Loxahatchee Everglades Airboat Tours and Rides

The 5 stars are mostly for the service. We showed up around 1pm and were told that they were closed for the day. We were disappointed and kind of annoyed but the girl explained that the surface temperature of the water was 130 degrees and there would be no wildlife to see. Since it’s a smaller operation than the other advertised places, it seems like they care more about the experience than taking your money, and we really appreciated that. It’s a quiet place all the way at the end of Loxahatchee Road. We went back early the next day and had a great ride. Since we were early, we explored the refuge a little bit and saw some alligators and a bunch of vultures hanging out on the rocks. Our guide Dan was awesome. He had so much knowledge about the wildlife and generously shared it with us. If he saw something in the water, he stopped and let us all see it, even moving the boat around it to let the other side of the boat have a look. We only saw a few alligators because again, it was very hot, but we also saw some great blue heron and other birds and fish. We even saw some parakeets in a tree. I’d definitely go back in the cooler months to see more.

Great experience! The guide, Dan, was super nice and very helpful explaining everything about the gators and the wonderful everglades fauna and flora. We went in May and there were very few people there. We had the whole boat for ourselves! Definitely recommend going!

I am grading this very low for several reasons. One the coupons that you find online and on Unilocal are misleading. Please read the find print. For example, all coupons and website say 25% off and Unilocal has buy one get one 50% off and it appears the standard price is $ 45 for a 50min tour per adult. Discounts are applied off the normal price that they say is $ 60 so regardless you pay $ 45. Additionally, we went to the park twice on back to back days and they cancelled the rides because of the surface temparture being to hot, 127 degrees. Don’t know how they calculated that number we are in Florida not the Arizona. Finally, we drove the 1 hour to the location the next day after calling to make sure they were open and was told they would run the boats. We get there and was told it was to windy. Come on! I will go somewhere else next time.

Tour was decent but pricing misleading all coupons and website say 25% off and even Unilocal has buy one get one 50% off and it appears the standard price is $ 45 for a 50min tour per adult. Well they use all the discounts off the normal price that they say is $ 60 so regardless you pay $ 45. Not good because this place is out by itself so if people travel out there few will leave after they are told the prices. Shame on you folks that run this place. If u read this just go to holiday everglades park its better anyway

The boat ride was a good event went there with my wife and daughter visiting from San Diego.
WE did see many birds and at least 12 alligators.
I did not like the way they lure you in with a coupon at ½ off the second adult only to say I gave a better price and get a 25% discount.
Well the discount is on your next visit, not too ethical a real bate and switch deal going on here.

Great experience. We went in January. Staff was great. Dan was our guide and he was great at his job. Very knowledgable. It helped that we saw lots of gators, turtles, birds and a couple snakes and had great weather.

Kind of worthless. Half of the ride is parallel to the road you drove in on so you see the same things you already saw. The boat scares all the wildlife away so you don’t see much and it is hard to point things out over the noise. You also get treated to an anti-​environmental rant about fertilizer runoff from farms distorting the vegetation (no sawgrass, lots of invasive cattails). Basically, a really fast boat ride with nothing much to do.

Worth the price. Amazing place. Saw many gators, osprey, a variety of bird species. Just being there is. Great.

We had a great time! Dan our guide, was very informative and fun. He’s a very personable guy. thanks for the memories of the Florida Everglades!!!

Terrific people, friendly service.
The tour was a wee pricey at $ 218 for 5 people, but it was awesome to see the Everglades from a real air boat. We saw egrets, storks, osprey, snake birds and of course, 2 gators. Was bummed not to see more but you can’t get after these guys for not bringing gators out.
Dan was our guide. Very informative and knowledgeable. Tour lasts about 1 hour.
Easy to find, very laid back and worth doing at least once.

We truly enjoyed this airboat tour. Dan was our guide and driver and knows this part of the Everglades like the back of his hand. We saw 4 or 5 gators hovering and countless numbers of birds such as blue heron and egrets while zipping through the Everglades. Bring your cameras and show up early in the morning if you plan to visit on a hot day. Later in the day the gators take cover and the bugs are more prevalent. Learned a lot of interesting facts! If you check in on Unilocal prior to paying, there’s a coupon for 25% off.

