The entire Everglades area, including the park and Islands, is teeming with wildlife, especially manatees, dolphins, and birds. Marco Island is one of the largest islands and most westerly in this area. On this 2-hour tour you'll travel deep into the area’s 10,000 islands for an interpretive tour and shelling with a certified naturalist guide. Depending on the season, you can expect to see manatees, dolphins, sea turtles, bald eagles, ospreys, herons, egrets, pelicans, alligators, rosette spoonbills and numerous species of fish and shorebirds. Not only will you be introduced to the great birding and wildlife, but you’ll also learn about the Everglades eco-systems, rich heritage, and long history. The area's wildlife moves around so each tour is different. Many species are seasonal and inhabit different areas depending on environmental conditions. Be sure to bring your camera, binoculars, sunglasses, snacks, favorite drinks, and a hat.
Great experience. Captain Larry knew so much about all the wildlife, islands and trees. Stooped at an island and he literally said walk straight to that end of the island and you’ll probably find a sand dollar, which we did find one. Also had dolphins surfing behind our boat.
Great captain. Beautiful scenery, Saw dolphins, birds. Shelling
Viator was easy to book with. Unfortunately, halfway through our excursion bad weather was happening in South Florida, and we had to turn back, not completing the tour. They were very happy to help me get a partial refund and I am grateful I am looking forward to taking the same tour the next time I am in South Florida and will be booking with Viator. I was expecting a problem getting my refund and they just made it so easy to do business with.
Bring sunscreen. Saw lots of bird's and found a lot of sand dollars. Go at low tide for the best shelling experience.
Capitán Ed was an excellent guide, he explained everything easily and gave us a great respect and insight of nature. We will do it again with him.
Really enjoyed it! Saw quite a few dolphins & different kinds of birds. The Captain was very knowledgeable & took us over to a beautiful Island where we found tons of amazing shells!
I have participated in numerous cruises in this area. This specific experience was less than spectacular. Narration was minimal. The boat captain was more involved in communicating by phone with a repair person than pointing out any interesting facts about the area or history.
Captain Ed knows ALL the spots! We saw 10 Manatees, Dolphins wrestling & a small Pelican forest!. He was suoer knowledgeable & very entertaining 😆
Such a fun excursion. Our guide was funny and very informative, great personality! So many dolphins! They had so much fun playing in our wake, jumping and gliding along! It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed it!!
Joe was the perfect captain! 30 years on the job and very knowledgeable of the area history. We experienced everything the trip described. One dolphin actually swam right under our boat! This was the highlight of our Florida trip!!
Captain Kevin was amazing! My kids had an absolute blast. We saw a ton of dolphins and the shelling was fun! Highly recommend!
Our Captain was Ed and his assistant was Kim. Ed was so nice and knowledgeable about dolphins, manatees and everything in between . We saw three dolphins and three manatees. The secluded beach we went to was beautiful. We didn’t find too many shells but my grandchildren really enjoyed it. My granddaughter got sand in her eye and Ed provided her with an eye wash kit. Kim shared some shelling tips, overall was very pleasant. We would book this tour again.
The boat tour was amazing! All the nature was so pretty, and the activity’s from watching birds, to seeing dolphins, and shelling was spectacular. Me and my family would definitely recommend this tour, you won’t regret it! The staff were absolutely amazing, so kind, and nice to our boat tour group (which wasn’t too big). They helped us find cool shells, and see many cool birds, dolphin sights and more! The amount of money the tour costed was definitely worth the money, and the amount of time the tour was in all was the perfect amount of time! So if you are in Florida I recommend this as an activity!!!
Boat Captain Kevin and First mate Jules were fun and knowledgeable about every part of the tour. We saw dolphins and birds and stopped on a sand bar for a shelling experience. I actually found sand dollars that I could bring home. All 4 adults on this trip had a great time.
The captain was very knowledgeable and showed us some great areas. Got to see dolphins and loved it all!
