Capers Island Wildlife Exploration

Truly a unique and wonderful experience. A real taste of the Low Country. The Captain and 1st mate were awesome !!

Robert and Warhol were amazing. Very knowledgeable and presented information in a fun way especially for the kids

Took this trip with my 9 year old boy. Mike is a Very knowledgeable and approachable guide. Learned a lot!

Very interesting tour. The guides were very personable and informative. Great views of the ecosystem which aren't really available if you only stay on IOP. Plus we got to see a lot of dolphins. It did rain on us briefly ( so bring a disposable poncho) but that also resulted in an amazing rainbow.

Fantastic time out on the water and learning about the eco life was special. Our family highly recommend!

This was a great experience for our large family. We had kids ages 2 months-16 years old with us. Every age group had fun. The entire boat is shaded with a gentle ride on padded benches and a simple bathroom on board. The tour guide, Mike, is a very knowledgeable biologist and teaches the kids and adults. He’s also very funny. I’m still laughing at some of the stuff he said even days later. We got to stop and see dolphins in the water. The young man who steered the boat (Wahoo) did a great job. And on board was a sweet little dog named Polly who was calm and gentle. Once you get to the island you have time to spend on the beach and walk down to the shore to “bone island” where there are some trees that have died. Some passengers swam on the island and others walked along the shore. We saw lots of crabs. If you are tired of exploring or need shade you can head back to the boat which remains on the shore. The boat goes slow enough that there was no feeling of sea sickness or waves. This was one of the highlights of our trip. Some people did not wear swimsuits and were fine. I personally did not wear one and never got wet other than my feet along the shore.

This is a must for your summer vacation they take you to a deserted island or you can really unplug just beautiful

Did this tour on a Saturday morning in May, with a group of friends from college, we are all in our 60s now. This was a great "all ages" experience, fun and educational for everyone from age 6 to age 60! We all learned something new from Captain Robert, and we loved having the opportunity to just wander along the "boneyard" at Capers Island for an hour. A unique and unforgettable experience!

This was our second time to go. It was great! Robert makes it fun for everyone. He is constantly telling us and showing us things along the way. We had a group of dolphins swimming right next to the boat. The kids loved playing in the tidepools on Capers Island. We got to see crabs and other critters close up. We learned lots of interesting facts, and had lots of fun.

Capers Island Wildlife Tour: Five stars! Whether you are the type of person that misses the 1:1 interaction with a tour guide that can slam lyrical Poe; want to spike your interest with historical facts (re. U-Boats, Hurricane Hugo, FEMA. etc.) or engross yourself with discovery channel-like animal trivia - this is the tour for you. Robert Randolph (father of Greyson), teacher, world traveler and accidental comedian - will never disappoint! In the age of AI - he is a true sage that brought out the best in our child and brought us back to our youth. Connect with the planet, learn when not to eat the oysters, crab, snail (not conch) and see dolphins on this awesome tour. Slight criticism: if you’re going to ask the men on the tour what they do for a living extend the same curiosity to the women

Captain Robbie is so great! Kids and dults of all ages were fascinated and learned so much :)

A great Saturday morning excursion. The knowledge of our guide, Parker, about the ecosystems, was exceptional. He made it fun and personal. Would definitely recommend! Thanks for a good time.

Barrier Island Eco Tours took our school group of 5th graders on a fantastic tour. The students loved learning about the crabs, dolphins, turtles, and clams. Our guide and boat driver were wonderful. They even grilled hotdogs and hamburgers for lunch on Capers Island. It was a delightful experience! I highly recommend this journey to anyone and everyone!

This was our 4th trip on the Capers Island Wildlife Exploration with Barrier Islands Eco Tours, each one taken on a special occasion or with family visiting from out of town. Mickey, our guide yesterday, shares her vast knowledge of all things related to marshes, estuaries, coastal birds, dolphins, crabs and oysters, fielding questions and giving everyone a chance to see things close up. We always learn something new! Capers Island provides a wonderful 40 minute or so walking break on the boat ride where we see the boneyard beach. The Capers Island Wildlife Exploration is for everyone!

Great day for a trip to Capers Island. Boat was clean, comfortable and Captain Robert was awesome. He grew up on and around the water and is very educational. Saw a couple dolphin: stopped by an oyster bed/bank; retrieved a crab pot which had blue crab and stone crab. Captain Robert taught us about each species. Roberts’ canine side campanion (Isabell i think was her name) was a hit on the boat with everyone. We had plenty of time to explore the island before heading back. We would recommend this trip to family and friends.

