Mangrove Tunnel & Manatee Kayak Eco-Tour
Recommended by 98% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Sarasota, USA
- 2 hours (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Immerse yourself in Sarasota's coastal mangrove forests, look out for dolphins and manatees, and practice kayaking or stand-up paddleboarding skills on this immersive, small-group tour. After departing from the Turtle Beach Boat Launch, paddle out on Sarasota Bay and practice with your equipment. Then, head into the mangrove islands of the Jim Neville Preserve for your best chance to see local marine life including dolphins.
- This group tour guarantees hands-on guidance and support
- Rent a single or double kayak or a stand-up paddleboard
- Discover Sarasota's coastal mangrove forests and local marine life
- Enjoy an active and adventurous way to explore the scenery
What's Included
- Safety Equipment (Life Jackets, Leashes)
- Single or tandem kayaks or stand up paddleboards (chosen at time of booking)
- Paddles
- Government Fees
- Gratuities(optional, but appreciated--cash or Venmo accepted at the end of the tour.
- Bottled waterPlease bring your own water. We do not provide it.
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- 190 Taft Dr, Sarasota, FL 34236, USA
ARRIVE 15 MINUTES BEFORE YOUR BOOKING TIME. The time on your booking is your launch time — when we push off from the beach. Check-in, gear fitting, and your safety briefing all happen before that. We are the company parked directly across from the bathroom building. Check in with SURFIT.
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.What To Expect
1
Sarasota
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Infants must sit on laps
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Stroller accessible
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Most travelers can participate
- ARRIVE 15 MINUTES BEFORE YOUR BOOKING TIME. The time on your booking is your launch time — when we push off from the beach. Check-in, gear fitting, and your safety briefing all happen before that. If you arrive at your booking time, the tour is already starting.
- Bring water. We do not provide water or snacks. Florida heat is no joke — bring at least 16 oz per person, more in summer.
- Wear clothes and shoes you are comfortable getting wet. Water shoes or flip flops work.
- Bring sunscreen, a hat, and sunglasses with a strap.
- We provide a small dry bag for your phone and keys. All other items (towels, change of clothes) should be left in your car.
- Parking is available. However, give yourself extra time during weekends or holiday time periods (i.e. spring break).
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 38 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
Hiral_S
Surfit USA is the company we used for tandem kayaking. We enjoyed our activity with them. They were professional, friendly, accommodating and punctual with the tour. We appreciated the local information shared by them. It was a group of 15 of us in the tour and the guide made sure to keep a watch on all of us so we felt safe! Recommend this tour for anyone looking to do an activity near siesta key/turtle beach.
Reviews
4.9
based on 1,119 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
Colleen_O, Sep 2026
Great experience in siesta 2nd time doing this. Highly recommend! Kayaked to a little island and found some shark teeth! Great experience and instructor
Nicholas_H, Aug 2026
We had a great time! Dolphins swam right next to us. Our guide, Joe, was so knowledgeable about the wildlife and the history. It truly was an amazing time. Anyone can do it.
Grace_D, Aug 2026
It was an excellent tour. Our tour guide, Drew, was knowledgeable about the mangroves and wildlife, while also letting us enjoy the scenery in silence. I would most certainly recommend this tour to anyone asking me about what to do in the Sarasota area. In addition, the tour was reasonably priced and allowed us to see really cool birds from the water such as the osprey and the ibis.
Richard_D, Aug 2026
The mangrove excursions is a great experience because of the beauty of the wildlife and the mangrove area. It's not very dependent on the 'tour guide' per se as long as he or she is reasonably knowledgeable you will have a fabulous time!
On our particular Excursion by Surfit, the tour guide was very knowledgeable about the animals the wildlife Etc and to that I give him high marks. But I did not think it was professional nor appropriate to suggest and almost guilt trip you to giving a five-star review. Please, that's not appropriate!
The people helping you on and off your Boats were very friendly and very polite. I would recommend wearing water shoes. And use 'Badger' or other water friendly sunscreens that use zinc oxide as the active ingredient (as some of these commercial spray-on sunscreens are so toxic they just kill water life not to mention do anything good for your health)
Picture is one of the birds that would swim under your boat to catch fish that your oars scare away!
Mary_G, Aug 2026
Joe was excellent at leading our group. He was funny, knowledgeable and loves to talk( in a good way). Saw lots of wildlife.
Valda_H, Aug 2026
There is no way manatees could be present. The water level too shallow and the mangrove canals too narrow.
Kristin_A, Jul 2026
The original day we booked with Seabiscuit he was great! How ever the weather took a turn and we played it safe and went back to land. They were awesome about rebooking for the next morning. We then had JJ as our guide. He was also great. We would most deff do this again!!
Courtney_C, Jul 2026
Our guide was great! He was laid back and shared a lot of information. We got to see several Manatees. He made our trip fun and laid back at the same time.
Charlie_H, Jul 2026
I really enjoyed this experience! I had JJ as my tour guide he always kept the tour interesting. Make sure to bring sunscreen and water!
