Hydrojet Thrill Ride — Attraction in Destin

I've been on numerous coastal dolphin tours over the years and this one takes the award for the worst. My family of 5 had booked a 7pm excursion on 07/26/17 the morning of the trip. Everybody was very friendly, but it all ended after they had your money in hand. We were told to show up 5 minutes prior to trip time to begin boarding. From about 5:30pm until 6pm there was a thunderstorm that came through that was forecasting hail with a short window before another round of storms began. While waiting to board, the deckhand, Russell, said, "Well it looks like we are going to get this trip in." Obviously he was aware prior to the boat even being boarded that there was another storm coming. If not, the lightening in the distance to the north would be a good indicator of it. At 7:08pm the boat Captain, Eric, was giving instructions prior to backing out of the boat slip. At 7:37pm our boat had not only returned to it's docking slip, but my family and all other passengers were off the boat. The Captain apologized for having to cut the trip short due to an incoming storm while we were in the Gulf as he idled around the last 3 or 4 minutes prior to returning. I realize the Captain doesn't control the weather, but he's in 100% control of the boat. He controls things such as if the boat goes out and comes in. Anybody could've predicted the boat wasn't going to be able to make a full one hour trip (what every passenger paid for). There was distant lightening before the boat left port. So when I returned, I went to the sales booth and asked for compensation since the trip was as described above. The guy at the ticket window stated, "There's no refunds if you get at least a half of trip." I asked him to provide me with that policy in writing somewhere that he was quoting me. He pointed to his head and stated, "I don't have to. It's inside here." Obviously if it were their standard policy he wouldn't have had any issue providing it to me because I'm fairly sure my excursion hasn't been their first storm shortened trip yet he was unable to provide it to me. He wanted to argue with me that it was a half of a trip and no refunds for half trips. For 1, it wasn't. For 2, if the Captain hadn't had idled at the mouth of the bay at the end of the jettys for 3 or 4 minutes prior to raising back to the slip, it wouldn't have even been close to their mysterious half trip policy. For 3, if there's a obvious storm coming in, it's lightening just off to the north when the boat is being boarded for the trip and lightening the entire brief time the boat is out for the excursion, what's the true concerns of the staff? Passengers safety as they state numerous times or squandering every paying customer out of their money? For me, my family and 90% of every other passenger on this particular excursion it was obvious. They're concern was money and not the customer's experience or safety. As you can tell I am disappointed that no refund or compensation or written mysterious half trip policy was offered by the company post trip minutes following exiting the boat, but I am far more disappointed and irate that the staff even left port with customers' money in hand for a very much so abbreviated trip instead of offering a full refund to customers before the obvious incoming weather shortened the trip and their only answer was to point to their head and state, "I don't need to. It's in here." It's clear what happened. They didn't cancel the trip with an incoming storm because they do have a policy that all customers will be refunded. So their best alternative was keeping money and providinga less than half trip with distant lightening the entire time so they could satisfy their mysterious make believe half trip policy. Don't waste your money. My family...

Update: June 2025 ... If in the Destin, Miramar, Ft Walton or surrounding areas and looking for a fun hour boating activity where the boat goes fast and you look for sea life while admiring the beautiful sites of the Destin coastline, check out the Hydrojet! We look forward to riding with them yearly and they NEVER disappoint! Everything from scheduling and checking in with Cherry to the perfect combination of an awesome ride with Captain CJ while learning about sea life and various tourist attractions of the area was great! Can't wait to return!! October 2024 - Our FAVORITE activity in Destin. We found the Hydrojet in Destin several years ago and visit them every time we are in the area. Perfect! Everything we expected. Fast, fun and informative ride with beautiful views of the coastline, harbor and bay areas. CJ is very knowledgeable of the area and does an awesome job of finding dolphins and sometimes other sea life. They offer daytime and sunset cruises. Very Friendly staff. Highly recommend and can't wait to...

I am soo mad!! It was all fun until Amanda was driving we had no warning what so ever she hit a wave and the amount of water that came over the front I thought we went under. Thank god I was hugging my 4 year old because he would of been over, also mine and my husband’s costa sunglasses are in the gulf somewhere. They said they would tell us if a big wave or something we need to be cautious about however we had no warning. So about 120.00 for 6 of us to ride then about 500.00 in sunglasses later I’m very upset. Thank god I always have my hand around my kid while we are on boats (In my family we are always in the water on our boat we fish a lot! So I’m familiar with being on boats and she hit that wave totally wrong she wanted a slash but got a flood!!).

All in all if you have small kids HOLD ON TO THEM!!! If you have sunglasses TAKE THEM OFF!! Do not get on if she is driving!! This could have went in a very bad direction if my kid would of came...