This was a great day! We were picked up on time in a comfortable 15 passenger van by our guide Ben. He was very knowledgeable and gave us a good education on the way to our first stop. We drove 40 minutes to a marina near Marco Island. We hopped on board a boat and were seeing dolphins jumping in the wake in short order. Our captan did a very good job keeping us near a group of dolphins so we got some good pictures. We also happened to see a loggerhead turtle. Next after a short drive, we headed off to a nature walk. Ben taught us a lot about the local plants, birds, and animals along the way. He has an amazing catalog of info in his head. We were given a checklist of birds that we might see along the way and that was fun to fill out as we went along. We saw snakes, birds, turtles, and an alligator! Then it was time for a casual lunch on the water in Everglades City. Afterwards we had some extra time so we stopped at a popular manatee sighting spot and we managed to see at least five! What a thrill! Ben took us on a wilderness ride and talked to us about the local ecology. Along the way we spotted plenty of gaters and birds. Lastly we got to go on an airboat ride, this was very special. The shop at the marina was.. shall we say authentic? Maybe salt of the earth? They had some giant snakes and different tropical birds there. You got to see pythons eating their dinner, not my thing but I imagine lots of people would think that was cool. Our captan was really funny and personable plus great at his job. We went all around the lake and in addition to beautiful ecology we saw many alligators of all sizes plus turtles and all kinds of birds. It was a birdwatchers dream. Ben would be gratified to know that we came away from the trip feeling more love and concern for the environment. I definitely thought that this tour was worth the money. I would recommend it, we saw more wildlife than we hoped for so it hit all of the marks.