June 6, 2026 - South Florida and Bahamas Cruise
Airboating in the Everglades
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| We rented a big Wagoneer to drive around south Florida the next few days. It was a nice ride. The Wagoneer's GPS system was the best I've ever encountered in any car I've driven, including our year-old Toyota Siena. |
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From Doral we headed west out Highway 41 into the Everglades. Our first stop was Coopertown: the ORIGINAL Airboat Tours.
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| Let's ride the airboat! |
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| Follow the arrow. |
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The airboats.
Coopertown was founded by John Cooper from Missouri and has remained with the Cooper family since. By 1945, John Cooper had a small frogging boat along the East-West Canal (the Tamiami Trail). Passing motorists noticed it and would ask for a ride in the interesting looking airboat. John obliged. At first it was a few people, but as more and more curious people stopped, John built a small passenger airboat to accommodate them. As the traffic down the Tamiami Trail grew, so did Coopertown. Today, the Kennon family, direct descendents of the Coopers, run the Coopertown ORIGINAL Airboat Tours.
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Basically, an airboat is a flat-bottomed vessel powered not by an outboard or inboard engine with a propeller in the water, but by a giant air propeller mounted on a raised engine stand at the stern. Instead of pushing against the water, the prop drives the boat forward with thrust, much like an airplane. It's very loud on the airboat; you have to wear ear protection, just like in an airplane. The hulls are typically shallow-draft, wide, and flat, which lets airboats run over marshes, mud, sandbars, and even patches of dry ground that would strand a conventional boat.
Throttle is usually hand-controlled, while steering comes from a set of vertical rudders behind the prop. The rudders are linked to foot pedals or a stick system.
That combination gives them serious thrust-to-weight ratios. A 500 hp to 600 hp setup on a 14- to 16-foot hull can generate the kind of acceleration that will pin you against the seatback. It’s loud, it’s raw, and it’s unlike any other boating experience. But it’s also inherently inefficient. Airboats burn a lot of fuel to move relatively little hull compared to a conventional outboard.
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| Dave and Jenny ready to go. |
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So are we.
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| Oh my. |
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Coopertown is right off Highway 41.
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We're on board and ready to go!
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| Underway! |
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Lynnette and I have been on airboat rides before -- all north of here. This is the first one through the bonafide Everglades.
In fact, I had to show my National Parks Senior Lifetime pass when we arrived (or I would have had to pay the National Park entrance fee).
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Looking out over the Everglades.
Believe it or not, a big fire came through here a month or so ago. You would never know it. The tall grass grew back quickly.
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They've also experienced a drought this year; the water is very low. It was even lower a week ago the Captain said. Fortunately, airboats don't need much water underneath them. An inch or two.
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We pass by another Coopertown airboat checking out a Hardwood Hammock (a small island of solid ground in the “river of grass”).
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Wildlife!
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| Zooming over grass and a couple of inches of water. The Everglades is truly is a sea of grass. |
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At left, a big bird skimes over the tall grass.
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| Following a narrow track. Good thing we have a Captain. It didn't take long for me to have absolutely no idea of where we were. |
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| Perfect day for it. |
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There's the other boat again.
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| Our first alligataor sighting! |
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| This one has good size. |
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| Approaching a hammock. |
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Close to the hammock, the Captain pointed out a female alligator's nest.
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| Now seeing some mangrove action. |
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| Stand-alone mangrove. |
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We stopped to check out a gathering of baby alligators which have distinctive yellow striping.
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| You can see multiple baby alligators in this picture. |
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| Now we see evidence of the fire that passed through a month or so ago. |
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| Cruising down a waterway with mangroves on each side. |
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Top of the world!
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| All too soon, our one hour Airboat tour was over and we returned to base. |
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An alligator hangs our by the docks.
After the airboat ride, we had a nice breakfast under Coopertown's thatched room (they have a food truck on site) and then headed further west on Highway 41 to Shark Valley.
There are other airboat ride outfits along Highway 41, some look to be a little more upscale. But I liked Coopertown just fine. All in all, the airboat ride through the Everglades was a great experience. Recommended!
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