Capt Barry met us at the Marina for our Manatee Tour. Verification of our booking was easy... there were 3 of us. Another couple joined us and it was easy to socially distance on the smallish pontoon boat. Capt Barry kept his mask on the entire trip.
We searched for Manatee in a series of small inlets of his local community about 20 minutes South of Naples, and were only mildly disappointed when we didn’t find any. It was a relaxing boat ride on a sunny warm day!!!
Capt Barry was very knowledgeable regarding local wildlife... we saw Snowy Egrets, a few Alligators, vultures, pelicans, ibis, mullet and finally a big Bald Eagle.
Capt Barry was more disappointed by the dearth of Manatee for our 2:30pm trip than we were... He was able to take a few extra minutes with us, and his sharp Manatee spying eyes finally saw evidence of a Manatee!!!! We quickly rode over to the area and were rewarded with a mama and her baby just under the surface. We got to watch them for a couple minutes and eventually they wandered deeper and we sat back rewarded by Capt Barry’s diligence and tenacity!
If you are looking for a huge, high tech boat and tour, this isn’t for you. If you enjoy a smaller, relaxed group atmosphere with a local who wants to help you find some beauty in Florida nature, Capt Barry’s Manatee Tour may be a nice detour from the commercialized touring available in SWFL.