Central Florida Airboat Tours — Local services in Cocoa

I’ve been out with Captain Bruce four times now because each time someone comes to visit, we make sure this is a part of the stay. An airboat tour is the perfect way to see the true Florida; this is a fascinating land of waterways, wildlife and unrefined beauty. To embark on such a tour at the headwaters of Florida’s main river, the St. John’s, is even better, as its significance takes on an almost maternal feel there. But to experience this in the expert hands of Capt. Bruce is what makes it extra special.

Capt. Bruce’s first impression might be of a quiet and less than humorless man; the truth is actually much different. Not only is he a memorable and likable gentleman, he’s truly adept at what he does, both in piloting an airboat like a dancer and in his knowledge of area waterways and wildlife. And his knowledge is broad. There’s not a bird or creature he can’t name and has first spotted with an almost bionic eye.

What does one see on a Central Florida Airboat Tour excursion? Bald eagles, flamingos, a dozen other bird species, turtles, horses and livestock that call the marshland their home, and plenty of gators (small, large and enormous). Who knows what you’ll see? There’s a snack bar/restaurant near the dock. The bolder of your group can try gator tail.

Do yourself a favor and experience Capt. Bruce’s airboat tour – you’ll be happy you did and you’ll never forget it. Bring...

This tour was awesome! We saw so many alligators, fish, and birds. Dusty, our guide, knew the names of all the different kinds of birds and was very helpful. The baby alligators were adorable! We just visited in April and that baby Gators were about 3 months old born in December, And we went to a small pond where there must have been a whole ton of little babies. We also went to another small area and saw a big alligator eat a live tilapia! We want to another area where the water was getting low so there must have been thousands of birds all in the area, and as soon as we approached it was amazing to see so many birds flying around us. Dusty's boat is great because the second row is also tiered so you can see everything well. It gets a bit breezy so I'm glad I brought a windbreaker. You can't wear hats though because you're going, so fast that the wind would blow the hat off to make sure you repair with sunscreen. You get to wear headphones with microphones, so you can hear each other speaking. It's nice because you also stay dry so you don't have to worry about water coming in the boat because you're above water the entire time.

Afterwards we went across the street to have snacks of gator catfish and frog legs.

This is a one of a kind experience and I highly...

Have wanted to do this for a long time, and my first air boat ride experience was certainly worth waiting for - and even lots more fun than I had hoped it might be!

Captain Dusty is extremely knowledgeable about all species of swamp plants, birds, and most importantly, gators! He knew these swamps like the back of his hand, and was able to predict exactly where we would see gators and even baby gators! He’d tell us to look to the right for gators right around the next bend, and sure enough, there’d be gators - and sometimes baby gators - just like he predicted to us that we would see! The headsets with mic’s made for a much more interactive experience, and the smaller seating capacity on his boat made for a much more personal and easy-to-see experience than we would have had on one of those ‘stadium seating’ airboats! Oh - and the surprising swamp cows topped off the whole memorable experience!

If you want a really fun airboat ride experience, this one...