Nothing irritates me more than being charged more at the location than expected. The pricing is listed on their website and if you follow the bate and switch directions, is correct. However if you quickly scan the info, you’ll see that adults are charged $ 44 with half off the 2^nd Adult and $ 8 for small children. What was not entirely clear is that the $ 44 is the discount rate and discounts are not combined. So for 2 adults, I was charged $ 82.50 plus a $ 7.50 «fuel charged» to equal $ 90. I was expecting to pay $ 66. The lady at the desk was sarcastic and unapologetic knowing she had me by the balls after we drove an hour to get there. There was 12 people on our air boat, bringing in about $ 550 for that single tour… I don’t think they can honestly justify the added fuel surcharge, although it is their right to charge what they like.
The facilities were lame with large stool attached to the toilet bowl.
We saw glimpses of two small alligators during the entire 55min tour.
I would not recommend this company, as there are many other options asking about $ 20-​$ 25 per adult and no charge for small children.
The only attribute that I appreciated about this tour was that it is a 55 minute tour, rather than the typical 25 – 30 minutes. This is how I came to choose this tour. Also, Bill, the captain, was very pleasant, despite the redundancy of the tour and heat.

Of course I don’t fault anyone for the fact that there wasn’t a lot of wildlife to see, it was too hot and they aren’t out as much this time of year, but even beyond that I don’t think it was a very good tour.
The guide was pretty gruff and kinda crotchety (especially with one woman who annoyed him at the beginning) and didn’t have much to say. Worse, he wouldn’t always shut off the engine while giving his talk so for a lot of it we couldn’t hear a thing. Generally I wouldn’t have super high expectations but the tickets were crazy expensive. They were just under $ 50.00 each!
To make my point let’s do some math: So these two guys run the place. One drives the boat, one sells the tickets. It’s about $ 50.00 a ticket, the boat seats 22 people and the trip is 1 hr long. They make trips roughly from 9:30 — 4:00. So if they get in 4 trips, that’s about $ 4,400.00 a day!
So these two are raking in extreme amounts of money, which makes me feel like they could hire a PhD Zoologist and a PhD Botonist to conduct these tours and still make gobs of dough.
Instead we got a very regular guy who was kinda tired, cranky, and seemingly bored with the whole thing who either didn’t know much, or didn’t have the interest or energy to say much. The everglades were pretty, but for the price, this was a solid rip-​off.

In my 55 years I have never been to the Everglades or on an Airboat. Since we were staying in Boca Raton — I didn’t want to invest a full day driving to Everglades, Florida for a tour. I happened to do a search and was happy to find this outfit — which was located within a 30 minute drive.
We made a quick call and discovered there were tours every hour. We happened to miss the 10:00 tour… however, since there were enough for another group they gave another tour 20 minutes later. (THANKS GUYS!)
We had a great time — of course the kids had the ‘need for speed’ so they really wanted to ‘GO FAST’. We had a good tour — saw gators… birds. Herons and vultures. (damn I thought they were only at work!)…it made for a good day!
Thanks guys!

Good excursion. Dan, the driver/​guide, was entertaining and knowledgeable. They didn’t accept the Unilocal coupon, though, saying it was «already accounted for in the price“which was obviously b.s.

This was a good tour. I was with my soon-​to-​be-​in-​laws from NYC for a first time hangout, and it was great. The guide (who I think was «Wild Lyle») was knowledgable and helpful. He took photos for us and was enthusiastic still about giving the tour, which I thought was nice. We only saw a few alligators but you can’t guarantee what you’ll see and they weren’t trying to. He said the first tour of the day was the best for catching a glimpse of the alligators, and that’s the one we were on, it left around 9:30 I think. All in all, I recommend and would go back again if anyone wanted to.

