Everglades City Airboat Tours
Getting to everglades city airboat tours was much easier than our first experience driving around Miami the night before. From the Hampton Inn Miami airport East, it took us about 1hr 30m, down some very long, straight, scenic roads and finding the everglades city airboat tours was easy, especially with such an easily identifiable building.
We had prebooked, but in order to make sure you keep your slot, you need to be there to pay/collect your tickets 30minutes before, so we collected our tickets, got some cold drinks and sat down.
When our captain Gary was ready, he called us and took us to the airboat. The airboats seat 6 people in 2 rows of 3 and if needed he will swap you around to make sure the boat is balanced, which he did with us.
We all had headsets, so all the way around he could talk to us, giving us information, but we could also reply and ask questions. Gary took us around the mangroves, weaving left and right, down narrow sections, but on the more open sections he could speed up, getting the boat to turn sharply left or right, which feels weird, almost like the boat will tip over, however it won't, they know what they are doing, what the airboats capabilities and limitations are. The way Gary manoeuvred the airboat was brilliant, in some cases cutting left, then right with inches of the mangroves. He also kept an eye out for Alligators and they obviously know where they are more likely to find them, we were lucky enough that he spotted an alligator, took us in closely and then gave us some information about them. At the same time Gary spotted racoons at the other side, ironically the Alligator spotted them as well and Gary took us over next to the racoons, we were unbelievably close to them.
Overall, it's an enjoyable experience, we appreciate that seeing Alligators is not going to happen for everyone and would still recommend it.
We had prebooked, but in order to make sure you keep your slot, you need to be there to pay/collect your tickets 30minutes before, so we collected our tickets, got some cold drinks and sat down.
When our captain Gary was ready, he called us and took us to the airboat. The airboats seat 6 people in 2 rows of 3 and if needed he will swap you around to make sure the boat is balanced, which he did with us.
We all had headsets, so all the way around he could talk to us, giving us information, but we could also reply and ask questions. Gary took us around the mangroves, weaving left and right, down narrow sections, but on the more open sections he could speed up, getting the boat to turn sharply left or right, which feels weird, almost like the boat will tip over, however it won't, they know what they are doing, what the airboats capabilities and limitations are. The way Gary manoeuvred the airboat was brilliant, in some cases cutting left, then right with inches of the mangroves. He also kept an eye out for Alligators and they obviously know where they are more likely to find them, we were lucky enough that he spotted an alligator, took us in closely and then gave us some information about them. At the same time Gary spotted racoons at the other side, ironically the Alligator spotted them as well and Gary took us over next to the racoons, we were unbelievably close to them.
Overall, it's an enjoyable experience, we appreciate that seeing Alligators is not going to happen for everyone and would still recommend it.
|
|