'We Felt Safe With Everything': Raft Rental Reopens With Changes On The Water

RANCHO CORDOVA (CBS13) - Michelle Castano and her family have been waiting for this moment. They finally made it back out on the American River.

"We had a great time. It just opened, I think, yesterday. We're happy about that. We've been looking for a place on the river for a while now," Castano said.

Rafter Steven Conti echoed that.

"Absolutely. Get outside, enjoy a little exercise, sunshine, water. You can't beat it," Conti said.

But it took some hurdles to get over before American River Raft Rentals could reopen. The first feat was getting public health approval. Co-owner Kent Hansen says they sought input from doctors and nurses on how to reopen safely.

"We actually developed a couple new things just for the situation. We put in new computers just so we could safely socially distance people as they're checking in," Hansen said.

They're cleaning the rafts with bleach, soap and water as usual, but now they're also limiting six people per raft and they all have to live in the same household.

"Everybody did great, professional, 100%. We felt safe with everything," Conti said.

They are precautions that rafters like Castano didn't take lightly and certainly appreciated.

"Not as many people were wearing masks as we thought would. We were, but otherwise, people were social distancing, it was good," Castano said.