New · Launching from Goodland
Dolphins, secluded beaches and Everglades backwaters, all of it within half an hour of the dock in Goodland. Same boat, same boards, $120 to get it down there.
Resident Atlantic bottlenose dolphins work Coon Key Pass and Gullivan Bay all year, and they are genuinely curious about boats down here in a way they are not in busier water. Drop to idle, hold your line, and pods of three to six routinely fall in alongside and surf the wake. Federal law says 50 yards and no feeding — respect that and they close the distance themselves.
The outer keys and the sand around Cape Romano face open Gulf and are reachable only by boat, which means no parking lot, no concession stand and usually nobody else. Beach the boat in the shallows, walk the wet sand on a falling tide, and the bars hold fighting conchs, olives, lightning whelks and the occasional junonia. Take a bag and check what is alive before you keep it.
East and south of the islands the water narrows into tidal creeks and mangrove tunnels on the western boundary of Everglades National Park, toward Everglades City and Chokoloskee. It is tea-coloured, dead flat, loud with birds and completely undeveloped — ibis, roseate spoonbills, ospreys, the occasional manatee. Watch your tide, because what is a channel at high water is a mud bank three hours later.
This is the part people do not expect. The runs between the islands stay flat in wind that has already ruined the nearshore Gulf off Naples, so an afternoon that would have ended the surf session up north is still glass down here. Same surf system, same boards, same rope-free wave — just with a mangrove key instead of a condo tower behind you.
A real plan for the day
Not a schedule you have to keep — you are captaining the boat. This is the shape of the day we would run ourselves, tides permitting, and the one we will talk through with you at the ramp.
What it costs
$1,470 for a full day out of Goodland
$1,350 for the boat plus the flat $120 delivery. A 6-hour booking is $1,380. Before Florida sales tax, Boatsetter booking fees, the fuel you burn. Delivery is a flat, one-time fee per booking that covers trailering the boat down, launching it and retrieving it at the end of the day.
7:45 AM
Meet us at Goodland Boat Park. The boat is already down here, in the water and fueled.
8:00 AM
Out Coon Key Pass at idle. Dolphins are most active in the first two hours of light.
8:45 AM
Surf and wakeboard block on the flat runs between the first keys while the water is glass.
11:00 AM
Run west to the outer beaches. Beach the boat, swim, shell the bars on the falling tide.
1:00 PM
Lunch off the boat in the shade of a key. Nothing to do and nowhere to be.
2:00 PM
Idle into the backwaters toward Everglades City. Birds, mangrove tunnels, engine off for a while.
4:00 PM
Second surf session on the way back, or tube runs if everyone is done riding.
5:30 PM
Back through the pass to Goodland. We take the boat out and trailer it home.
You can reach the northern edge of the islands from Bayview Park in Naples Bay — it is about 35 minutes each way. On a six-hour rental that is well over an hour of your day spent transiting, and it puts you at the top corner of the island maze rather than in it. The $120 delivery gets the boat to a ramp 10 minutes from the first keys, which on a full day is the difference between visiting the Ten Thousand Islands and just looking at them. It is a flat fee per booking, not per hour.
Goodland is a village of a few hundred people on the southeast corner of Marco Island — one road in, a handful of streets, working docks and Stan’s Idle Hour, which has been the social centre of the place for decades. There is no resort strip and that is the appeal. Drive slowly, park in the village lot at the park, and understand that the nearest grocery run is back on Marco, so pack your cooler before you come down.
The islands are shallow, the bottom is sand and oyster, and a two-foot tide swing rearranges which channels exist. We read the tide for your date before you book and plan the day around it — beaches and shelling bars on the falling and low tide, backwater creeks on the higher water. The ramp-side briefing covers the specific route for your window, the markers to hold and the bars to stay off.
It is not a guided eco tour and it is not a fishing charter. You captain the boat yourself as a bareboat rental, exactly as you would from Naples, and fishing, bait and fish cleaning are not permitted on board. If you want a naturalist narrating the mangroves, book a tour instead. If you want the islands to yourself with a surf boat under you, this is the trip.
Ten Thousand Islands questions
The boat is $210 per hour with a six-hour minimum ($1,260 for a half day) or $1,350 for a full day, plus a flat $120 delivery fee to bring it to Goodland. So a full day out of Goodland is $1,470 before Florida sales tax, Boatsetter booking fees and the fuel you burn. Wakesurf boards, wakeboards, tubes, ropes and life jackets are all included at no extra charge, and the delivery fee is one-time per booking rather than per hour or per day.
Goodland Boat Park, 750 Palm Point Dr, Goodland, FL 34140, on the southeast corner of Marco Island. It is roughly 35 minutes from Old Naples, 15 minutes from central Marco Island and about an hour from Bonita Springs. Parking at the village lot is free and has room for trailers. We text you the exact meeting pin the night before and have the boat in the water before you arrive.
No. Cocohatchee River Marina in North Naples and Bayview Park Marina on Naples Bay are both free to launch from with no delivery fee — they are our two home bases. The $120 only applies when we trailer the boat down to Goodland.
About 10 minutes. Out of the Goodland channel and past the Coon Key light the island maze starts immediately. Dolphin water in Gullivan Bay is roughly 15 minutes, the outer Gulf-facing shelling beaches around Cape Romano about 25, and the Everglades backwaters toward Everglades City around 40. The same islands are a 35-minute run each way from Naples Bay, which is the whole reason we deliver down here.
Very. The water between the islands is shallow, warm and protected, the beaches shelve gently, and tubing works anywhere out there. Up to 10 guests including children, with Coast Guard life jackets for adults and kids included — just tell us the ages when you book so infant and toddler jackets are aboard. The one thing to plan for is that there is no restroom or shade past the ramp other than what the boat carries.
On a full day with settled weather and the right tide, the backwaters toward Everglades City and Chokoloskee are reachable — figure 40 minutes or so each way from Goodland. We will tell you honestly whether your date and window support it. On a six-hour booking the better plan is the islands, the outer beaches and the near backwaters, and to leave Everglades City for a full day.
