Florida Bay Boat Tour

The Florida Bay Boat Tour is one of two tours run out of the Flamingo Marina by approved concessionaire Guest Services, Inc. The tour is held from November through the end of April at least once a day and lasts 1.5 hours. The tour takes visitors out onto Florida Bay in search of dolphins, manatees, and birds. For those wanting to see the wildlife of the backcountry lakes, the concessionaire also offers the Backcountry Boat Tour to the inland Coot Bay. See the Flamingo Adventures website for the current tour price, schedule, and to make a reservation.

As for the tour, there is never any guarantee of seeing animals, so you may just end up on a boat ride. I may be lucky, but every boat tour I went on that ventured off the coast of Florida—in the Everglades and at other parks—I always saw dolphins. In fact, I saw so many they eventually became as interesting as dogs. On my Florida Bay tour, the dolphins came right up to the boat and started following it, so I was able to get a few good photos of them. I was even able to get a photo of a dolphin swimming between two pelicans. I also saw manatees on the trip, and of course plenty of birds. It is also possible to see sharks, though none were spotted during the tour I was on. The captain did tell me that if it has been stormy, the dolphins are harder to find, so book your tour during a spell of nice weather.

If you have already done the 10,000 Islands Boat Tour at the Gulf Coast area and saw enough dolphins to be content, then there is no reason to do both tours unless you have time and money to spare, or simply love dolphins. Likewise, if you have canoed or kayaked on Florida Bay and were fortunate enough to see dolphins and manatees up close and you are happy with that, no need to spend time here. Seeing dolphins and other wildlife is definitely the main attraction of the Florida Bay Boat Tour.

Dolphin in Florida Bay