How can you go wrong with a Loxahatchee Everglades Airboat Tour where your guide is someone named «Wild Lyle.» Seems like a win to me.
I’d never been through the Everglades before and an airboat seemed like the best way to do it. We checked the website for this place that was closest to us and it said that they only drove Monday to Friday and we needed to make a reservation, but alas, we wanted to go on a Saturday. We called to see if they did anything special on the weekend and found out that A) they totally run on the weekend and B) you don’t actually make a reservation, you just show up. Ok…
To find this place, you have to drive down a long concrete road past places that were once orange groves but not anymore. You get to the marina and there’s a little trailier right next to the parking lot. This is where you pay for your tour. Even though there is a giant sign on this trailer saying «You must make a reservation,» again, you don’t.
We paid and told our trip would begin in half an hour and to wait until we were called. There are a bunch of picnic tables around and we sat and drank water (two freezing cold bottles for $ 1, nice.) When it was time to go, a group of 10 of us walked to the marina.
There we found the giant airboat with six rows of stadium style seating. Loved this as there was no bad seat in the house. Once we got on, we were told to put on giant 80s-​style noise cancelling headphones (since it gets wicked loud) and off we went!
This trip was amazing. Not only do you drive right through the heart of the everglades but you see tons of animals: birds, turtles and, yes, alligators. Lots of gators. We saw at least seven and they ranged from giant monsters to little babies. Loved it.
Our guide was knowledgeable and friendly and answered any questions we had, He even gave us a nice free DVD at the end explaining more about the Everglades. I didn’t want it, but it was a nice gesture.
The whole tour took about an hour and was a lot of fun. I wish the ticketing had been a little easier but what are you going to do. All in all, a fun experience.

My friends and I really enjoyed our ride here. We waited about an hour and it was SO worth it. We explored the Everglades for an hour and loved it. We found 4 alligators and so many beautiful birds. The best part is that it’s only 15 minutes from Boca!

This was my second time taking an Everglades airboat tour, but my first with Wild Lyle’s Loxahatchee Everglades Airboat Tour.
It’s conveniently located at the end of Loxahatchee Road in Broward County which makes this particular tour great for a last-​minute trip decision. We were able to download a 50% off coupon for a 2^nd person right from their website which was an unexpected bonus.
When we arrived, we were able to tour their «museum» which had some really informative info and artifacts relative to the Everglades, past and present.
Wild Lyle was our tour guide, but I understand that they have several guides and boats to accommodate groups of all sizes. He was a character and was extremely knowledgeable of the local ecosystem and the history of South Florida. We spotted several alligators and a myriad of local birds including Blue Heron & Osprey. We even saw a couple of turtles.
We had a wonderful time! (I recommend a jacket if the weather is cool)

«Wild Lyle’s» Loxahatchee Everglades Airboat Tour was a good time. Just riding the boat is fun, but the big draw was seeing the alligators (we saw about 12 on our trip). We also saw birds and some interesting plants. I’ve never been to Everglades National Park, but figure that Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge — as everglades — is pretty similar. A great way to see the glades (maybe the only way, actually).
A few things to know about Wild Lyle and his airboat tour:
THE BOAT
The boat is comfortable and has good seating options. As a joke (I assume, at least), Wild Lyle has labeled each seat «best seat» for folks like me who right away think, «Geez, how do I get the best seat on the boat before someone else takes it?» Wild Lyle will direct you where to sit on the boat, which I didn’t take very kindly too. Later I learned it was because he was trying to balance out weight on the boat.
THE TOUR
The boat is loud and so it’s oftentimes difficult to hear Wild Lyle’s commentary on the everglades. Probably not such a bad thing, since Wild Lyle’s tour information was largely incorrect (as I found later on the web when I tried to fact check some outrageous or WILD statements Wild Lyle made). For example, he said that the life span of an alligator is a few hundred years (What?! — actually 50 – 75 years), that a mother alligator stays with her young for 30 – 40 years (actually 1 year) and that the Florida everglades has a few million alligators (actually 1 — 1.5 million). He acknowledged himself that he had «fuzzy facts,» but you’d think he could be a little more responsible about dispensing correct information.
THE PRICE
Pricing is crazy confusing. The website doesn’t list the standard prices, but rather prices that «reflect a 20% discount.» Website also includes a coupon for «buy one, get one half off», so I figured I’d get the 20% off prices plus the «buy one, get one half off» deal. But no. First ticket was full-​price, second was half-​off and no 20% discount. A little off-​putting since no where on the website did it actually list the prices before the discount.
WILD LYLE
Nice guy. Very friendly. Took our photos for us.