We did the Capers Island Wildlife Exploration Tour with Mike (and his Fourth Mate, Polly, who is an absolute delight and a highlight in her own right), and it was genuinely the best activity we did during our entire trip to Charleston. Mike is incredibly knowledgeable about the local ecosystem and wildlife, and he has a real gift for making that knowledge accessible and engaging for adults and kids alike. We had our six-year-old with us, and Mike kept everyone captivated the whole time. We got up close with dolphins, learned a ton about the area, and spent time exploring Capers Island with no one else around. Just us, the beach, and the most beautiful "boneyard" you've ever seen. It was fun, educational, unhurried, and memorable in all the right ways. If you're visiting Charleston and looking for something to do that's a little off the beaten path, stop looking. Book this tour.

We’ve taken quite a few eco tours over the years and this was one of the best. Got lucky with the weather and our guide Robert was fantastic and fun and knowledgeable. Highly recommend!!

We booked a Capers Island Wildlife Exploration tour a week before Christmas for us and family that is visiting and absolutely loved it! We saw a bunch of wildlife and had expert explanations of what we saw and how the tidal creeks and surrounding ecosystems work. Our tour guide Robert was highly knowledgeable, funny and super entertaining, and very personable. Highly recommend.

My husband and I took the morning tour this morning and loved it. Learned a lot about the ecosystem of the salt marshes. Saw lots of different birds and a few crabs taken in the crab traps. Mike, Wahoo and Polly the dog were extraordinary guides. The visit to Capers Island was great as well as the ride back which gave us the bonus of cruising along for several minutes with a group of dolphins. It is well-worth the time to take this trip and gain a new perspective on the marsh

We had the best day on this tour with young children, teens and adults. We learned so much about the surroundings and habitat. Boneyard Beach was breathtaking. Capers Island was such a special place where we saw dolphins, different species of birds and the most beautiful shells. Our Tour guides were knowledgeable, friendly and great with kids. They made it an amazing day!

We have done these trips several times and they are always fantastic! Highly recommend. Great for kids! Capers island is beautiful. Be sure and walk down the beach!

It was a girls day outing. The guide Mike was so knowledgeable about our environment and what we were encountering. We checked 2 crab traps one was empty and the other one had a crab in it. He talked about the type of crab that he caught. We saw dolphins and lots of birds. We even stopped to collect some oysters. The guide even caught so fish with a throw net talking about how the Indians used to use them for fertilizer. Mike was so engaging with the kids on the boat. We made it to Caper’s Island and we went exploring there. Such an interesting experience.

We had a terrific experience on the trip to Capers Island. Robert and Wahoo were friendly and informative throughout the entire journey. A great trip for bird watchers too. We identified 31 species of birds including White and Brown Pelicans, American Oystercatchers, Whimbrels, Great Egrets, Bald Eagles, and 4 species of Terns. We highly recommend this adventure!

First of all, I don’t think I had a typical experience with Barrier Island Eco Tours. I’m writing my review as a data point for others to consider. The big disappointment for me was that after booking the trip, Eco Tours somehow forgot about our reservation. I was advised to arrive early for an 8:30 departure, only to eventually find an employee who was surprised that there was another tour than the one he was preparing for. I’m really not sure how you forget a customer when these tours are the core of the company’s identity and operations. We left 45 minutes late, which did not make me feel like an important customer to them, disrupted the rest of our day, and caused some family tension. Eco Tours made up for the time by extending our trip for the full amount of time. On a positive note, once departed, our guide Shane made our experience great. I felt bad for Shane who seemed to have been stuck as the face of the company’s oversight to us for our four hour family trip. Shane took the situation in stride, provided great information about the ecosystem, geography, geopolitical and corporate decisions that have shaped the biology of the area over time, and other useful information. Shane made the trip fun, interactive, and interesting. On Capers Island, Shane challenged our family to collect beach things that he could provide information about. Great stuff! Our trip included a fishing portion but we did not catch anything. Shane told us at the start of the trip that we were a few months early for prime fishing season (this information would have been more useful when booking). He also made an adjustment to how he sequenced our tour, based on tide cycles for the day, to increase our opportunity to catch something. Our low country boil was a nice lunch on the beach at Capers Island.

Captain Mike was excellent. He engaged each of my 6 grandchildren all 6 years and under with fishing , dolphin spotting , and pulled a crab pots. Mike talked about the marshes and told the kids stories. Our trip out to capers island was great!