Boggy Creek Airboat Rides
Florida Guide > Other Florida
Boggy Creek has a large campground and we went to the two Airboat ride locations on their vast property. This was the Southport location at the end of Southport Rd. You travel onto Poinciana Blvd off 192 and keep going for about 18 miles.
When you arrive at this very cool large cabin building and go inside you will find the front desk, a TV, lots of stuffed gators, and touristy T-shirts and baseball caps.
The folks running the desk are really friendly. When we went Regular admission was $17.95 per adult, children ages 3-12 are $12.95. As ever we had collected money off vouchers from local publications.
After paying you go out a different door and wait in line at the dock. They give you a specific time for your ride because the airboats can only safely hold so many people. The boats run every 1/2 hour and they have 2 or 3 going at all times so your wait is never long, no longer than 30 minutes. It's a nice park like atmosphere and it was sunny and warm the day when we went so it was very relaxing sitting out there waiting.
When you get in the airboat you are given big headphone type piece of apparatus to put over your ears. These are mufflers because the airboat does get very, very loud. We didn't use ours, but many people did. The guide will give you a little safety run through like where the life jackets are. I think if you were stupid enough to stand up while it's moving and fall out it wouldn't make a bit of difference with the alligators!
The tour consists of a circular tour of Boggy Creek. This is a swampy area just full of wild life. The tour guide will stop occasionally when he finds a gator so you can take photos while your guide tells you about the area and the various wild life that is there. At one point a big gator was swimming toward the boat while we were stopped and the guide remarked not to worry, he's only ever had two actually jump onboard!
Our Guide was Robin and we really liked him, he was upbeat and funny. He didn't mind stopping anytime anyone asked him too and was very happy to answer questions that he's probably asked a thousand times a day. He just loves his job and it really shows.
We got to see lots of gators, and several swarms of water moccasins, along with various bird life like Bald Eagles and Sand Hill Cranes and took many photos.
Boggy Creek Airboat Rides are open 7 days a week, all year round from 9:00 AM to 7 PM. If you're really adventurous, you can book a gator-hunting trip through them too. I believe they do those on Sundays. They also have special night tours for the very brave at $29.95 per adult and $24.95 per child. You don't need reservations for the regular tour that we had, but you do for the others. Private tours can be reserved at $45.00 per person for 45 minutes. Their site says the regular tour is 30 minutes long but ours took nearly an hour
There is a restaurant, but we did not see it, I think it may be up at their East location on Boggy Creek Road off of Narcossee Rd.
We really had a great time and would recommend to everyone that they do this at least once. It's not something you get a chance to do that often.
Enjoy your visit.
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