Get Up and Go Kayaking - Shell Key Preserve — Local services in Gulfport

The lightning whelk was one of the many creatures that I had never heard of before our beacon of fun and knowledge that was our wonderful guide, Alessia. As a group of 8 ladies on a girls trip, we arrived slightly late to our 10:30am tour on a Friday of Labor Day Weekend and Alessia graciously gave us a warm welcome. She showed us where to use the restroom and locking away our valuables prior to embarking on our amazing journey. Dry bags were conveniently provided for the items we wanted to bring with us. Les took the time to give us a quick comprehensive kayak paddling instruction which helped ease the nerves of a few in our group who were less experienced. Also before heading out on the water, she thoughtfully asked for consent to take photos and videos while on the tour, not for her public posting, but to share directly with us (the photos attached) as she purely enjoys taking them as well as ensuring we can enjoy the tour fully without having to think about taking photos ourselves. And fully enjoy the tour we did. She is extremely knowledgeable and passionately told us all about the Shell Key Preserve area and the creatures we were able to see, including a mangrove, tiny tree crabs, terns, a massive orange conch, two bottlenose dolphins, and a lightning whelk. She also packed plenty fresh cold water on her kayak for all of us which came in handy in the midday sun. Alessia was very informative, safety-conscious, yet still laid-back as we never felt rushed. As this was many of the majority of the group's first time visiting Florida, it's a high recommendation for an adventurous kayak outing. Alessia is top notch. Definitely a highlight to our...

Pleasant morning paddle. Arrival and check in were super easy. I booked this based on reviews and was not disappointed.

Ben was a great guide and particularly familiar with bird species which was nice. We saw osprey, red heron, spoonbills, GBH, blue herons and a ton of gulls. I also think I saw a bald eagle at the beginning of the paddle but it moved north into the mangroves.

The paddle began at the marina and was about 2M out to Shell Key Preserve. For those of you with balance issues or concerned about entry into the vessel, it’s easy. Be prepared for no shoes in the clear kayak.

There was plenty of time for exploring on the beach. Which was full of shells and essentially empty of humans (always a bonus).

I found a huge live horse conch on the bay side. There were a ton of live shells in the grass adjacent to where we pulled into shore.

The tide was rapidly moving out on our return which was a slight challenge only because the vessels are a bit like paddling in a bathtub and you are already in the flats, so you do not have much water to work with.

For folks used to their own narrow sit in kayaks be prepared for an awkward experience. As a solo paddler who is short has limited arm span, I spent most of my time trying to sit forward and upwards to paddle. It wasn’t a real problem but I felt like I was having to do a lot of work for a rec paddle.

I would definitely look at this again if in the area or explore some of their other options. We had mostly locals on the paddle which was nice, most folks just wanted to explore areas they had not seen before. Definitely worth it for...

Less was our tour guide and so happy she was! She was informative, friendly and really got us close to dolphins like we’ve never been before!!! She was amazing. We saw dolphins right next to our boats and even 2 dolphins playing and splashing in front of us! It was awesome. Also this duck that swims with your boat and next to you really gave us a good laugh. It was so cute! We booked for June 20th 900am but they had to cancel due to weather so we went back Monday June 23rd 900am. We were out till 1130 and it was great! We wanted longer haha. The tour itself without seeing animals was honestly relaxing and just a beautiful view. Being in the water and seeing shell key was a really neat experience. Never got to go to a “secluded beach” that is only accessible by boat, jet ski, kayak or something other than a car. It was so nice to see that! Also finding shells hanging them and making a wish was a very cute idea especially for being mine and my husbands anniversary trip!! Less talked to us about our wedding spot on sunset beach and the hurricane damage that happened there. She was really friendly and easy to talk to! Taking us through the mangrove tunnels was an awesome photo spot and so cool to go through 2!! She took photos and videos for everyone and sent them out at the end of the tour. Her video classes were very cool too! We really enjoyed doing this morning tour. Well worth it and with a great guide! We hesitated on the sunset one but glad we got to do the morning one! We’d def try a sunset one next! Thanks again for making our anniversary activity well worth it Less,...