Coastal Kayak Charters — Attraction in Saint Pete Beach

After having limited access to outdoor activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was awesome to get out on the water to take in the fresh air, sunshine and incredible nature that Shell Key Preserve offers. To follow current social distancing recommendations, our group of 11 was divided into two smaller groups and we staggered our departure times. Being that we had some first time kayakers, guides Doug and Ross adjusted our pace so that everyone felt safe and comfortable. Over the 35 years I've lived in Florida, I have kayaked or canoed on various waterways. What made this trip unique was what Shell Key Preserve offers visitors, as well as our knowledgeable and professional guides. During the 3-hour outdoor adventure, our guides led us through protected channels, magical mangrove tunnels, and out to Shell Key where we had the opportunity to walk, collect shells, and swim. Cormorants swam alongside and under our boats, attracted by the fish our paddling stirred up. Not only are Doug and Ross experts on local nature, they also entertained and educated paddlers with romantic legends about the Don Cesar "pink palace" and treasures buried by locals inside and around the mangrove tunnels. I was so enthralled by Doug's stories, that they inspired me to conduct an online search after our kayaking trip so that I could share his stories...

Our family took a kayak tour with Coastal Kayak Charters yesterday to The Shell Key Preserve. It was a fantastic experience! Doug and Ross did a great job from start to finish. They took our reservations by phone, sent us text message info about where to meet for the tour, and made sure we knew where to be for launch. They also provided great info during the tour about the preserve, wildlife, and area. It is a beautiful region to do a kayak tour and well worth the reasonable price and services of Coastal Kayak Charters. We really enjoyed the conscientious way that Doug and Ross run the tours- they treat every person like they are family. You leave feeling like you have known them for years. We highly recommend Coastal Kayak Charters for both Florida residents (like us) and visitors. We recently moved to Florida from out-of-state and wanted to become familiar with locations to kayak in the area, so we decided to do a tour with Coastal Kayak Charters and they were awesome! Check them out today! Thanks, Doug and Ross for providing a wonderful experience for our family. The wildlife and sunset views from Shell Key cannot be beat. THIS is why we are excited to...

Overall great experience...would highly recommend it! I’m a 32yo relatively physically fit man, and my wife and I had a tandem kayak and didn’t feel tired or fatigued at any time during the 3 hour excursion. The guide (I’m pretty sure his name was Brian) did a great job allowing us time to relax and rest in between periods of kayaking with a cross wind. Our tour had 8 guests total. Brian led the group, and there was another member from the kayak company who trailed the group behind everyone to make sure everyone was doing okay. Brian did a great job telling us interesting and humorous anecdotes about the area. The scenery was beautiful, we kayaked through several mangrove forests, and the guide even took pictures of everyone kayaking and texted them to us afterwards (free of charge). The scenery at Shell Key was particularly pretty...crystal clear blue water and a white sand beach...it really did feel like we were on a remote Caribbean beach. We had about 20 minutes to get out of the kayak and walk around Shell Key and take pictures. Would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to explore the...