Long Time Wish Fulfilled – Airboat Ride

December 27, 2023

On December 15(Friday), I went online and made a reservation for an airboat tour for December 21 (Thursday) at Wild Bill’s Airboat Tours.

They have an easy to use reservation system and it was easy to pay online. Will Bill’s is 34 minutes from the campground. The website and email confirmation said to arrive 30 minutes early.

We got there and checked in at the office. They had a cute little shop, but it smelled strongly of some sent. I was glad we didn’t have to stay inside.

We walked around looking at the alligators in the two pens.

We used the toilets before heading back to the airboats on a boardwalk.

Once the captain showed up, he gave us a short safety speech. Don’t stand up while the boat is moving, don’t get out until he lets us and wear the hearing protection while the boat is moving. He also talked about the tour and what to expect. Since it was a cool day, he promised not to get us wet, if he could avoid it. He said normally, he would really open the engine up on the way back and water would splash everywhere and everyone would get soaked. He answered questions, such as “had the company ever had an airboat turn over?”

Once we were seated, the captain launched the boat.

We headed through a marked channel. Wild Bill’s has two of their captains walk the river and put in channel markers.

We saw lots of wildlife and visited a gator nesting spot. We saw baby alligators. Bruce got to see the right foot mother alligator hiding in the grass. I didn’t see her, but I did see a six foot long alligator on another part of the river. We went through a tunnel of trees, which the captain called Tarzan’s tunnel. In most places, it was easy to see the bottom of the river.

The captain opened up the engine on the airboat on the way back to the dock. We did get a great feeling of speed. The captain didn’t open it up enough for us to get wet, but it was fun to watch the spray from the sides of the boat.

We had a great time and our captain was friendly and informative.

We then went a short ways down the road to a restaurant called Fisherman’s Cove. The seafood was delicious.

We walked out back to their deck looking over the river and saw sandhill cranes across the river and downstream.

This little bird was flitting through the nearby trees.

It was a beautiful day and we had lots of fun. The airboat ride was all that I hoped it would be. I got a kick out of the airboat gliding over plants growing in the channel. I loved seeing the alligators, turtles and birds. The speed on the way back was thrilling.