Frequently Asked Questions

Goodland Boating Park

Our boat tours depart from the Goodland Boating Park.

Collier county park

Goodland Boating Park is a Collier County park. We do not have staff at this location. We do not have staff or employees at the Marina ship store. The store has snacks, drinks, and sunscreen for sale and also has restroom facilities.

Meeting Your Captain

Our captain or guide will arrive on the floating docks before your departure time. Look for your captain or guide to meet you near the flagpole benches in front of the store or under the shaded pavilion. Your captain/guide will ask for you by name.

Location

Goodland Boating Park
750 Palm Point Dr.
Goodland, FL 34140
DIRECTIONS

Caxambas is CLOSED

NOTICE! We no longer depart from the Caxambas Boat Park on Marco Island. Unfortunately, Hurricane Ian destroyed the Caxambas Boat Park in September 2022 and will remain closed indefinitely.

Round-trip Shuttle Van

You’re on vacation! Sit back, relax, and leave the driving to us. Enjoy another drink on the boat because we will also bring you home safely after the tour!

Due to the overwhelming parking problem at our County Parks (both Goodland Boat Park and (now closed) Caxambas Boat Park and Marina, we have added a shuttle van service for our guests. This is our van and driver and is the ONLY guaranteed way to get to your boat tour.

Don’t get aggravated trying to park

Parking is consistently hard to find at Goodland Boat Park. There are only 13 parking spaces. People come and go all day, so finding a space is often a waiting game. Parking costs $10, and illegally parking can get you a stiff ticket. Do not park in boat trailer spaces – these are reserved for vehicles trailering boats and using the boat ramp.

Pickup and dropoff on Marco or Goodland

We will pick you up from any home, condo, or hotel on the island.

Shuttle Van Cost

From Marco Island and Goodland

• Private 2-hour tours – $75 per group (up to 6 people), round-trip.
• Private 2.5-hour tours – $100 per group (up to 6 people), round-trip.
• Private 3-hour tours – $125 per group (up to 6 people), round-trip.
• Private 4-hour tours – $150 per group (up to 6 people), round-trip.

24-hour notice required

Please schedule your shuttle to the boat park at least 24 hours before your boat tour excursion.

You can purchase your shuttle van fare when you reserve your boat tour.
If you need to set up the Shuttle pickup, please call or text us at 239-231-2500.

Arrive early

Plan to ARRIVE EARLY, and plan for the possibility of there NOT BEING ANY AVAILABLE PARKING at the Goodland Boat Park.

Parking fee

There is a PARKING FEE of $10 for any vehicle without a Collier County Beach Parking Permit.  Pay for your Parking fee in the Ship Store. A parking receipt is required on your dashboard to park.

Parking can be hard to find

Lack of available parking is common, especially during holiday/vacation weeks. Parking is also hard to come by in the morning and midday. Parking is usually fine after 2 pm.

Where to Park

Overflow Parking

Offsite Parking

The nearest offsite parking is on the side of the road on Goodland Drive. Expect minimal parking in Goodland near the restaurants on Sundays during “Sunday Funday”.

Ride Share

We HIGHLY RECOMMEND taking an Uber, Lyft, or Taxi from your hotel or condo on Marco Island to the boat park. The average rate on the island is about $15-30.

Fare prices

Ticket prices vary by the type and length of the boat tour and whether the tour is private or shared. Pricing can be found on each tour page, as can the different options for that type of tour.

Private tours

Private tours are available where you reserve the whole boat and can bring up to six or twelve people.

Shared tours

Purchasing single tickets will result in a mixed group or ‘shared’ tour.

2024-25 Boat Tour Rates

Booking fares on the website

After choosing your boat tour, clicking the BOOK NOW button will bring you to our online booking where you can pay for tickets online with your credit card.

Busy season

Due to the extreme traffic we see during the holidays and school vacations, we have two different rates for tickets and private tours.

Standard rate

Our standard rate is a discounted rate. We have dropped our prices 15-25% to reward people who travel outside of our busiest times of the year. You no longer need a promo code to get a great discount; we’ve just built it into our off-season pricing.

Holiday Rate

The holiday rate is what we used to charge all year. During the busiest times of the year, we will sell out of most tours and timeslots so reserve/book early!

2024 Holidays
Thanksgiving 11/23/2024 to 12/01/2024
Christmas 12/18/2024 to 01/01/2025

2025 Holidays
Spring Break 02/15/2025 to 03/30/2025
Easter 04/18/2025 to 04/20/2025
Memorial Day 05/23/2025 to 05/26/2025
July 4th 07/04/2025 to 07/06/2025
Christmas 12/19/2025 to 01/01/2026

We can accommodate large groups and bigger families with up to 12 passengers on our vessels.

