ABOUT OUR BOAT AND TOURS
The Blue Dolphin is a 44 foot USCG certified pontoon river boat that seats up to 49 people. She is equipped with cushioned seats for your comfort and a retractable roof top to give you a great view of launches from the Cape.
The dream of creating Space Coast River Tours began in 2000 when Mark and Michele went to Montauk, NY for the holidays and the New Year. Michele found out that a friend of hers had given up, after many years, his fishing charter business to start a Montauk Lake Boat Tour business on a 40' pontoon boat - he loved it! This gave Michele the idea of doing the same here at Port Canaveral.
It wasn't until two years later, after many sleepless nights on the Internet that Michele found - THE BOAT, nicknamed "the Beast" (she was that ugly) in Michigan. They knew that the Beast had a lot of potential, and with lots of TLC and hard work could be turned into a swan. So, filled with determination, they had the Beast trucked down here to Florida, and started revamping her in August 2002.
During the following year, they worked hard on the Beast, keeping a close relationship with the Coast Guard, who have been very helpful while rebuilding this boat from the deck up for commercial use. After a year of painting, sanding, welding, paper work, errands, promo work, and help from their friends, the Beast finally became the Blue Dolphin.
Our daily 2 hour Indian River Lagoon Tours leave from Kelly Park on the beautiful Banana River. We leave from Kelly Park and go just north to the Barge Canal on Merritt Island where we see a great variety of birds, dolphin, manatee and the occasional Alligator.
From there we go back across the Banana River and go through Canaveral Locks and tour the Port where we see the cruise ships, shrimp boats and see first hand one of the busiest ports in the nation.
Tours include a drink and snacks, juice, soda, water (first one is free) and chips and cookies. Thursday Tours also include appetizers from Fishlips Restaurant. The boat comfortably seats 49 has a restroom and is also handicapped accessible.
Tours are led by Captains Mark and Michele Anderson, who are both U.S. Coast Guard Certified captains and are constantly exploring new ideas for special tours.
In addition to their standard nature tour, they also offer rocket launch tours, Christmas boat parade tours, wine and cheese cruises for Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day, and a gardening cruise. During the garden cruise a botanist from a local nursery, Rockledge Gardens, talks on the mic and points out examples of quality lawns and proper landscaping techniques along the backyards of houses lining the canals of Sykes Creek. It’s just another way Mark and Michele use their business to build stronger bonds with fellow local business owners.