Resort offer guided boat tours. There are also several locals who provide captain services. You can find them by searching in the Deep Creek Lake Facebook page.

Pontoon boats can be rented from all of the Deep Creek marinas mentioned above. It is always a good idea to book your boat reservation in advance, but especially for holiday weekends!

Types of Boats On Deep Creek Lake

Pontoon Boats

The most popular type of boat in Deep Creek Lake is the pontoon boat. The pontoon boat is great for leisurely cruises around the lake. Pontoons can hold the largest number of passengers, between 12-15 people, making these perfect for large groups or mulitple families.

Most of the rental boats in Deep Creek Lake are pontoon boats, and they will give you the most smooth ride. I refer to pontoons as the minivans of boats…they fit a lot of people, are practical, spacious and comfortable.

Pontoons are really only good for water sports if you have a 150 horsepower engine or higher. Many of the rental pontoons come with only 90 horsepower engines, which is fine for a leisurely ride around the lake, but not ideal for water sports. With less than 150 horsepower, you can still tow a tube or water ski, but there likely won’t be enough speed or power to take the rider off wake. (Meaning off to the side of the boat, where tubing and skiing is more fun). If you want to tube or water ski, rent a boat with at least a 150 horsepower engine.

Double decker pontoons feature a top deck with a water slide. These are a lot of fun for both kids and adults alike. Double decker pontoons are slightly more difficult to drive and maneuver than a regular pontoon and you cannot have any passengers on the top deck when the boat is underway. Lake Life Boat Rentals is the only marina in Deep Creek that has double decker pontoons available for rent.

Ski Boats

Ski boats are perfect for all water sports! They have powerful engines and streamlined hulls making it easy to maneuver. Tubing, water skiing, wakeboarding and knee boarding are all ideal waters sports with a ski boat. Ski boats typically do not hold as many passengers as a pontoon. Depending on the size of the boat, they normally hold between 7-10 passengers.

Ski boats are available to rent at the Aquatic Center, Lake Life Rentals, and Bills Marine Service. Due to limited availability, I recommend booking your ski boat well in advance.

Wake Surf Boats

Wake surfing has become increasingly popular in the last few years on Deep Creek Lake. In the sport of wake surfing, the rider surfs on the wave produced by the wake of the boat. The rider is towed by a rope initially, using the rope to pull up out of the water. Then, once they are in the wake, they let go of the rope, surfing freely on the wave made by the boat’s wake.

Unlike wakeboarding, the rider’s feet are not strapped onto the board. Wake surfing is done on a wake surf board that the rider stands on, much like a traditional surf board, except much shorter in length.

Wake surfing can only be done on a wake surf boat. Wake surf boats have ballast tanks which are filled with water to increase the boat’s weight and create a bigger wake. They also have wake-shaping devices called surf gates which shape the wake to resemble a larger surfing wave.

The most important feature that makes the wake surf boat different than a ski boat is the inboard engine. Unlike other water sports where the rider is towed far behind the boat, wake surf riders are towed close to the back of the boat. For this reason, it is not safe to wake surf off of a boat with a typical outboard engine located on the back of the boat. Wake surf boats have inboard engines, meaning the engine is located under the center of the boat as opposed to the rear, and it is completely enclosed within the boat’s structure.

Lake Life Boat Rentals is the only marina that rents a wake surf boat, so book well in advance due to limited availability.

Fishing Boats

While you can certainly fish from any boat in Deep Creek Lake, some boats are made specifically for fishing. Fishing boats are equipped with features such as fishing rod holders, fish finders and live wells for bait. These boats typically have smaller engines, so they aren’t great for water sports.

Bill’s Marine Service has fishing boats available for rent.

Explore my article Guide to Fishing in Deep Creek Lake to find out the best places to fish and the best bait to use in Deep Creek Lake.

Jet Skis

Jet skis, also called Wave Runners, are available to rent at Funtime Water Sports in Deep Creek. During the summer, Deep Creek Lake restricts the use of jet skis on weekends and holidays from 11am to 4pm. If you want to go out on a jet ski, it will need to be before 11 am and after 4pm on weekends or anytime during the week.

Boating Laws in Deep Creek Lake

Life Jackets

Under Maryland law, all children under age 13 must wear a life jacket while the boat is underway (moving). This can be either the standard Type II orange life jackets that go around your neck and shoulders or the Type III life jackets worn as vests for water sports that either buckle or zip in the front.

Also under Maryland law, all participants in water sports, regardless of age, are required to wear a life jacket. This includes jet skis as well as all other water sports behind a motorized boat. While Type II life jackets are legally allowed for water sports, they are bulky and make water sports (especially laying down on the tube) difficult. If you are going to be doing water sports, you will need a Type III life jacket.

The rental boats are all equipped with Type II life jackets. Type III life jackets are only provided with water sports rentals. If you rent a tube, ski, wakeboard, etc, you will be provided with a Type III life jacket. Note that Type II life jackets are not very comfortable to be wearing for long periods of time, especially if you will be swimming.

You can also buy Type III life jackets on Amazon. Be sure to note the weight requirements for children’s sizes.

We use these:

Adult Life Jackets

Youth Life Jackets

Infant & Young Child Life Jackets

Life Jackets & Swimming

There are no laws for wearing a life jacket while swimming in Deep Creek Lake, however I strongly recommend it. The lake water is not clear so you can’t see anything that goes underwater. Some parts of the lake are more than 70 feet deep. Regardless of how good of a swimmer you or your kids are, wearing a life jacket while swimming in the lake is advised.