We booked the trip for four people and got to the location earlier than directed and waited well over an hour and no one showed up.
Captain Joe and First Mate Kim (aka Shelly) were fabulous guides. We had an amazing tour. They were so knowledgable and friendly. We saw lots of the dolphins up close to the boat (captain Joe’s dolphins) and enjoyed our wander on the beach collecting shells. Kim also have us a great lunch recommendation. Great value for money on this tour, we recommend it highly!!
Our 7 year old really wanted to go shelling. Having had a minor obsession with shells for the last year or so, he elected this over kayaking. However, it was a super fun excursion. We got to see dolphins, herons, osprey, and plenty of other birds. But the highlight was going to the island to go shelling. It felt a bit strange to walk over a mollusk graveyard, but the loot was well worth it. Wholly recommend this tour.
Amazing tour with great views of the beautiful homes along the water. Capt. Joe was great. Very knowledgeable of the history of this area and also added fun facts. Great wildlife (we saw Osprey, Dolphins and more). Stopped to do some shelling and found tons of really interesting shell, sand dollars and more. Great trip I would recommend to everyone.
This was truly amazing. We saw our first of many dolphins 5 minutes after leaving the dock. Captain Joe and his first mate Kim were very knowledgeable and answered all questions on marine life, the ecosystem of the Everglades and the local area. They stopped and explained along the way and accommodated everyone’s curiosity. After a memorable ride with the dolphins we landed on a shell filled beach where Kim pointed out details and identified certain species and even explained “baby” shells to our 6 year old daughter. We will go on this tour and request captain Joe and first mate Kim every time we are in Florida.
This was excellent and well worth the money. I highly recommend early morning as it gets hot during the day. My husband and I and our 2 sons went at 8am, well worth getting up early. We saw many dolphins and wildlife. Our tour guides ( Ed & Kim) were friendly and hospitable, shared many interesting facts about the wildlife. The best part was watching the dolphins jump the boat wake for about 5 minutes. The dolphins were very close to the wake of the boat, it was incredible how playful they were. We docked on a little island south of Marco Island and looked for sea shells and sand dollars. Our guides were very knowledgeable about the various sea shells along the beach. Ask a lot of questions from the guides and you'll learn a lot!
We loved our tour with Joe! He was so knowledgeable! There was only our group (4) on the tour!! Had fun!
The tour was great - Captain Ed was a terrific guide - very informative and engaging. We saw dolphin, large birds and collected beautiful shells from a quiet beach. The pilot and first mate were also helpful. We really got a sense of the vast expanse of mangroves and saw the city of Marco close up from the water which is a much clearer way to see it than when driiving around.
Captain Chris showed us a great time. We did some touring of the Mangrove Islands as our Captain pointed out birds. In our most incredible time we had Dolphins following our boat barely 5 feet behind us!!! He took us to an island literally made of sea shells. The boat we took only carried 5 so it was a nice small group.
We arrived early for our morning tour and were greeted by our guide, Ed Romig. We were able to leave early which was great since it was full moon and we were anxious to get out during low tide. We were told that Ed was the guru of knowing where to find shells, and that was so true! We went out to one of the outer islands and couldn't believe the shells on the beach. We then went across to another island and found more awesome shells. I didn't realize angel shells got so big! Our 2 hour trip was over all too soon. Ed was very knowledgeable about the area and we learned a lot on our 2 hour tour. We will definitely do this tour again when we escape our cold Wisconsin winter for a week in sunny, warm Florida. We also had just finished a 3 day 2 night base camp kayak tour with Everglades Area Tours and enjoyed our guides on both tours. It's great to have guides that live in the area and also know so much about the area - not just guides hired for the tourist season.
There is a stop on an island to go shell hunting or swimming. Captain Kevin gave good information about the animals and the surrounding area.
Monday through Friday 9 am to 7 pm EST
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