soflo water adventures — Local services in North Miami

This is bad tourism. I know that's a strong statement, but here's why. (Oh and they only have so many 5 star reviews because they tell you that the tour guides get $10 for every 5 star review).

The tour starts kayaking in a mangrove forest. Nothing really wrong there. Our guide talked about the importance of mangroves, which I really appreciated. They help protect shorelines by slowing down big waves and wind.

Next we kayaked across the water to Racoon Island. They handed out drinks in plastic bottles and a slice of watermelon. Racoons instantly recognized and knew that humans = food, and they came up to us. Our tour guides encouraged us to feed them while they took our photos.

We did a short walk on the island, and on the other side is exactly one garbage bin that was overflowing. The racoons had picked through it, and trash was littered everywhere on the ground. Bear in mind that the tourists are bringing their trash. This trash isn't natural or because it's getting washed up. It's the result of us tourists literally trashing an island, and then the racoons rely on the trash, and the tourists go home thinking it is okay to feed wildlife.

I am an environmental scientist. It is never okay to feed wildlife. Feeding wildlife will hurt them and you. The wildlife will start to associate humans as the source of food, they stop learning to hunt on their own, and they encroach into urban environments. I understand that raccoons as a species are already very tightly interwoven with urban environments, but the impacts of this tour don't just end on the island.

This tour teaches people that it's okay to feed wildlife, and it trashes an island instead of what it could do - it could have been used as an opportunity for us to learn more about our environment.

When it rains or we have heavy winds, the trash will wash into the water and then the ocean. Fish and marine life eat plastic because they think it is food and the plastic never breaks down. I also asked who picks up the trash and how often the bin is emptied (it was overflowing). The guide responded that volunteers do it. So wait. Let me get this straight. We pay to trash the island, and the people that clean it don't get paid? Is that fair?

The tour could take small steps towards eco-tourism. I suggested having tourists clean up their own waste. Pack in, pack out policy. Educate people that it's not okay to feed wildlife, but these wildlife will come up to you because they don't know any better. Show us a conch shell, but don't remove it (like was done on my tour).

Eco-tourism can be just as profitable. Choose better. Don't choose bad tourism. (And note to tour operator - pay your guides a liveable wage so they don't have to rely on $10 for every 5...

The raccoon island exploration on sup/kayak is something I want to do every time I visit Miami from now on. Sidney was an incredible guide! Very knowledgeable and kind. Izzy did a fantastic job preparing us and getting us hyped for the tour!

We did the Racoon island tour which I booked on Viator. We started at 2 pm and got back around 4:30 pm. We went the day before NYE and the weather and water felt wonderful. At the time of our booking, we took a shuttle from the office to the mangrove forrest and did a short 3 minute walk to where the water met the mangroves and a giant paddle board they called “the limo” arrived to pick up our group of 14 to take us to the pontoon where the kayaks and paddle boards were. I loved every minute of the journey and enjoyed the multiple different terrains and vehicles we got to experience!

Once on the pontoon, we got life vests and got to choose between a kayak or a paddleboard. Then we paddled over to the raccoon island. The water was extremely calm and warm, and it was very cool to paddle around the little island and see the multiple beaches.

Soflo provides plenty of beverages for the group throughout the experience and also provided melons and peanuts for us to eat or feed to the raccoons. I was worried that the raccoons might be aggressive or scary, but they were incredibly docile and sweet! They very gently took the food from your hands, but were also used to humans enough to come out when they heard us since they knew that meant there was food. So we got to meet lots of raccoons and had only positive (and highly adorable) interactions.

After the island, we also got to enjoy a very relaxing, magical, and beautiful tour of the mangrove forest on our kayaks/boards. Sidney made the entire day and tour so comfortable and educational and fun for us.

It seems like Soflo’s management is doing an amazing job of fostering a family-like environment for their employees and it bleeds through into their representation of the company. Everyone we met was proud of what they do and where they worked which made the already stunning experience even more...

The owner and the tour guide, Chase, were both great! I was immediately greeted by their vehicle, offered drinks, and was generously offered to leave any belongings I wanted to in their vehicle so as to not get wet. The owner and Chase both took a few moments to go around talk to everyone in the group of 7. Chase appeared to make it a priority during the tour to paddle next to everyone and have individual conversations with everyone! He was a phenomenal tour guide with a great personality!

The tour I chose to go on was on the Miami River from 8p-10p on a Sunday night. There was way more boat traffic than I would have expected. Parties on every other boat, with loud music, and people screaming. Many of the boat captains clearly don’t honor the no wake zone. This made the water very choppy and less than desirable conditions to paddle on. Personally I chose the paddle board instead of the kayak. I believe I would have enjoyed it more if I chose the kayak. There was also trash built up along the edge of the river in some areas and the homeless sleeping under some of the bridges. Though, this is no fault of the tour company, it did make the scenery less desirable. The buildings and lights were definitely neat to see at night!

The paddle boards they provide are all either 10’ or 10 1/2’ (I don’t remember which). The boards seem cheap as well. If you are a larger person, like myself (6’2” 225lbs), this is not an ideal board and makes balancing very difficult. My personal 12’ board of higher quality is much easier to balance on. Even in smoother waters their boards were difficult to maintain balance and constantly felt unsteady. The boat traffic only made it worse.

I made the suggestion to Chase and will make it public here, I believe adding 12’ paddle boards (and maybe ones of higher quality too) would make the experience so much better.

Overall, I would suggest only choosing a kayak if doing this tour. I would give the company 4 out of 5 stars, only because of the paddle board issue. But as an overall, I gave it 3 stars due to the environment of the...