Editor Pick
Shell Island Glass Bottom Boat
- October 14, 2000
- Rated 4 of 5 by
Mrs. J from austin, Texas
This is a three hour tour. It leaves at 1 pm every day and gets to Shell Island in about an hour. We loved the glass bottom viewing experience, the dolphins, the chance to inspect what they pulled up in the crab traps and the trip narrator. My husband loved exploring the uninhabited barrier island so much that I couldn't get him to return to the pier in time to catch the boat back. Passengers are told, 'You have 50 minutes to explore Shell Island. Do not be late. We cannot wait for you. We have to be back to the pier by 4 pm.' We both heard them say that. But...the shells were so interesting and there were lots of birds to scope.
The island is truly deserted and uninhabited. The sand is fluffy and that makes the walking slow. We got ourselves really far away from the pier--much farther than the other passengers. I knew by my waterproof watch that we needed to head back due to the slow-goingness of this fluffy-sand walking. We could see the pier from where we were. It looked closer than it really was. This is a trick of beach optics--things look closer than they are. Anyway, with about 5 minutes to spare we started walking back as quickly as we could. We saw the boat pulling away just as we crested a dune. I'm sure they wouldn't have left without us if they had seen us coming! We panicked. It was four o'clock and we didn't know if anymore boats were coming. We had no water or food! After 15 anxious minutes and a lot of 'I told you so's,' another tour boat pulled up. The operator told us we could go back with them for free. I am telling this part of the story because I want anyone who takes this tour to pay more attention to their watch than we did!
This tour was fun and I would do it again, really. But, there are other tours that allow a little more time on the island. You just have to look around on the Panama City Beach website. The glass bottom boat trip to shell island has a website: www.glassbottomboat.com
From journal Best Beach Vacation Ever