Everglades Air Boat Ride
 

We are planning to be in Miami for my son's 11th birthday in March and considering taking him and 5 friends on one of the Everglades Air Boat tours. I'm a bit worried that they are big tourist traps. Do you think that the boys will like it? There seem to be several companies that offer the rides. Can anybody suggest the best operator.
Thanks.

I did one in Boca Raton in Oct. I had FUN. I don't know if it was a tourist trap or not but I really enjoyed it. I think the boys will love it. They give you a headset to block out some of the noise. And ponchos when it started to rain.

The boys will LOVE it, but it might scare them (and you) to death! Also it is not very environmentally friendly. You will literally run over alligators at warp speed (thump thump--the drivers say this does not bother them...but how?).

The boats are great fun, my husband and I did one a few years back, I'm sorry I can't remember which operator we used but it was definitely worth the money. We went on a small one that carried only about 6 people (there are larger ones). The driver was knowledgeable and stopped every now and then to show us wildlife, even crocodiles. I think the boys would love it.

We did this years ago when our children were small and we all loved it. They still remember it as a favorite of family vacation good times.

I just did this on Sunday, and I can't remember the outfits name. It was on a large airboat that held approximately 20-24 people powered by two airplane engines. My guy is an engineer who worked his whole life on locomotive engines/pistons etc. and was fascinated by the mechanics of the operation.

Don't know about "tourist traps" because that is awfully realitive. This outfit took your picture going on and you didn't need to buy it. It was cheap at $5.00, and some people did buy them. That's sort of touristy, like in Disney on the thrill rides.

But regardless, this was much worth it. I think the boys would absolutely love it. We were out for 35 minutes and went quite a distance. Our boat was not full and he answered mine and one other man's questions about species etc. very, very well. He told us that he could go up past 45mph, but would keep it below- if we wanted. We let him speed. He was a fast talker who found a lot of different bird species for us. Some are so tame from boats feeding them that they approach the airboat when moving. He told us he would not do this feeding. Alligators the same. We spotted some small alligators that we passed right over, as above poster noted.

Also the entire thing will go sideways at a clip and revolve while speeding along. You get to see far into the brush/ saw grass- and have spectacular views full circle. The last time I did this was 41 years ago, and now the saw grass is mostly overcome by other native American grasses but it still looked vast and wonderful to me.

I'll look a my receipts and see if I can find the name for you. They had two landing spots and many boats, and it was not distant from Ft. Lauderdale. Our ship offered us the bus to the airboats and then to the airport as part of delaying tactic because the flights etc. got so messed up with ATA losing their gates.