“Beach Girl”, our 28′ custom-built Carolina Skiff 2790 Extra Wide is rated to carry 22 passengers.

“Salty Lady II”, our 26′ custom-made Carolina Skiff 258 DLV is rated to carry 18 people by the manufacturer. Due to Coast Guard rules and regulations, we may only take six passengers per charter on this boat. There is seating for 11 people on the boat, so plenty of room exists.

Learn more about our boats here.

We can accommodate parties of 6, 7 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12 people on our boats.

As much as we’d love to bring your whole family out on one boat, Coast Guard regulations limit the number of passengers we can take out to SIX people regardless of age, size, or weight.

For larger parties of 6 to 12 people, we can book your charter with both of our boats.

Yes, bringing your alcohol is permitted on our boat. However, RED WINE IS NOT ALLOWED as it stains vinyl seats and fiberglass.

Yes, a YETI 75 cooler with ice is provided for guest use.

You can bring your beach chair if desired. However, most beach and shelling tours only spend about an hour on the beach, so it is most likely unneeded.

Please wear non-marking soled shoes on the boat. These are usually shoes with black soles. If you have marking-soled shoes, we may ask you to go barefoot.

For shelling tours and beach excursions, we recommend a water shoe. You can usually find these reasonably priced at Alvin’s Island, Walgreens, Winn-Dixie, or Walmart.

Recommended products

Here are a couple of water shoes we like:
FitKicks  |  Columbia  |  Xtratuf

Recommended clothing

Recommended attire is casual beachwear. In addition, you may want to bring a light coat or rain jacket/windbreaker – it will be colder on the boat than it is on land, especially when breezy.

Bathing suits

You can wear a bathing suit, but if you plan to swim on a shelling or beach tour, you probably will want to bring a towel.

New bathing suits

Please, PLEASE, please WASH ANY NEW BATHING SUITS before wearing them. Bathing suit dyes will stain our marine vinyl seats if new and unwashed.

There is NO bathroom on the boat.

Bathroom emergencies

If someone needs an emergency bathroom stop, the captain will do their best to accommodate your needs. There are a few bathrooms at Marina’s in the area, but they are typically a bit of a ride away.

Are you not feeling well?

If you are not feeling well, we recommend rebooking your tour.

Water spray

Although our captains are professionals and experts at navigating our waters, going on a boat tour means you will be on a boat. It is not unusual to get sprayed sometimes by crossing a wake, waves, or a dolphin splashing, etc. You may want to bring a towel.

Windy days

Please note that the wind makes the water choppy on windy days. Chances of getting wet increase with wind or foul weather.

Rain

Rain is inevitable in Florida. We do not reschedule or cancel boat tours for light rain. If there is heavy rain, our captains will do everything possible to avoid it. Please come prepared with a raincoat if rain is in the forecast. We do offer some complementary rainwear on the boat for emergencies.

Tips are greatly appreciated!

Customary tips

Tipping is customary when you are on a boat tour or charter, just like in any other service Industry. The tip amount generally depends on your income level and experience. The excellent tip shows the captain that you had a good time and appreciates his efforts to ensure your trip was safe, fun, educational, and memorable.

How much should you tip?

15 to 20% of your fare is an average tip.

Ways to tip

If you forgot to bring cash, don’t worry. The captain can advise you of their Venmo, Cash App, ApplePay, etc. Also, a tip can be added to the credit card you used to pay for your tickets.

Going out on a boat means that there is always the possibility of getting wet.

Professional captains

Your captain will do his best to make your tour a dry and comfortable ride but sometimes getting wet is inevitable, depending on the conditions.

Bad weather

Bad weather days can mean rain, windy conditions, and choppy water. It is possible to get wet from some light spray from the waves and the wind.

Shelling and beach stops

For shelling tours and beach excursions, you may get your feet wet. Depending on the tide and weather conditions, getting off the boat onto a dry beach is not always possible. Therefore, wearing sandals or a pair of water shoes for these trips is recommended.

Seasickness is highly uncommon on our boat tours.

Calm, protected waters

Most days, the waters are calm and flat around Marco Island. However, on windy days, although the Gulf of Mexico may get choppy, we conduct our tours in the protected waters of the 10,000 Islands.

Professional captains

Our expert captains have decades of experience navigating these waters and can customize every trip to ensure the boat tour is as comfortable as possible.

Motion sickness

If you are prone to seasickness or motion sickness, you may want to take medication before your trip. Also, please let the captain know if you are concerned about getting sick or feeling sick when you’re on the boat.

If you are feeling sick on the day of your boat tour, we recommend rescheduling if possible.