Jordy_P, Jul 2026
this was so relaxing and fun. drew was a great guide, very chill and personable. highly recommend for solo travel or groups !
Melinda_M, Jul 2026
Kayaking the Mangroves was a beautiful, relaxing, peaceful experience. Seabiscuit was fantastic. Very knowledgeable, personable & friendly. We had a wonderful time.
Mary_N, Jul 2026
We were schedule for 9 AM on Friday morning, but the weather was bad. Your company had let me know early to reschedule to a different time. They were very helpful. We end up with Drew at 1pm ,he was so knowledgeable and helpful. The whole experience was wonderful me and my friend had a great time.
amanda_s, Jul 2026
It was wonderful in the sense of the guide was great and kind However I paid 500$ for my family for 2 hrs it lasted 1.5 hrs instead and we did no open water just mangrove and back. This is my 4th time doing this same experience same exact launching area and it didn’t really give us any opportunity for manatees as the mangrove is obviously too shallow for it and again it was there and back. For 500$ to loose over 30 mins of the time spent ( some was spent standing on the shore of a sandy area) cure for pics for also more time not doing the tour.
Edward_Z, Jul 2026
Laid back easy paddle with JJ! Super informative and experienced about the area and also great history lesson about the story of the “lady of the Mangrove” saw some manatee, beautiful mangroves, Osprey, and fish jumping everywhere. The Cormorants were also very entertaining around our boats. Easy to find. Easy to check in. Great morning on the water.
Mckinley_A, Jul 2026
Overall the experience was unique and fun. Sea biscuit made it even better. Would definitely do again and recommend to anyone thinking about it!
joseph_p, Jul 2026
We had a great time on this tour, used a tandem kayak and paddled through 3 mangrove tunnels and got to see manatees plus a variety of birds. Our tour guide Joe was extremely knowledgeable and made the tour fun/ informative.
Bring plenty of water, a hat, apply sunscreen and wear a sun shirt.
Liz_N, Jul 2026
Drew was an excellent and delightful guide for our kayak adventure. He was quite knowledgeable about all of the wildlife as well as the history of the area. Also, he was quite patient with the less experienced members of our group. I highly recommend Drew and surf fit. It sure was a lot of fun with him as our group leader!
Tricia_Z, Jul 2026
Wear your bathing suit, bring water with you and sun screen! I was a little concerned that I wouldn't be able to keep up , but our guide was super in his instruction and presentation! Fun guy!
Kathleen_T, Jul 2026
This kayak tour was excellent!! Our tour guide Sea Biscuit was very knowledgeable and made the entire experience fun! He had jokes that were actually funny and made us all feel comfortable!!
David_S, Jun 2026
We started our journey with Seabiscuit! He is a very knowledgeable and jovial guide. Along the way he showed us different animals and had fun trivia questions. When we have other friends visit, I hope I can request for his tour.! we didn’t see a manatee, but he promised if we didn’t he would jump in the water and pretend to be one it was worth it. Good fun.
Shannon_D, Jun 2026
Aaron was very accommodating and helped us reschedule our tour. Once we did our tour Matt was our guide and was absolutely amazing! We had so much fun w family and friends.
Patricia_T, Jun 2026
Bring water with you on the kayak and towel after your tour . Our tour guide made our tour fun and exciting! He’s knowledge about all the local wildlife was spot on. He was funny , and engaging with everyone on our tour!
Marc_M, Jun 2026
Fantastic experience and great guide. Amazing to kayak around mangroves and had a manatee swim right under our kayak.
Jessica_H, Jun 2026
Day tours are very hot! Bring plenty of water to drink! Wear swimsuits or lightweight clothing! There was a beach area to get out & swim around!
Response from Host, Jun 2026
Yes, this past weekend was abnormally hot. It is not normally like that but it is a good idea to always bring water and plan to get wet (if you want to).
Ron_G, Jun 2026
The guides are extremely knowledgeable and patient. It's fun for beginners and experienced kayakers. Highly recommend.
Joy_C, May 2026
We had sea biscuit as our tour guide and he was knowledgeable, personable, and made sure every guest had a great time. You can tell he is passionate about teaching and nature. Mangroves were beautiful. would do again!
Christopher_L, May 2026
Excellent tour. Kimbrough was a great tour guide. He was very knowledgeable about the wildlife and good pointing out what we were seeing. My daughter and I had a wonderful time. Well worth it.
arnolds04, May 2026
We had an amazing experience and our tour guide Matt was amazing. His knowledge and easy flow of the tour was just perfect .
Ended up seeing 2 dolphins swim next to us which was a rare sighting.
Stacey_F, May 2026
Tour was great ! Our guide had a great knowledge of area and life there. His positive attitude was an added bonus . So happy we did this . Would definitely recommend
Holly_E, May 2026
Beautiful, peaceful experience with a knowledgeable friendly guide, Seabiscuit. We enjoyed all the critters and history of the mangrove tunnels. Missed seeing the elusive manatee.
From $59.00
per personup to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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