Airboats and Alligators in the Florida Everglades
- Gail McElroy
- Nov 23, 2022
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 19, 2023
I have wanted to ride on an airboat in the Florida Everglades since I was a child watching “Gentle Ben.” This 1960s television show (I know, I am old!) was about a family who lived in the Everglades with a bear (the title character) they tamed and adopted. During the episodes, the father, who was a game warden, used an airboat as his main mode of transportation.
I was less enamored with the “gentle” bear as a pet than I was with the airboat. It looked like so much fun when they would jump on the boat from a dock in their backyard and fly across the surface of the water. (Full disclosure: I may also have had a slight crush on the little boy.)
I finally got to make my childhood dream of riding on an airboat a reality this past spring. And guess what? It looks fun because it is!
Traveling through the narrow, winding waterways surrounded by a tunnel of dense mangrove trees on an airboat, feels like a cross between a Grand Prix racetrack on water and an amusement park rollercoaster ride. Only, on this ride, you remain on the water’s flat surface, zigzagging along canals and whipping around blind curves at high speeds instead of moving vertically up and down on a track.
An airboat has an aluminum flat bottom with a large fan-like propeller (which is powered by an engine) that sits atop the back of the boat, enabling it to glide across shallow, marshy water without getting stuck or harming the vegetation and wildlife.
Its lightweight hull and powerful propeller allow the boat captains to travel at high speeds, maneuver the tightest of turns and stop on a dime.
Besides the fun of flying across the water in the unique everglade setting, the big thrill everyone is seeking is looking for alligators. For a California native, this was especially important.
Everglade touring companies are plentiful. They offer similar tours, boats and pricing. Most have an alligator farm or viewing area, fun stuff for kids and other touristy draws. Focusing on reviews, I booked our tour with Captain Jack’s Airboat Tours. We chose the Total Everglades Combo package which included two airboat tours (one through the mangroves and one through the grasslands) and a swamp buggy ride. We paid the adult admission of $95 per person. (Kids are $67 each.)
Our reservation confirmation told us to plan for 4 hours, with each ride lasting about 40 minutes. We started with the mangrove tour, then drove 7 minutes to take the grassland and swamp buggy tours. This second location is where you can buy souvenirs and see the alligator shows.
As directed, we arrived 30 minutes before our scheduled morning tour (purposefully chosen to avoid the afternoon heat). We checked in at a window located in a tiny shack and then waited in a shaded area, sitting at one of the many picnic tables provided. We also took the obligatory picture with the cartoonish alligator statue that greets all tourists. Lathered in sunscreen and wearing our hats and closed-toed shoes (as instructed). It is important to note, there is only one tiny, old bathroom in need of renovation for guests to use at this location. No other restrooms are nearby, so try to plan accordingly.
When our group is called, we head out on the dock with our captain who instructs us to find a seat on one of the two rows of benches. (My husband and I lucked out both times with the front row. It pays to line up early!) No lifejackets are required (or given out), nor are there seatbelts. Headphones are provided to block out the engine noise and hear the captain talk.
The engine is shockingly loud. Even with the headphones, the engine’s deafening roar made it hard to hear the captain, was distracting and, quite frankly, obnoxious. I hadn’t read up on this, so consider yourself warned.
My post-tour research informed me that mufflers don’t work with the airboat propellers. Plus, as the power increases, the faster the propeller goes, which is louder than the actual engine. Consequently, airboat riders just have to take this annoyance along with the adventure. (FYI, I also discovered that the first airboat was made by Alexander Graham Bell in 1905.)
Our captain had a spiel for us that included information about the everglade environment, wildlife and life of the locals, with plenty of corny jokes thrown in. I didn’t know much about mangrove trees but came away with a wealth of knowledge about these shrub-like trees that only grow at tropical and subtropical latitudes. The roots, which reminded me a little of banyan trees, look like stilts growing in broom-like formations. They are important for sustaining coastal ecosystems and have various other climate benefits.
The second tour explored the marshlands and grasslands, which are more open and conducive to seeing a wide variety of birds. It was just as much fun as our first ride to zip around on the airboat. Because the waterways are wider and more open, there were a lot more “whip-around” 360-degree maneuvers.
For the third and final tour of our package, we climbed aboard a “buggy,” which is a gigantic jeep as tall as a double-decker bus. The tires alone were about five feet, allowing the vehicle to drive along the dirt path which at times (during the rainy season) can be submerged in several feet of swamp water. We load from an elevated dock into the open top.
If we had a do-over, we would skip the swamp tour. It was extremely bumpy, slow and hot. We saw zero wildlife (except for turkey vultures). We were warned wildlife sightings are a hit or miss, with fewer things to see when it is not the rainy season. I wish that was listed somewhere on the website since we were there in March during the dry season.
Apparently, the dry season also means very few alligators and no manatees. We only saw three alligators “in the wild” during our two airboat tours but saw plenty in fenced-in ponds and in the exhibit enclosures. We were disappointed but, when weighing the pros and cons of visiting during different seasons, we opted for cooler and dry.
We chose March for our visit to avoid the hurricane and high season. Plus, the heat is more tolerable, the humidity a little lower and the bugs fewer in the spring. I am happy to report, we did not get one mosquito bite the entire time we were in Florida. Since you can see alligators all over Florida – especially if you are intentional, we didn’t mind that we didn’t encounter a ton on either of our airboat tours.
The few wild alligators we did see creeped us out enough. They are very ugly, intimidating creatures. And they are fast! One that crossed our path practically flew across the water much like our airboat did. Neither one of us could imagine living in a place where they are part of the natural environment and roaming free. No thank you!
The baby alligators in the animal sanctuary are a different story. I would even call them cute. The kids on our tour certainly loved them! Most tour paces have alligator shows where you can hug and kiss a gator and watch trainers interact with them.
At the end of our half-day excursion, we felt the time, effort and money were worth it. We had a blast on the airboats, and we’re glad we included this on our Florida itinerary. Plus, we got to check another item off our bucket list, so it was definitely a win-win adventure.
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