Colds and flu

Otherwise, for the health and safety of our captains and passengers, if you are experiencing cold or flu-like symptoms.

Coronavirus

If you thank you may have been exposed to the coronavirus, please try to reschedule your trip. Cancellations will be made under our cancelation policy.

Sanitation

Our tour boats are deep-cleaned every day to eliminate contamination. Between every tour, safety rails and seats are cleaned with an antiviral cleaning wipe.

Hand sanitizer

Hand sanitizer is available on the boats and is recommended for passenger use.

100% Vaccinated staff

All of our captains, guides, and staff are required to be up-to-date with coronavirus vaccinations.

Masks not required

We do not require masks to be worn on the boat. We believe that in the open air, this is not necessary. However, we will leave it up to you if you want to wear a mask while on the boat tour; please feel free to do so.

Seating zones

Our boat is specially designed was several different seating zones allowing 6 feet of space between passenger groups.

No rain cancelations

We DO NOT cancel boat tours for rain. However, you should expect that there is a possibility that you may get wet.

Avoiding the rain

Our captains do everything possible to avoid weather while out on the water. They all have weather radars and alerts and check several times during boat tours to stay on top of developing weather conditions.

Unpredictable Florida weather

There’s a saying in Florida – “If you don’t like the weather, then just wait five minutes.”

Weather delays

Weather changes rapidly, and storms typically blow through in minutes, not hours. This means trips may be delayed for a few minutes to let the weather pass, or we may change the destination to avoid weather.

Bring a jacket

We recommend bringing a light jacket if you have one; it is typically more relaxed on the water by ten degrees. It is also good to have a second layer when there is light rain.

Rain ponchos

In the event of a downpour, the captain may provide rain ponchos for you to cover up with. There are also disposable rain ponchos for sale in the ship store.

Dry storage

Dry storage bags are also available for purses and bags in the boat’s console. Just ask the captain if you have something you don’t want to get wet.

Lightning cancelations

Lightning is very dangerous. We do NOT run during lightning storms. We will cancel, reschedule, or delay tours when there is lightning in the area.

30-minute delay after lightning

Our lightning policy is to shelter in place for 30 minutes after lightning occurs in the area.

Coast Guard small craft advisory

The Coast Guard issues small craft advisories when there is bad weather on the Gulf. We adhere to all small craft advisories and change our scheduled tours accordingly.

Bad weather, wind, and waves

Usually, during small craft advisories, strong winds and waves make it very uncomfortable to be on a boat. Not to mention dangerous. In other words, we don’t go out if the weather’s terrible.

Rescheduling due to bad weather

If the weather goes wrong when your trip is scheduled, we will do our best to reschedule your trip or get you a refund.

Hurricanes are a fact of life in Florida. We love our subtropical climate here for the sunny days in the warm temperatures, But from June 1st through November 1st, Floridians constantly have an eye on the tropics for hurricane development.

In the event of a tropical storm, or expected hurricane landfall, we shut down our business and put the boats up to ensure everybody is safe.

Hurricanes are unplanned

Sometimes things don’t go as planned. We will do everything possible to work with you when that occurs.

Rebooking your trip

We will always work with you to rebook your trip when possible at a time that works for you. However, a refund may be issued under our refund policy if we cannot find time to rebook your tour.

Cancelations made more than 48 hours before the tour can be rescheduled or refunded in full.

Cancellations made between 48 and 24 hours before the scheduled tour time can receive a 50% refund or can be rescheduled.

Due to our inability to rebook with short notice, cancelations made less than 24 hours before the scheduled tour time will not receive a refund.

If possible, every effort will be made to reschedule your booking, but it is not guaranteed, especially during holiday and vacation weeks.

Late arrivals and no-shows

Late arrivals, no-shows, and last-minute cancelations within 24 hours of your scheduled departure time are subject to the total purchase price of the reservation. No refunds will be given due to our inability to rebook your tour.

Are you running late?

If you are running late, please call 239-231-2500 or text 239-231-2500 to communicate your expected arrival. Nevertheless, everything possible to accommodate waiting for you will be done, but it is not always possible, especially with shared charters.

Safety and weather cancelations

Importantly, suppose your tour ends prematurely due to unpredictable weather, deteriorating conditions, or the captain’s safety decision. You may receive a partial refund depending on the situation and the company’s discretion.

Full fare credit or rebooking

First, tours returning to the dock before one-third of the way through the scheduled time or earlier can be rescheduled or receive full credit for rebooking.

Partial fare credit

Second, Tours that return to dock more than one-third of the way through the time may be rescheduled or may receive credit for rebooking based on the percentage of the term remaining (i.e., a 2-hour tour that ends after one hour for lightning may receive a 50% credit of the fare.)