Everglades Florida Adventures — Local services in Everglades City

I rented a kayak for one week from the concessionaires at the park in Everglades City. I encountered very unhelpful people, two of whom were downright rude and impersonal. I emailed, ahead of time, Brenda Hamilton for help in keeping a bag at their facility while I was in the back country. The employees in her absence flat out refused to help me on this or even try to remedy the situation, which left me stranded w/ stashing my bag in the woods until I got back. Both the bag and the employees weighed on my mind and put a damper on what should have been a trouble-free enjoyable time. Upon my return, Brenda Hamilton offered up no apology for the situation. In addition, their kayaks are sub par, handles on the bow for pulling the kayak shredding, shock cord for gear stretched out to be useless, the back storage hatch takes in water and needed to be emptied all the time. I believe the employees there have no impulse to act any other way as 95% of their customers are tourist and therefore not returning customers. The park itself is an excellent one and it deserves much better concessionaires than what is there. Sincerely,...

What made this tour, in addition to the gorgeous landscape, was the Captain and First Mate. Both lived and worked in the area, and in addition to explaining the natural and physical history of the area, also explored the human history, and the relationship between local communities and Everglades National Park. Even though it was late June, not the peak time for wildlife viewing in the Everglades, we saw plenty of wildlife. We had some great views of pelicans and cormorants and herons. Highlights for me were seeing raccoons scavenging the beaches, and dolphins jumping alongside the boat.They also explained the effects of Hurricane Irma on the area and the wildlife. They pointed out where mangroves had died due to storm surge and flooding, and explained how amazing it is that the raccoons survived the hurricane on the small mangrove islands. They did a great job of explaining how the mangrove islands protected the community of Everglades City (which still sustained pretty heavy damage). The Captain pointed out shell mounds made by the Calousa Indians. And both staff gave good recommendations for food and activities...

In a nutshell: I rented a kayak from ENPBTs for a 3 day/2 night excursion out to 1 of the 10,000 islands. The kayak they provided me not only looked sketchy with a huge "patch" on the bow, but it leaked bad & caused me to take on a lot of water. By the time they had actually provided me with this faulty kayak, and with the rangers assisting me in my situation, we went back to the ENPBT office together to let them know of the issues at hand, and it was too late & unsafe for me to head out at that point in the day. It was now late-afternoon and only a few hrs of daylight remained. While at the office, I was promised a full refund for the 3 days rental, but I was told it would take a couple days for it to be processed. I was understanding at the time, thinking they would be reputable and honor their word. I left there and I went to Ivy House to rent a safe kayak for what was now to only be a 2 day/1 night excursion the next day. I must say, I got superb service from Ivy house!! 5-stars for them! However, here I am 3 MONTHS LATER, Still No Refund, no returned calls, not even my emails returned...