My kids have been boating since they were infants and we always had a rule that they had to wear life jackets if they were going to be swimming in the lake…right up until they were teenagers. Now that they are teens, we don’t enforce this, but do find that most times they prefer to put one on, because, let’s be honest…treading water is exhausting after awhile! My husband and I normally wear them when swimming for the same reason! It’s much more relaxing to float around in a life jacket.

This cove saddle float is made specifically for lounging in the water. It goes between your legs and holds you upright in the water.

Water Sports on Deep Creek Lake

There are many different water sports to choose from on Deep Creek Lake and all of the equipment you need will be available for rent at the local marinas.

Tubing

Tubing is when one or more riders are pulled, using a tow rope, on an inner tube behind the boat. The tubes are flat, meaning they don’t have a hole in the middle like a donut. There are several different types of tubes, some that you lay down on, and some that are chair shaped that you sit up on. All of the local marinas rent tubes.

Tube riders are not attached to the tube, instead they hold on to the tube’s handles. In order to bring the tube off wake, the boat driver will need to drive in an S pattern.

Tubing can be rough on your elbows, which rub on the tube and can create rug burn. This is especially true if you will be tubing multiple days in a row. My kids wear these sleeves over their arms when tubing to avoid chafing.

Water Skiing

Water skiing is best done from a ski boat. The rider wears water skis and uses a tow rope with a handle to be pulled up out of the water. This is a different tow rope than the tubing rope, as there is no handle for tubing. Training skis are great for learning to ski, as they have a bar that keeps the skis together.

Wakeboarding

While water skiing mimics snow skiing, wakeboarding mimics snowboarding. Riders have both feet strapped into a flat wakeboard, and are pulled up out of the water using a tow rope with a handle. Experienced wakeboarders can learn tricks like spinning and flipping on the waves.

Kneeboarding

In kneeboarding, a rider lays belly down on the kneeboard, then uses a tow rope with a handle to pull up out of the water, pulling themselves up onto the board on their knees. Once the rider has pulled up onto the kneeboard, they use one hand to attach a strap over their knees to hold them onto the board. Just like wakeboarding, an experienced kneeboarder can learn tricks like spinning and flipping.

Wake Surfing

As described before, wake surfing can only be done from a wake surf boat, which has an inboard engine as well as ballasts and surf gates to create the wave. Riders start out in the water with their feet resting on the wake surf board, using the tow rope with a handle to pull themselves up out of the water into a standing position on the board. Once they are up onto the wake of the boat and steady, they let go of the rope and surf the wave freely. Once the rider has let go of the rope, the spotter on the boat will pull the rope back inside the boat.

Check out this video of my daughter wake surfing in Deep Creek.

Important Rules For Water Sports

There are 6 important things to know about water sports in Deep Creek Lake.

All riders must wear a Type III life jacket, regardless of age.
You must have a spotter for all water sports. The spotter is someone other than the driver, who faces backward in the boat and watches the rider, waiting for hand signals. The spotter will tell the driver when the rider has fallen off or wishes to change speed or stop.
Towing riders under bridges in not allowed. If you are towing a rider on a tube and you approach one of the two bridges, you have to pull the rider out of the water before going under the bridge.
Just like driving a car, drinking and driving is illegal, and you can get a DWI on a boat.
Always put the boat in neutral when approaching a rider who is in the water.
Riders should be aware of the designated hand signals used to communicate with the spotter. See below for water sports hand signals.

Go faster
Go slower
Stop
Turn the boat in a circle
I’m done and want to come back in the boat
Speed is ok/I’m ok
Arms overhead in water while waiting for boat to circle back

Police boats patrol Deep Creek Lake all day and will pull you over and issue citations if any of these laws are broken.

Best Places For Water Sports & Swimming in Deep Creek Lake

Avoid doing water sports and swimming in the main channel of the lake. On the map above, I marked the main channel of the lake with a purple x. This is the busiest part of the lake where there is a lot of boat traffic. You don’t want to swim or do water sports where there is a lot of boat traffic.

Instead, use the fingers of the lake for water sports and the coves for swimming. Many of the coves have no wake zones, which means that you cannot produce a wake behind your boat in that area. Boats driving in no wake zones must drive very slow in order to not produce a wake. No wake zones are clearly marked with buoys and are great spots for swimming. Be sure to check your depth finders on the boat as the coves can be shallow.

Wakeboarding & water ski Lessons in Deep Creek

For those who want to learn to water ski and wakeboard, Greg Rouse, of Greg Rouse Water Sports, offers lessons.

Tips For Boating in Deep Creek Lake

Make sure that all ropes are secured inside the boat. Unsecured ropes can get stuck in the propeller of the boat, causing costly damage.
Always make sure the boat ladder is back up and secure before going underway. A ladder left in the water while the boat is moving can also cause costly damage.
Pack sunscreen, snacks, drinks, towels and a phone charging cord. Many boats have USB ports so you can play music from your phone. The cell service isn’t overly reliable, so I recommend downloading any songs to your device ahead of time.
Bring a trash bag as there are no trash bins on the boats
Pool noodles, inflatable rafts and hammock floats are great for swimming in the coves.
Pack a lightweight jacket or sweatshirt for the boat

Kayaks & Lake Toys

In addition to motorized boats, Deep Creek also has several options for lake fun. Paddle boards and kayaks are available to rent at Lake Life Boat Rentals, Silver Tree Marine, the Aquatic Center and Deep Creek Lake State Park. Silver Tree Marine also rents floating mats.

If you have a lakefront home, consider renting a water trampoline from Deep Creek Water Trampolines. They will deliver the trampoline to you by boat.