Airboat Ride in The Everglades

Airboat rides are very popular in the Florida Everglades, and unless you have your own approved watercraft, it is likely the only way a tourist will get into interior of the National Park. We opted to take a tour with Coopertown Airboat, a company in business since 1945, and run by the Kennon family, direct descendants of the Coopers. The town of Coopertown has a population of 8 and consists of a restaurant and an educational center, and who advertise themselves as the entry point into the “real” Florida Everglades. The fleet consists of seven airboats, the largest one with seating capacity for 24 people.

An airboat is also known as a fanboat, planeboat, or swamp boat, and is a flat-bottomed watercraft propelled by an aircraft-type propeller and powered by either an aircraft or automotive engine. They are LOUD. Upon boarding the boat for our tour, a bag of cotton balls was passed around and we were instructed to use them to plug our ears.  Airboats are a very popular means of transportation in marshy and/or shallow areas where a standard inboard or outboard engine with a submerged propeller would be impractical, most notably in the Florida Everglades.

Having heard stories about the mostly unregulated airboat industry, some including accounts of serious accidents, I was a little nervous, and wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. Naturally, the airboat operator wanted to make the ride as entertaining as possible for the customers, so this sometimes included stunts like accelerating on open stretches of water causing the boat to hydroplane, leaning the boat over on its side, and giving us the feeling of things being just a tiny bit out of control. Of course, this did nothing to calm my already jagged nerves, but the stunts were just that, and never lasted very long.

The ride really did turn out quite enjoyable (and short). As we skated over the waterlily-covered shallow waters, we saw alligators, as promised, water fowl, and indigenous plants and trees. Our guide gave us a history of the area, and even introduced us to one of the local birds, a heron who apparently liked hanging out with the tourists. All in all, I ended up enjoying the ride, learning a little more about the area, and seeing parts of the Everglades I would otherwise never get to.