What I had hoped to be the highlight of my vacation became my biggest disappointment. What was advertised and what we signed up for did not happen.
"You can expect to ENCOUNTER manatees, dolphins, sea turtles, bald eagles, ospreys, herons, egrets, pelicans, roseatte spoonbills...fish, shorebirds.." -- No. We encountered the fins of numerous dolphins and drove near two osprey nests up on high signs, where we saw the top of the heads of the mother osprey. We flew by, at 35 mph, many pelicans, ospreys, egrets, herons on the shore, or in a tree, but the guide was not at all interested in "encountering" them. On a previous tour, we slowly made our way between islands, carefully approaching these beautiful birds. But this trip was only about dolphins and shells. If seeing the birds mentioned in the description is important to you, do not take this tour.
"...opportunity to find amazing shells" -- No. We were dumped off on a beach with more foot prints than shells. There were several other boats already there. It was evident the second we got off that the island had already had many, many people on it so the shells were all picked over. There was nothing unique that I did not see on other Naples area beaches. Furthermore, we spent 40 minutes here -- a long time when there was so little to see or do. A couple years ago, I took a similar tour and we were taken to an island where there were no footprints and we gathered incredible, "amazing shells", in a very short time. If finding unique shells is important to you, do not take this tour.
"In comfortable captain's style seating" -- No. Hard, metal benches. If being comfortable is important to you, do not take this tour.
When we arrived, we were told that there were five in our group -- the four of us plus a single person. When we loaded on the boat, there were 11-12 of us; we had been lumped together with another tour so that the operators could make more money. Did we go on their tour? Maybe? But an honorable tour guide would never allow a group to experience something different from what they signed up for and paid good money to experience.
Honestly, I have never written a bad review before. When I finish this, I intend to go on VRBO and write a wonderful review for the home we stayed in. But my disappointment in this experience was so deep, that I felt that I must write to hopefully keep others with the same expectations that we had from making the same mistake.
Odpowiedź od gospodarza
Mar 2023
Thank you for taking the time to do a review.
I am very sorry that you were disappointed in your experience. I checked back over the last 10 days and there was but one tour with a single traveler ... he and two parties of four. All guests booked the same tour, so there were nine guests on your tour. There was no "lumping". Just one captain, one first mate and one boat (with a maximum speed of 23kts).
First mate Kim is very interactive with our guests and always joins you on the beach. I do not think that you were "dumped" ... she was with you.
With a very short-two hour window on this tour, we can only encounter/view what is near us while we are on the water. Some tours/times/days are better than others ... such is the nature of wildlife.
We do some shelling as part of this tour. Commonly about 30 minutes. Shelling can be best early and at low tides . (certainly not always, however!) This tour was at high tide in the afternoon and, unfortunately, the shelling was not up to your expectations.
I always encourage guests to take the 3.5 hour 10,000 Islands Excursion tour. You are out in the wilderness longer which can provide more opportunity to encounter wildlife. As well, there is enough time to get to two shelling locations, if that is appropriate.
Again, I am, sorry for your disappointment.