60 min
Lake Tohopekaliga · Kissimmee, Florida
Loud boat. Calm crew.
The fan does the shouting. We do the explaining. Every ride starts at the dock with a briefing, and the briefing comes before the throttle.
Send a request. A person writes back. That is the whole system.
- Eight rides30 minutes to 2 hours
- A briefing firstBefore the throttle
- A person repliesBy email or a call
How a request works
Three steps, and none of them is the fan.
Send a request
Use the chat or the form: the ride, a day and a backup, your party and their ages, and anything the crew should know.
A person reads it
It arrives as one tidy message at the dock. A person reads every line, not a script.
They write back
The crew confirms the date, time and details by email or a call. Nothing is booked or held until they do.
The rides
Pick a length. We will explain the rest.
Three of the eight, with no prices on the page. Every ride starts at the dock, and every ride starts with the briefing.
60 min
30 min
90 min
Ear protectionoffered at check-in
Before the throttle
The briefing comes first.
Your captain talks for a few minutes at the dock, and questions are welcome at any point. This is the part where the noise gets explained, so it stops being a surprise.
- Where to sit. The bench seats are up high, and the captain tells you which are yours.
- How to hold on. There is a rail. It is there for you.
- What the hand signals mean. Because a fan is a poor listener.
- How to ask for a slower pace. Nobody minds. Everybody asks.
An airboat in thirty seconds
The fan is the engine. The rest is plain.
A caged propeller
An airboat is pushed by an aircraft-style propeller in a cage, which moves air backward and the boat forward. The cage keeps hands and hats out of it.
A flat hull
The hull is flat and shallow, so it skims over water that a boat with a propeller underneath could not. That is why this is the boat for a marsh.
Seats with a view
The bench seats sit up high, and a person at the front of the boat tells you what you are looking at. The fan does the shouting; the captain does the explaining.
The crew
A captain who explains. A dock that writes back.
Captain Dee Ruiz leads the briefing and tells you what you are looking at. Mateo times the rides for the light and keeps the commentary short. Jo runs the dock office and reads every request. All three are part of a sample we invented.
Reviews
What guests wrote after a ride.
We were nervous about the noise and the briefing sorted that in two minutes. Captain Dee explained everything we were looking at. Our nine-year-old asked to go again.
I sent the request at nearly midnight and had an email from a real person before breakfast. That alone made me trust them.
Wore the wrong shoes, as usual, and the crew had a good laugh and a better suggestion for next time. The ride across the open water was far calmer than I expected.
We asked for the whole boat for my parents' anniversary. Mateo timed the ride for the light and kept the commentary short. Exactly right.
Honest about the weather. They moved us rather than sending us out, and called to explain.
The Long Marsh gave us time to ask questions about the lake and where the water goes. Learned more in 90 minutes than a school trip.
Marsh Mellow Airboats is a sample we invented, and these reviews are part of the sample.
The lake
Three facts about the water you would be on.
Nearly 23,000
acres
Lake Tohopekaliga covers nearly 23,000 acres, and Lakefront Park on its north side has a playground, seating and a miniature lighthouse.
The largest
lake in Osceola County
Lake Toho is the largest lake in Osceola County, about 42 miles around, and the city of Kissimmee borders its northern shore.
Headwaters
of the Everglades
Shingle Creek is the major water source for Lake Tohopekaliga, which is part of the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes and, in the South Florida Water Management District's words, “forms the headwaters of the Everglades”.
Send a request. A person writes back.
That is the whole system. Nothing is booked or held until a person on the crew confirms by email or a call.