Island Paradise: Dolphin, Shelling, Birding Eco Boat Tour

Best boating tour EVER. Captain Nate is super knowledgable and accommodating. He has a good sense of humor too. The water was calm and the dolphins loved playing in the wake of our boat when he picked up speed. The wildlife was amazing. We saw dozens of ospries nesting on one of the islands! The oyster bars were beautiful. Best part of our vacation!

Great trip in a beautiful boat. Our Capn Rick was very knowledgeable and took the time to teach us about the area including Coon Island (yes they have raccoons and he has seen them swimming!) these 10000 islands are breathtaking. Our 1000 islands at home (we are from NY) pale in comparison. Mangroves, birds, fish, no dolphins unfortunately but just the waters and breeze were wonderful. Shelling on the island was great just off the coast and high rises at Marco Island. We hope to visit Rick and his lovely wife again. !

Here is a brief review based on your experience: We had a nice time exploring the waters around Marco Island and Goodland. One of the highlights was seeing dolphins playing in our boat’s wake. Our guide was both pleasant and knowledgeable, teaching us about the local history and pointing out beautiful birds in their natural habitat, including ospreys, egrets, and cormorants. We also enjoyed a relaxing stop to look for unique shells. The boat was clean, comfortable, and well-maintained. We recommend this to anyone looking to spend a few hours on the water, seeing some wildlife in their natural habitat and learning more about the history of the area.

Absolute best. Gary was amazing. Got some great shells. Saw some dolphins. Manatee came over and said hello. Highly recommend.

What a memorable, family-friendly experience! Captain Nate was awesome and so knowledgeable about the local wildlife. We witnessed the most amazing first flight of a baby Osprey, saw a manatee, and families of playful dolphins throughout our tour. Capt. Nate also knew the area well enough to navigate to a lesser-populated island where we collected beautiful sea shells and even a handful of sand dollars! It couldn’t have been a more enjoyable experience. The boat was also very clean, had a canopy for shade, and a cooler filled with ice. Life vests were also provided (including for my young children). The tour was just shy of 2.5hrs over calm waters. I would highly recommend this experience - thank you Capt. Nate (and furry Chief Mate Honeybear)!

This was an awesome tour with Captain John!! He was knowledgeable and accommodating! We saw tons of different birds and were educated about may different things. Dolphins and then stopped for tons of shells!! Thanks again for a memorable experience!!

We went on the Island Paradise tour with Cape. John M. From the moment we stepped on board the boat Capt. John was very enthusiastic and informative. I especially enjoyed his ability to identify the different Birds and Fish in the area and provide habitat and migration info. John could go to great depth on each bird or fish spotted throughout the trip. I would take this trip again with Capt. John without hesitation. My wife and I had a very enjoyable day!

We had a wonderful day with Captain John Melilla on our tour. Captain John shared all his knowledge of the islands, dolphins..birds and eco system in a fun and delightful way. There was never dull moment as we went from dolphins to birds to shell island and more. Would highly recommend captain John and this tour

Capt. John M was a terrific guide and boat captain, very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna, and provided a wonderful experience through the 10,000 islands!

Captain John was GREAT!! We got to see so much during our 2.5 hour trip with him. The highlight of the trip was seeing so many dolphins jumping in the boat's wake - certainly a bucket-list experience!

Knowing that I wanted to get some osprey nesting pictures, Captain John Mikulka delivered. As you will see in the pictures, we waited for mom to return with lunch for two chicks in the nest. An amazing thing to witness close up in the wild. Captain John also took us to a beach where he helped us collect fantastic sea shells. Great day on the water for our family.

Such an awesome tour! Captain Gary was an awesome guide, he explained everything, was kind and my 6 year old son really wants to do his tour again! Shell Island was super cool. We saw loads of dolphins. Really great tour!

Very informative, on time, helpful and a great experience! We saw an amazing amount of dolphins and it was a magnificent day!

Had a wonderful time! the captain was superb and knew so much about the islands, the shelling, the Dolphins, birds well just everything! We highly recommend this for couples, families , just about anyone. My hubby and I are both retired now and it was great!

We shared our 47th anniversary with Captain Nate for the 2.5 Eco Tour of the 10,000 Islands by Marco Island. It was fantastic. We saw a whole lot of mangroves and birds. We shelled for about 45 minutes sharing the beach with a slew of birds. The highlight of the tour was when three dolphins played in the boats wake for about 5 minutes. Captain Nate was especially knowledgeable about the habitat and history of this scenic eco system. He was nice to share with us the video he took of our encounter with the dolphins after we got home and realized most of our still pictures did not work out.

