Marco Island Boat Tours

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Marco Island Boat Tours Marco Island Boat Tours is an educational tour operator working in Florida's 10,000 Islands National

Season's here.The white pelicans are back, the water is cooling enough to bring manatees into the creeks, the light has ...
10/23/2026

Season's here.

The white pelicans are back, the water is cooling enough to bring manatees into the creeks, the light has gone sharp and gold, and the snowbirds are starting to arrive. This is the best stretch of the year out here — and it's the stretch that books up.

If the Ten Thousand Islands are on your list this winter, get the date on the calendar now. Free cancellation up to 48 hours, so there's no risk in holding a seat.

Dolphin, Birding & Shelling — 2 hrs, $89.95
10,000 Islands Shelling Excursion — 3.5 hrs, $149.95
Boat Assisted Kayak Eco Tour — 3.5 hrs, $199.95
Private Family Fun Tour — 4 hrs, from $595

Goodland Boating Park, free parking.
marcoisland-boattours.com · (239) 695-0000

There are islands out here you are not allowed to set foot on — and that's exactly why they look like this.Much of the T...
10/21/2026

There are islands out here you are not allowed to set foot on — and that's exactly why they look like this.

Much of the Ten Thousand Islands sits inside a National Wildlife Refuge and Everglades National Park. Certain rookery islands are closed to landing entirely during nesting. Thousands of wading birds use them because nothing walks ashore to raise the young.

We hold offshore and let you watch. Bring binoculars if you have them.

Access to protected waters like this is the whole reason to go out with a licensed operator rather than a rental.

marcoisland-boattours.com

This is what three and a half hours out there does to people.We've been featured on PBS, National Geographic and Lonely ...
10/21/2026

This is what three and a half hours out there does to people.

We've been featured on PBS, National Geographic and Lonely Planet, which is lovely — but the review we're proudest of is the one that says the guide made the difference. That comes up again and again across 447+ reviews at 4.9 stars.

You can get on a boat anywhere on this coast. What you can't get everywhere is a Florida Master Naturalist who's been reading these islands for 25 years and actually wants to show you something.

Girls' trips, birthdays, reunions — private charters available.

marcoisland-boattours.com

Built for people who came here to shoot. 📸Our Private Photography Safari runs 2.5–3 hours, and everything about it is di...
10/19/2026

Built for people who came here to shoot. 📸

Our Private Photography Safari runs 2.5–3 hours, and everything about it is different from a standard tour: we go where the light is, we hold position instead of moving on, and the captain positions the boat for your angle rather than the group's view.

Subjects in range on a typical run — roseate spoonbills, ospreys on the nest, white pelicans, dolphins in the wake, and mangrove rookeries at golden hour.

Our guides have been photographing this coast for decades and know which island holds birds on which tide. Fall light is the best of the year for it.

Small groups. Contact us for pricing and dates.
marcoisland-boattours.com · (239) 695-0000

This bird is the reason American conservation exists.In the 1880s egret plumes were worth more per ounce than gold — the...
10/19/2026

This bird is the reason American conservation exists.

In the 1880s egret plumes were worth more per ounce than gold — they went on hats — and hunters wiped out rookery after rookery across South Florida. Two Audubon wardens were murdered protecting nests. The outrage that followed built the Audubon Society, drove the Lacey Act, and led to the first federal bird reservations.

Every egret standing in a mangrove out here is the result of people who decided it was worth fighting over.

We pass them on nearly every tour. Worth a second look.

marcoisland-boattours.com

How to tell if a sand dollar is alive — because it matters.Alive: brown or purplish, slightly fuzzy, and those tiny spin...
10/17/2026

How to tell if a sand dollar is alive — because it matters.

Alive: brown or purplish, slightly fuzzy, and those tiny spines move if you hold it in your palm.
Empty: bone white, smooth, no movement.

If it's alive, it goes straight back into the water. A live sand dollar out of the water doesn't survive the walk to your bag.

The five-petal pattern on top is its breathing system. And those five little "doves" people find inside a broken one are actually its jaw — a structure called Aristotle's lantern.

White ones only, always. There are plenty.

marcoisland-boattours.com

Morning water like this is why we push people toward the early departure.Before the sea breeze fills in, the back bays g...
10/17/2026

Morning water like this is why we push people toward the early departure.

Before the sea breeze fills in, the back bays go flat calm. Wildlife sits still. Birds work the flats. Photographs come out clean. And if anyone in your group is uneasy about boats, this is the ride that changes their mind.

By two in the afternoon it's a different bay entirely.

Morning seats go first, especially on weekends. Worth booking a few days ahead.

marcoisland-boattours.com · (239) 695-0000

Watch how it's carrying that fish.Ospreys turn their catch head-forward in the air, nose into the wind, because a fish h...
10/15/2026

Watch how it's carrying that fish.

Ospreys turn their catch head-forward in the air, nose into the wind, because a fish held sideways costs them serious drag on the flight home. They're the only raptor that does this consistently.

They also have a reversible outer toe and barbed pads on their feet, so a slick mullet can't twist free. Success rate on a dive is around one in four, which is remarkable for a bird hunting through the surface of the water.

Ospreys nest all through the Ten Thousand Islands. On most tours we pass at least one active platform.

marcoisland-boattours.com

Why do dolphins chase the boat?Part of it is physics — the wake throws off a pressure wave they can surf for free. But t...
10/15/2026

Why do dolphins chase the boat?

Part of it is physics — the wake throws off a pressure wave they can surf for free. But the honest answer researchers keep landing on is that they do it because they want to. Bow-riding shows up in calves before they need to conserve energy, and pods will leave good feeding to come play in a wake.

They're one of a very short list of animals that appear to do things purely for fun.

Our captains never chase. We hold course and let them decide — which, out here, they usually do.

2-hour Dolphin, Birding & Shelling Tour, $89.95.
marcoisland-boattours.com

The look on the left is the one we do this for.Those are lightning whelks — the easiest shell to teach a kid to identify...
10/13/2026

The look on the left is the one we do this for.

Those are lightning whelks — the easiest shell to teach a kid to identify, because it's the one that opens the wrong way. Hold it point-up: if the opening is on the left, that's a lightning whelk. Almost every other spiral shell in the world opens right.

Kids remember that fact for years. We've had families come back and the child leads the shell ID.

All ages welcome, from 18 months up. Life jackets provided.

marcoisland-boattours.com

Address

740 Palm Point Drive
Goodland, FL
34140

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 9pm
Tuesday 8am - 9pm
Wednesday 8am - 9pm
Thursday 8am - 9pm
Friday 8am - 9pm
Saturday 8am - 9pm
Sunday 8am - 9pm

Telephone

+12396950000

Website

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