Spirit of the Swamp Airboat Tours

Nothing makes us happier than to hear the sound of happy children while riding our airboat.  Spirit of the Swamp is equipped with state-of-the-art headsets that have microphones so we can hear every word, every question, and every giggle and happy sound from the kids.

Some children arrive excited and full of questions, and some are more cautious.  But I guarantee every single one gets off the airboat excited and thrilled with their experience.  You’ll definitely want to make sure to allow some time in your Florida Vacation to take an airboat ride – kids of all ages will love it!

Here’s what the parents of kids have to say:

With six teenagers and four adults, you had a very diverse audience to entertain.  Amazingly, all of us will have wonderful memories of our time on the swamp.

And that airboat is really the best thing to do for a family in Florida.

Never thought that my daughter would talk more about the airboat ride than Mickey Mouse…

It was the highlight of our trip. You beat out Universal, Disney World and Kennedy Space Center for an 8 year old!

The beautiful Cypress Trees we see on our airboat rides always amazes our passengers.  These beautiful southern trees are draped with hanging Spanish moss gently blowing in the wind – making It seem as if you are magically transported to a prehistoric era.  In fact, some of our passengers tell us that these cypress heads and swamp bottoms make them feel as though they are in a scene from a scary movie!

Cypress tree roots grow upward and are called “knees”.  These Cypress knees provide stability to the trees in the muddy swampland.   We see these incredibility beautiful trees on all of our airboat rides.  My favorite Cypress head is found on the beautiful Dead River during our FLORIDA CRACKER airboat rides.  There is a cypress tree that has knees almost 5 feet high!  You won’t want to miss seeing this incredible sight.

I received this email today and some great photos from the Bruce family who recently took an airboat ride with us. 

When Ryan finishes Marine boot camp in October, he has said he may want to come back and do another tour with you guys.  We all had a great time; this was by far the best tour we have taken.

Margo, Joe, Ryan and Matthew Bruce

Good Luck in Boot Camp Ryan!  And by the way… see Joe’s Longhorn hat in the picture below?  Captain Harold managed to talk him into trading that hat for one of our Spirit of the Swamp hats! 

Many people ask us what types of wildlife they should expect to see on an airboat ride… here are just some of Florida’s birds you may see:  bald eagle, great white egret, snowy egret, cattle egret, blue heron, limpkin, ibis, glossy  ibis, wood stork, snail kite, hawks, red shoulder blackbird, gallinule, wild turkey, sandhill crane, roseate spoonbill, osprey, crested caracara, coot and mud hens, plover, gulls, pelicans, cormorant, owls, kingfisher, ducks, and anhinga.  Wow, that’s a lot of birds and I’m sure I missed some!

We also see alligators, turtles, deer, raccoon, armadillo, otters, bobcat, coyote, possums, wild hogs, swamp cattle, foxes, snakes and many more!

Like I said, if you love nature, this is the airboat ride for you!