Boggy Creek Airboat Adventures

ABOUT THIS PLACE

Boggy Creek runs from 2001 East Southport Road, on the marshy south end of Lake Tohopekaliga, which puts the boats into open water and sawgrass within minutes rather than after a long run down a canal. The captains hold United States Coast Guard master licenses. Tours come in several lengths and times: half-hour and hour daytime runs, a sunset tour, a night tour where the guide picks out alligator eyes with a spotlight, and private charters. Alligators are the usual sighting, along with herons, egrets, osprey, eagles and turtles, and the lake is wide enough that the boat is often the only one in view. The site itself has been built up around the dock. Brick paths cross a lawn to a gator pond and a Cracker-style shack put there for photographs. Lily's Butterfly Garden is a walk-through with native species. There is a gem mine where children sift for stones and fossils, and a lakeside restaurant doing Florida barbecue