Sunset Tour

About This Trip

The half day Sunset Tour runs in the evening, when Sebastian Inlet is at its best and most of the day's boat traffic has gone home. It is a private charter on a 26′ Avenger bay boat, so it is just your group aboard, up to six people, with no fixed route and no strangers.

Captain Richard reads the evening before he decides where to run. When the wind is up he works the lagoon side, where the water lies flat behind the spoil islands. When it lays down he takes the inlet and the nearshore water. Either way the plan is the same: be somewhere worth looking at when the light goes.

Evening is also when the Indian River Lagoon comes alive. It is one of the most biologically diverse estuaries in North America, and the last hour of daylight is when that shows. Bottlenose dolphins work the channel edges as bait moves through on the tide. Manatees surface in the shallows to breathe. Pelicans, herons and egrets fish the flats in light that photographers pay for.

What’s Included

• Private half day charter — just your group, up to 6 guests
• 26′ Avenger bay boat with a USCG-licensed Master captain
• Life jackets and all required safety gear
• Wildlife along the way — dolphins, manatees, rays and shorebirds
• A route chosen for the conditions that evening, not a fixed loop

What You’ll See

Dolphins are close to a daily sight at Sebastian Inlet and often roll alongside the boat. Manatees graze the seagrass beds in the shallows year round and are easiest to spot in calm evening water. Rays cruise the sand flats. Through the mangroves and spoil islands you will see ospreys, brown pelicans, herons, egrets and, in the right season, roseate spoonbills and wood storks.

This stretch of coast also sits alongside the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, one of the most important sea turtle nesting beaches in the world, so turtles turn up regularly through the summer months. The boat moves slowly through the posted manatee zones because the law requires it, which also happens to be the best way to see anything.

Best Time of Year

The sunset tour runs year round. Summer evenings are warm and often calm, with the longest days and the best chance of turtles. Autumn brings bait into the inlet and with it the heaviest dolphin and bird activity. Winter evenings are cooler and the light goes earlier, but the air is clearer and the sunsets are frequently the most dramatic of the year — bring a jacket. Spring is the quietest season for crowds and a good time to have the water largely to yourselves.

Who This Trip Suits

This is a good choice for couples, for families with children, for anyone marking an anniversary or a birthday, and for travellers who want to see the water without fishing. There is no fishing on this trip and no experience of any kind required. Minimum age is 2. If you are celebrating something, say so when you book and the captain will plan the evening around it.

Celebrating? sunset trips for two, bachelor and bachelorette party boat days, or a team day on the water.