We went last year and if you can choose between a large airboat and small, go for the small. They can fly through mangrove tunnels, go a lot faster than the larger ones, and are absolutely thrilling. Highlight of our trip.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you had seen manatees shredded and chopped into bloody burger meat by the blades of these boats, you would not be so keen on doing a tour.

Airboats don't have underwater propellers.

Though you are absolutely right about the concept. Those are ordinary, everyday boats with propellers though

Yes, I think people are confused about airboats. Those are the boats rangers use, they glide. I've been on airboats and to the Everglades many times and if inland in South Florida you will not be near manatees. Imo it is 100% worth it and completely different from being on the road. There is a thrill factor (high speed, wind) but then you get to the middle of immensity in nature and pure calm and it is breathtaking.

Glide? They slice. They slice through manatee chub like a hot knife through butter.

You don’t know wtf an airboat is.

I did one and while yes, it was loud, it was rather enjoyable. Bring some earplugs and a camera.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you had seen manatees shredded and chopped into bloody burger meat by the blades of these boats, you would not be so keen on doing a tour.

Airboats don't have underwater propellers.

Though you are absolutely right about the concept. Those are ordinary, everyday boats with propellers though

Yes, I think people are confused about airboats. Those are the boats rangers use, they glide. I've been on airboats and to the Everglades many times and if inland in South Florida you will not be near manatees. Imo it is 100% worth it and completely different from being on the road. There is a thrill factor (high speed, wind) but then you get to the middle of immensity in nature and pure calm and it is breathtaking.

Glide? They slice. They slice through manatee chub like a hot knife through butter.

They are flat bottomed boat with a 6 inch draft. They do not slice and dice anything.

YES - the airboat ride alone was awesome. Totally worth it.

We did one several years ago and had fun. Planning to do another over spring break.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you had seen manatees shredded and chopped into bloody burger meat by the blades of these boats, you would not be so keen on doing a tour.

Airboats don't have underwater propellers.

Though you are absolutely right about the concept. Those are ordinary, everyday boats with propellers though

Yes, I think people are confused about airboats. Those are the boats rangers use, they glide. I've been on airboats and to the Everglades many times and if inland in South Florida you will not be near manatees. Imo it is 100% worth it and completely different from being on the road. There is a thrill factor (high speed, wind) but then you get to the middle of immensity in nature and pure calm and it is breathtaking.

Glide? They slice. They slice through manatee chub like a hot knife through butter.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you had seen manatees shredded and chopped into bloody burger meat by the blades of these boats, you would not be so keen on doing a tour.

Airboats don't have underwater propellers.

Though you are absolutely right about the concept. Those are ordinary, everyday boats with propellers though

Yes, I think people are confused about airboats. Those are the boats rangers use, they glide. I've been on airboats and to the Everglades many times and if inland in South Florida you will not be near manatees. Imo it is 100% worth it and completely different from being on the road. There is a thrill factor (high speed, wind) but then you get to the middle of immensity in nature and pure calm and it is breathtaking.

Anonymous wrote:Bumping up:

We'll be going to the everglades from Miami. Is it redundant to do the Shark Valley Tram ride and an airboat?

Open to any recommended guided tours of everglades in the northern part of everglades. We'll be driving from Miami and have a car. In a lot of other NP we've done activities with rangers but it seems like Everglades has a lot of outside providers.

I was just at Shark Valley and rented bikes from the vendor in the park and did the 15 mile bike loop. It was really fun and I wish I had left more time to do some of the hiking trails off of the loop. I've heard that the tram tours are good too. I've also done a few airboat tours and they are fun for teens and different from the activities in Shark Valley. The NY Times just had an October travel article about the Miccosukee tribe in the Everglades and mentioned the Buffalo Tiger Airboat company which I'd like to try.

For Shark Valley, try to get there when the gates open at 8:30. When we left at 11:00 am two weeks ago there was a very long line of cars and the park service only lets in one car for every car that leaves the small parking lot. It looked like people were going to wait to get into the park for hours. Also, bring food since there isn't any in the park.

Anonymous wrote:If you had seen manatees shredded and chopped into bloody burger meat by the blades of these boats, you would not be so keen on doing a tour.

Airboats don't have underwater propellers.

Though you are absolutely right about the concept. Those are ordinary, everyday boats with propellers though

We did the ranger tour at Everglades national park (on ground in an open air bus) and it was fantastic. Great info about both the terrain and the wildlife and we saw tons of wildlife. Highly recommend over an airboat tour.

If you had seen manatees shredded and chopped into bloody burger meat by the blades of these boats, you would not be so keen on doing a tour.

Bumping up:

We'll be going to the everglades from Miami. Is it redundant to do the Shark Valley Tram ride and an airboat?

Open to any recommended guided tours of everglades in the northern part of everglades. We'll be driving from Miami and have a car. In a lot of other NP we've done activities with rangers but it seems like Everglades has a lot of outside providers.

Agreeing with others that it's bad for the animals and environment but also it's just boring? It feels very sideshow and hokey and you'll see more wildlife exploring the park.

Go on a hike to see the gators and baby gators sunning. It is amazing.