We decided to take a shelling trip for our youngest daughter who loves shells and the whole family ended up having a blast! We left in the am and got started looking at local birds and learning about the mangroves. We then drove over to the beach area and got to search for shells for over an hour. We found live conchs and our daughter found a sand dollar. Captain Nate then found us a dolphin that we followed around and got to watch. Would definitely recommend this trip and the captain!

Our guide cared about us and our experience. He became our friend! Other tours on this trip were with groups that room our money then ignored us or went into a mundane spiel. Angel personalized for us!

Took my family of 4 and my in laws. We had the boat to ourselves and it was a blast. Saw dolphins and we were even educated on the types of seashells out there which made hunting for seashells more fun.

Thomas was a great guide and super knowledgeable!! We saw dolphins, birds and many many shells on the island he took us to! I highly recommend!

We had a glorious trip with Captain Nate, who was so knowledgeable about the wildlife and shelling locations. He introduced us to the local dolphins, osprey, pelicans, herons, manatees and more. He even had the dolphins leaping behind us in our wake - magical! Unforgettable trip.

Captain Nate was Great!!! We saw an alligator, dolphins, birds, a manatee and found some shells. A highlight was the dolphins playing behind the boat. He worked hard to make that happen and it was so worth it! A great experience overall and wonderful time in the water. We would do it again!

The captain /guide on our tour was FANTASTIC! There were only 5 of us where the max is 6. Perfect size! Took us to 2 islands. At both stops he helped us out, gave us tips on where to go and kept asking us all if there was anything we needed! I took my 17 year old granddaughter and her boyfriend and we all had a fabulous time! And honest????? We were going to book a 6 hour tour and the owner explained yes, we could if we really wanted too, but due to the tides we actually would be wasting 2 hours with really finding no shells! Who does that? Who is SOOOOOO honest and in reality " loosing money" by suggesting 4 hours over 6 ! Highly recommend this outfit! PLUS WE SAW DOLPHINS THAT GOT REALLY CLOSE TO US! Found many beautiful shells, along with all kinds of birds & flowers & just stunning scenery!

Very relaxing and beautiful. The captain was very knowledgeable about wildlife and answered all of our questions. He was not overly talkative but friendly, which was refreshing. We were able to see LOTS of dolphins and saw some jumping behind the boat. The shelling was on a pretty beach area, which we all really enjoyed. It was a great experience!

We had a great time with Thomas on our tour. We were a family of 6 with 2 little ones (20 months/3yrs). The boat was nice and felt very safe with the little ones. We saw many different birds/chicks, dolphins several times and a nice stop on an island to collect different shells we did not see on our condo beach. Thomas was a wealth of information on the island, birds/water/animals/shells etc… We enjoyed the trip very much and highly recommend. We go to Marco several times a year and will definitely book with this company again!

Great boat trip, so fun watching the dolphins play! Loved zipping through the beautiful islands. Don knows a ton about the wildlife and islands. Highly recommend!

Absolutely amazing! We had the best captain and learned new things about the animals and shells.. very informative! Best part of our trip by far! Highly recommend! ❤️

Captain Nate was great! We saw everything we hoped to see and more. Nate is very knowledgeable and has a contagious enthusiasm for experiencing the beauty of the area. Highly recommend.

We had a great time on the Island Paradise: Dolphin, Shelling, Birding Eco Boat Tour. Captain Nate shared a lot of information about mangroves, bottlenose dolphins and various birds. We were fortunate that the dolphins wanted to play and swim along with us in the boat wake just 10 -15 feet from us. We had about an hour to walk along the beach looking for shells. It s a great experience and we would recommend to friends and family!

Had a wonderful tour with Captain Thomas on the 6th of November. The weather was perfect. Captain Thomas’ knowledge of the islands was amazing. We learned so much about the wildlife, vegetation and the islands themselves. Thomas even told us about the individual shells and what kind of animal had lived in it before. He was knowledgeable and kind which made for a wonderful 2 hours on the water. Thank you!

We had an awesome time! Our guide was very fun and knowledgeable about the area and wildlife. We saw dolphins playing as they followed our boat, a number of different species of birds and a manatee vegging out by the mangrove. We will definitely recommend Florida Island Tours to family and friends and book with them next time we visit Marco Island! Thanks for a great time!

Our morning trip was rained out and I had a work call commitment later in the day. The captain adjusted the schedule so we could do the tour and make my call. The captain was very knowledgeable about the area, the birds and even names of the sea shells. We saw and hung out with a pod of dolphins. We then went shelling. We found some great shells and the captain was so nice to our granddaughter. I highly recommend this trip.

