Go Cats On The Water — Local services in Marco Island

We did the Eco Boat Tour on a Saturday afternoon in late December 2024 out of Collier Seminole State Park. There was no one at the state park gate but remember to pay your entry fee. We visited for our excursion with Go Cats On The Water but there was a park ranger driving around on a golf cart asking folks for their park receipt or proof of payment.

At the time, they offered 2 tours, a shorter eco tour and a longer extended one where you go out onto an island and have food. Sadly we were afraid we wouldn't have time so we did the shorter tour (looking back we should've opted for the longer one).

Our tour guide Russ was amazing! He definitely wanted to make sure we were all having an amazing time. The Go Cats weren't too hard to drive but took a little getting used to. My wife and I had boating license from VA and MD so we weren't strangers to boats. You get a lot of practice turning slowing through the mangroves before you get to the more open areas.

It was 100% worth the cost. We booked our trip months in advance. It looked like they were fully book for our date. I think our kids said this was the best activity we did on our entire 2 week winter break trip. Russ did mention that they were getting ready to move out of the state park and would be based somewhere further north near Naples. Unfortunately with the other launch point there wouldn't be the maze of mangroves like they did here in Collier-Seminole State Park. We didn't see much wildlife but the activity itself of driving the Go Cats was amazing and the scenery couldn't be beat going through the mangrove mazes. We would 100% do this again and even better to experience it out of a different location like in Naples. However I do believe you are drawing for 2 different crowds. We liked the see the Everglades and Ten Thousand Islands Nature aspect but can see how there would be appeal for being somewhere closer to town and focus more on having fun by going fast.

We also didn't notice too many mosquitos but that may also have to do with the time of year we visited. This would probably be much less of a problem if you were departing form...

I went with my husband and daughter so I drove our daughter while my husband was a passenger with the tour guide. The boats themselves are fun (like a cross between a waverunner and speedboat) and the tour was enjoyable, the area is beautiful and we saw some dolphins, but there are a couple of cons....its definitely a learning curve to drive the boat and you need to use both hands at all times....I was fine with this after the first 10 min or so although our boat took a while to get to top speed (and I love going fast)! We kind of had to lean forward a lot and then wait quite a bit for it to plane out. Nobody else had this issue and the guide just said it happens sometimes so not really sure what the problem was. Also 2 of the drivers got stuck a couple of times so the guide had to go back and get them and there wasn't anything to do while we waited for them other than sit there (I would have just sped around the area while waiting but the guide kept saying to just wait right there)....she seemed pretty stressed out although she was trying to keep it together, my husband told me after she hadn't been doing this job for very long .... and last, the email said the guide takes pictures and sends them to us but I dont think she took any. Overall it was an enjoyable experience but not sure it was worth the money unless a few hundred bucks is not a big deal to you. On a person note I also think I just dont love guided tours in general and would much rather rent one of these boats and take it...

Communication was great when booking our tour of 4 people, 2 adults and 2-18 year old girls on their spring break. We had to drive from Cape Coral and there was an accident on the bridge so we got delayed. We were supposed to be there at 9 to check in and tour was leaving at 9:30 once we knew we were going to be late I called Clay and he said no problem just get their as soon as we can. Traffic in Fort Myers was no better again delayed my car said we’d be there at 9:30 called him again to let him know again no problem. Long story short we got there at 9:35 and they were so nice to us about it and thankfully the other 3 boats in the group were cool with us being a little late.

The tour was super fun the boats are faster then I thought they’d be and fairly easy to drive (once you get the hang of it). Clay and Dillion were super energetic and fun they took pictures of us the whole time and said they were included in the price which is really nice. They took us out to an island for a short visit and then a different way back which was awesome. We only seen one dolphin but that’s no fault of theirs. I would suggest doing the 9:30 tour at this time of year as we were getting pretty warm on the way back in. This tour is worth your...