Cover of Creative Loafing featuring Nauti Dogs food boat and the words "Food-tilla" written in ketchup and mustard-style fonts with a hot dog illustration as the hyphen — Photo by Dave Decker. Cover design by Paul Pavlovich.

A cooler picnic usually seems like a great idea while packing for a boat trip. But a few hours and beers later, that soggy sandwich is no match for a hot day on the waters of Tampa Bay.

To get a good meal, boaters no longer have to head home or dock at a restaurant. Food boats—once a rare novelty like the now bygone Madison Avenue Pizza Skiff or that guy in the Panhandle who sold $50 Chick-fil-A—are now a booming industry. Not to mention boats with water slides and mechanical bulls turning Tampa Bay sandbars into full-blown waterparks.

Hot dogs, tacos, barbecue, smash burgers, exotic drinks and more can be found at the sandbars and in the surrounding waters of Pinellas County. They’re a little pricier than the same thing inland— $10 for a hot dog, $28 for three fish tacos, $12 for a smashburger—but hey, it just hits different on the water.

We talked to the captains and cooks about what floats their boats. Click through each of the headlines to read more.

Nauti Dogs

Brian Scheeley was parking cars for a living when he came up with the blueprint many businesses would copy: a pontoon, a hot dog grill and a cooler full of ice cream and cold drinks.

Tiki’s Taco Boat

With family from Mexico and Cuba, the pair decided on a Caribbean-fusion menu for Tiki’s Taco Boat. Their tacos use fresh fish and shrimp from Don’s Dock, a stone’s throw from the boat at John’s Pass, and slow-cooked and shredded steak, chicken and pork. But they also serve quesadillas, nachos and frozen cocktails, along with nicotine, legal THC products, lighters and sunscreen. So, basically, anything you could ever need for a great day on the water.

Weenies N’ Bikinis

The boat, run by Mei Wang and her bikini-clad crew, has the hot dog and mustard theme with a self-proclaimed aesthetic of “Bay Watch” meets Hulk Hogan.

Fruit Float

This is perhaps the hardest of the food boat jobs. Unlike the covered boats of her competitors, who serve more filling items, the Fruit Float girls operate out of motorized canoes filled with literally just fruit for about eight hours a day. Coring pineapples, watermelon and coconuts to turn into drinks is a full-body workout.

Beachin’ Bites

Bailey and Mike McCormick, also inspired by Nauti Dogs,
serve the heartiest food on the water.

Their boat, Beachin’ Bites, is equipped with a propane grill for cooked to order burgers, hot dogs, smoked sausages, and “every once in a while, they’ll cook a pork butt or a brisket,” Bailey told CL.

Ceviche & more

More food boats seem to be popping up by the day.

Marissa Colson runs High Tides & Lemon Vibes, a landlocked lemonade vendor. But when she didn’t have any gigs over Memorial Day weekend, and she realized she could use her same permits, Colson strapped a “Ceviche” feather flag to her family’s micro-skiff and started a new venture.

She whipped up some homemade Spanish-style shrimp ceviche and grabbed some mahi fish dip from Nachman’s Seafood Market & Smokehouse in Reddington Shores.

Colson wasn’t confident enough in her boat handling skills to anchor to CL’s vessel that day, and she wasn’t sure if she’d make the ceviche boat a regular thing.

“It’s kind of just like a spur of the moment,” she said.

Special thanks to the CL boat crew, Captain Maria Herbert, Veronica Freconna, Paula Heckenast, Shayla Brock, Vivi and Crackerjack Dave.

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This article appears in June 18 – 24, 2026.