We had a breathtaking experience with captain Nate on our private tour. We found a group of dolphins who decided to come play with us. Captain Nate is very knowledgeable about all off the wildlife and the mangroves. We had the best time and would definitely recommend to anyone!

Captain Nate is the man! Great tour with so much interesting information, saw a lot of wildlife up close and went to a perfect spot at the beach. The tour was fun, relaxing and educational. It was engaging for the kids and us adults. We loved it. I’d highly recommend.

We went on the Florida Island tour with Captain Nate and Julie last week, and had so much fun! Saw many dolphins and Capt. Nate is known as the dolphin whisperer because as soon as he said dolphin, they started jumping behind the boat! We got amazing pics and videos!! He also took us to a bird rookery and Nate knew all the birds! We collected many shells and took a dip on shell island. This was our second tour with them and we all highly recommend Nate and Julie!!

Captain Gary is a 5th generation Southwest Floridian with an extensive historical knowledge of the area. He was personable, fun, and a great narrator for our excursion. We felt safe and super comfortable. We collected some beautiful shells off the southernmost coast of Marco Island, and swam a little in the Gulf. It was a fun little excursion!

The shelling spot had tons and tons of shells. Incredible! The kids had a great time, as did the adults. Great experience.

I am waiting on my refund from Saturday as the trip was cancelled. It has been over 24 hours. Please respond to my inquiry.

What an awesome adventure! Captain Nate was an excellent tour guide … the weather was still warm enough to get out on the water for a relaxing boat ride and to get out and beach comb for shells!

The boat tour was private for the same price as some of the group boat tours. The boat was clean and we started on time. Captain Nate was great, highly recommend.

The boat trip with Nate as the Captain was a perfect 2 hours. We saw dolphins, manatees, Turtles. Plus, enjoyed hearing the history of the area.

Captain Nate was excellent. Extremely knowledgeable, personable and talented. We saw tons of dolponhs and had multiple manatee sightings. Highly recommend.

Loved seeing the manatees, dolphins, birds and islands. Captain Nate was so informative and really knew what he was talking about. He was so accommodating to our special mobility issues. Really enjoyed this trip

Well let me start out by saying you will not find a better sweetheart of a man than Captain Nate. He was awesome.He is full of knowledge and is educated on wildlife and shells. He was in no hurry to give us the experience we desired. During our 3 hour boat tour we went to Kice Island found a lot of shells and he also had a basket that he gave us that he had found himself gave us a demonstration on shells. Then went to Cape Romano Dome houses which by far was the coolest thing we have seen ( and we have traveled a lot) Nate gave us the history on that and even had a book of the domes and what they used to look like. Took us to another island where there were 30 different kinds of birds nesting in the trees. We had the time of our lives and couldn’t have asked for a better captain with a sweet soul. We booked another with him for another day due to his awareness of the islands kindness and knowledge . I will not be able to thank this man enough for our trip of a life time. We had the time of our lives. Thank Captain Nate you are the best!!!!! We will see you next year.

The captain (Capt. Nate) was very nice and very knowledgeable. We enjoyed seeing the dolphins and manatees. We also loved the breeze when the boat went fast. Very enjoyable time. We would do it again

Captain Nate and Jules were great! They were very helpful and communicated very well when the only bad weather day was on our tour day, adjusting so we had a wonderful experience. My future daughter-in-law wanted to see manatees and they had eagle eyes out and found a small herd! Also saw frolicking dolphins, which they maneuvered the boat ao we could watch them while they played. Captain Nate is very knowledgeable about the ecological aspects of the area and educated us on bird mating habits and the area as well. Enjoyed it very much! Highly recommend! Would do it again!

Nate and Jules were absolutely the best! We had the best time on our 10,000 island tour. Nate is so knowledgeable and taught us so many things about the island. Definitely recommend anyone looking for an amazing tour of the island.

Highlight of our vacation! We took the kids and my dad to this unforgettable boat trip. Captain Nate is very knowledgeable about the region and especies. My kids probably learned more in the 3 hours what they would have learned the whole life in school biology classes. Sea shelling and amazing dolphin encounter was our favorites. Note: bring water shoes (amazon) and a jacket...gets breeze while the boat is moving. They have a convenience store at the marina in case you forgot something.

Tour guide had wealth of information that he adjusted to fit and expand our interests. We felt the tour was custom made just for us. He even drove us by our friend’s condo so we could wave! (Picture included) The guide and his helper were very spontaneous and had fun senses of humor. We laughed and learned a lot.