I am leaving tomorrow for New Orleans to attend (actually work) a convention. I just received my schedule and looks like I will have most of Sunday free. I was interested in a swamp tour. Did a search here already and the names that came up were Honey Island Tours and Chacahoula Tours, however they were posted back in 2003. Has anyone had any recent experience with these tours or are there others you would reccomend. I am looking at a 1/2 day tour and would need to be picked up at my hotel because I won't have a car. Thanks for your help. Have also been searches for restaurants and am looking forward to trying some of those you all rave about.

meant to say "have done searches" for restaurants.

I think the swamp tour I took was Rajin' Cajun. It was booked through the hotel, and I was very, very pleased with it. The guide was born and raised in the swamp and knew a lot of the animals and vegetation. They came and picked us up at our hotel - most will.

Don't expect to see very alligators at this time of year. Those critters hibernate when it gets cold. But there is so much else to see and enjoy, plus the crowds are low and you can get a close to personal tour. I went when the weather was changing, and only saw small 'gators, but thoroughly enjoyed it!

There are very few restaurants in NOLA that don't serve good food - if there are any! Along with the norms that are always mentioned here, I would suggest Petunia's (good food in a lovely old home) and Tuque's (pronounced as "two jacks") on Decataur. They only serve one menu per evening and are a little pricey, but worth every penny! A nice place to splurge one evening.

My vote is for Honey Island. We are taking family on that tour in June. My niece took her family on it & really enjoyed it. They don't use airboats from what she said. I think you could see gators. It was in the 70s here today & should be for the next couple of days. I just went to a gator farm on the Northshore today & bought an alligator head for my nephew. He loves to hunt & will love this to study. Check out the Honey Island website to decide.

Chele60 and Benj - Thanks for the reply. I already looked at the Honey Island website so will check out Rajin Cajun. I've been keeping an eye on the weather - looks like it will be similar or a little warmer than San Diego but with less rain!! How often can you say that!!

Anyone else with recent experiences? I am glad that I will have some free time to sightsee since I haven't been to New Orleans for over 20 years. I went to school in San Antonio and used to go "home" to New Orleans with one of my best friends. That was a long time ago so am excited for this visit.

ttt

Paula1470-
So what tour did you take? How was it? We're going in June and are thinking of taking a tour.

We did the Cajun Pride swamp tour last month. It was a very interesting tour. The only problem with doing it in March is that there aren't many gators out. We did see about 6 small ones. The larger ones are still hibernating. The gator's digestive system apparently doesn't work until the gator can maintain a temperature of 78 degrees. Being cold blooded, that means that the water temperature has to be about that temp also. You can see that summer is the time to go.

Do you think that going in June will be too hot and buggy?? I mean I know it's hot and humid but too hot to do one of these tours?

You are probably better off getting a breeze in the boat than standing on sidewalks in the Quarter.
You will be hot & sweaty no matter what you do. Dress accordingly and bring bottled water with you. You'll be fine.
You will understand why the women here don't need to bother with "dewey" makeup tips. We get that naturally!

Neworleanslady-
So I guess my daily routine of blow drying my curly hair straight every day is out of the question? haha
Did you ever see that Friends episode when Monica goes to Bermuda? That will be me after a few minutes outside!

DO NOT BOTHER! Wear a hat! <)
Or a scarf or a ponytail, etc!

How I envy those curly haired girls who live in other parts who can straighten year round! I have just about given up for the "season". I, too, have curly hair, but my friends know it only happens from October to March! #39;(

I am a Weather Channel addict. The bottom scroll with the humidity tells me what my options are!

I have seen the Friends episode. You can't imagine how many phone calls I got after that one!!