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You are here: Home / Archives for airboat ride

Wild Florida: Airboat Tours to Remember

April 19, 2014 by Beeb 1 Comment

Wild Florida airboat tour

Photo courtesy Experience Kissimmee.

As a first-time visitor to Florida, I was particularly excited to take an airboat tour with Wild Florida. Getting to see local habitat in such a classic way seemed like something that would be a very memorable and fun experience!

Approaching Wild Florida airboats

Airboat

Our group climbed onto one large airboat with our guide, and off we went! Ear protection is provided, and while not required, recommended because of how loud the engine is. You might want to turn your speakers down a little before playing this video from my airboat tour:

The tour was fabulous – riding an airboat is so enjoyable, and it was so much fun coasting over the swamps as we passed alligators, birds, and cows. Yes, cows will wade out into the marsh and calmly chew on grass while gators lurk in the water nearby. I wasn’t expecting to see cows out there and it made me laugh!

Can you spot the gator?

It’s neat observing alligators in their natural habitat and seeing with your own eyes how they blend seamlessly into the background. It was hard to spot many of the alligators that our guide pointed out, as I found myself frequently mistaking sticks and logs for gators and gators for logs!

Riding the airboat

Catching a wave

Our guide would stop anytime he spotted something interesting and point out alligators and birds to us. He told us all kinds of cool factoids and answered questions; one of our group said, “What would happen if one of us fell in?” to which another one joked that the gators would say, “Mmm, dinner!”. Our guide replied, “No, the gators would swim away from you because they don’t want to be dinner!” Although alligators are very dangerous animals, they are also scared of humans and not quite so vicious as, say, crocodiles. Our guide told us that most of the incidents in recent years with humans getting bitten were the result of people feeding wild alligators (!!). It was interesting to learn more about gators and explains how I was able to step inside a pen with Chester and not get immediately devoured. šŸ˜‰ (Don’t try this at home, etc. etc)

He also told us about the alligator hunting tours he offers – it never even occurred to me, but gator hunting is permitted and quite popular in Florida. Hunters buy a special permit and may kill up to 2 alligators per year. Our guide offers hunting tours because the cost for non-locals to buy a hunting permit is much higher – not to mention that it probably isn’t the best idea to go chasing alligators with a harpoon by yourself…

Our group asked him about some of the reality shows they’ve seen featuring alligator hunting, such as Swamp People, and our tour guide told us that most of the hunting techniques for gators that are legal in Louisiana are illegal in Florida, so they conduct their hunts a bit differently. Who knew!

Alligator sunning himself

We got a good view of this guy sunning himself!

Beeb on the airboat

Here I am on the airboat with the gator behind me! Thanks to Melissa for the photo.

As a bird lover, I also enjoyed seeing the wide variety of native birds, including the Northern Crested Caracara and a Bald Eagle nest.

There is a Bald Eagle nest tucked into the top of the center tree.

There is a Bald Eagle nest tucked into the top of the center tree.

Bird perched on sign

Touring the Central Florida Everglades

I truly enjoyed exploring the Central Florida Everglades in such a fun and memorable way! Check out this video compilation of some of the highlights of my tour:

We saw this little gator as we exited the dock!

We saw this little gator as we exited the dock!

In addition to airboat tours, Wild Florida also offers a full wildlife park, which I’ll be showing you in my next article. This place truly has so much to offer and I’m so happy I had a chance to visit!

For More Information:

Wild Florida
3301 Lake Cypress Road
Kenansville, Florida 34739
Phone: (407) 901-2563
Tickets: 1/2 hour tour is $25 per person for adults and $22 per person for children aged 3-12; price also includes admission to the Wildlife Park and a hands-on alligator demonstration. Other price points available for longer, private and nighttime tours – price list available here.

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Filed Under: travel Tagged With: airboat ride, Florida, Florida Vacation, RockYourVacation, travel, Wild Florida

Finding Alligators In Florida Wetlands Boggy Creek Airboat Rides

January 20, 2012 by Momstart 26 Comments

My adventures in Kissimmee Florida weren’t only holiday excursions, we also had lots of adventure. One of the adventures felt like an episode out of CSI Miami and as we went around every turn in the wetlands, I was expecting to find a body floating in the water. You know what TV does to the imagination right? Happy to report no bodies found, just Florida Wildlife.

We were taking an adventure with Boggy Creek Airboat Rides. On this adventure with Boggy Creek Airboat Rides we took a tour through the wetlands looking for alligators, can you guess how many we found. I only expected to see one, and thought we’d be lucky if we saw one. instead we found 18. Most of them were itty bitty babies but it was still so much fun finding and counting them up. The tours started with a leisure idle down a natural canal viewing exotic birds,

image

turtles

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and the 18 Florida alligators we found in their own natural environment.

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Ok, we found them as we went along our 30 minute tour of the wetlands, not all in one spot. We found babies in groups and as the alligators got larger they were found in smaller numbers.

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We flew down into the wetlands experiencing the wind and water whisping our faces as we traveled on the airboat reaching up to 45 miles per hour. Boggy Creek Airboat Rides is the best way to experience the beautiful Central Florida Everglades. Our tour guide was great at finding the wildlife and explaining everything to us. We saw and eagle and I have to warn you there are a few spiders here and there and even though I’m terrified of them I would ride the airboat again in a heart beat. I had a great time. I’d never seen a collection of shells like this before.

image

The Boggy Creek Airboat Rides offer 4 airboat tour choices. A 30 minute or a 1 hour scenic airboat ride on 17 passenger airboat, 45 minute airboat tour on 6 passenger boat & the 1 hour night airboat ride. They suggest that In the warm seasons the best time to see alligators is at night. If you are not able to go at night they suggest coming first thing in the morning. Our tour took place in the morning.

I got to drive too, ok, I’m just pretending to drive, I would have run over something I’m sure or tipped the boat over.

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And at the end of the tour we had a lesson on alligators and all had the chance to hold one. I gave him a kiss. I guess Alligators don’t turn into princes like frogs do.

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This tour was made possible by Global Resort Homes and Kissimmee CVB.

Filed Under: personal, travel Tagged With: airboat ride, Boggy Creek Airboat Rides review, finding alligators, Florida, Kissimmee, travel

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