Tom and Jerry's Airboat Rides

We had a blast! I would definitely recommend the 60 minute tour as I don’t feel like 30 minutes would be enough! Saw so many beautiful birds and many many huge turtles. Oh and of course alligators! Our guide Brent was great! Loved his jokes and he was friendly with the kids too!

The lake and its waterways were absolutely gorgeous. Definitely call for reservations - the website says you can walk-in, but the tours were booked well in advance. It was a bit of a hike from Tampa but well worth it.

I booked a private tour 2 days in advance for 4 adults at considerable additional cost - $39.99 per person for the regular tour versus $75 per person. When we arrived the lady on the front desk was not aware of our 'private' tour and tried to sell me the regular tour. She seemed frustrated and overwhelmed and her customer service skills were not great. She eventually confirmed that we could have our private tour. We got the feeling she had to find someone to do the tour but eventually she confirmed the tour for us. Joe, our airboat captain, was Fabulous. He was informative regarding the animals and plants. We enjoyed a great one hour on Lake Panasoffkee with Joe. We found alligators, egrets, buzzards, etc. I was disappointed that there was nothing extra offered to us for the additional $35 per person for the private tour. When we arrived back at the office, we were given some time to hold a baby alligator and get our picture taken with it. Once again, the lady working there was rushing us along and getting agitated as we tried to rush taking our photos. At one point, I felt like telling her to step back - she was so much in our personal space. My suggestion to Tom and Jerry's is to hire someone with professional customer service skills for your office - I think your business would be much better off. The lady was not unkind but was not professional at all. I would NOT recommend this business.

We enjoyed our first air boat ride but captain wasn't as informative as we would have liked. Hard to hear him as his voice was muffled by the gaiter he was wearing. We would have liked more info about the things we were seeing although did learn some things about the alligators seen. At least one piece of incorrect info was given - buzzards do not smell carrion 5 miles away. Lovely day and did enjoy the ride overall plus handling the alligator after the ride.

While I would highly recommend doing an alligator/air boat tour, I also would highly recommend that you go elsewhere for it. We chose Tom and Jerry's based solely on tour times. We were on our way back from FL to VA and their time worked well with our travel schedule. The lake and mangroves were beautiful, and we saw tons of water birds. However, we learned absolutely nothing on our tour. Our guide rarely spoke, told us almost nothing about the surroundings, the wildlife or alligators. He missed several alligators that we tourists tried to point out to him and when he did find an alligator, he stopped the boat past it, so no one could really see it and said sorry there was no reverse on the boat. If you are looking for a simple boat ride, it was ok, but I love to learn about what I am seeing.

To give 1 star is too much. I would not waste my time. We had a full boat 18 + people. To start the trip, each person was asked where they were from. My best friend, who happens to be black, was purposely skipped from being asked where she was from. This was not an accident. When this was pointed out, Captain Sam, was not the least bit apologetic! Others on the boat tried to compensate, but the tone was set. In addition to the clearly racist behavior, $41 per person was pretty steep for less than an hour boat ride and we were expected to tip Captain Sam upon our return! Very disappointing to see this type of behavior STILL!!! It's 2022 people.we all bleed the same color.

I agree with 660donaldh, the price is excessive. I also was hoping for an exhilarating ridelonger stretches at higher speed. Too much debris floating which, for me, ruins the natural beauty of an area. So for excessive price, the outfit could make a sweep through the swamp. The location is typical "old Florida". Reservations are necessary. I'm not in agreement with keeping a "petting gator" confined with mouth taped for photo shoots. The staff is friendly.

Firstly Captain Joe and Sylvia (Gator Girl) are brilliant. Sylvia is the warm welcoming committee, and Captain Joe the incredibly laidback but knowledgeable captain of the airboats.
We saw some amazing sights, had thrills, chills and rain threatened to spill but Captain Joe at the helm assured we had an unforgettable time.
I was struck by how respectful they were of the natural surroundings, this wasn't a pure tourist trip, they genuinely care about the ecosystem and it's survival.
Thanks for an amazing trip!

It was awesome! Joe was very informative and super funny. We saw 8 gators and 1 baby on a cloudy day many vultures and nesting egrets. Beautiful and the ancient cypress were breathtaking. I'll def come back again!!

We had the best time!!! It was really rainy and Captain Keith caught a good weather window so we could go on our ride. He pointed out wildlife, historical information, and was so fun and personable. The kids felt comfortable and had a blast!! Miss Barb helped us all hold the cute gator and take lots of pictures. I highly recommend this tour! Something for the whole family (we have kids from 4-13) and a great memory!

Let’s keep it real folks. The people that work there are as nice as they can be, no doubt. But that doesn’t justify the roughly 37.00/head for what you get. A cruise around the swamp in hopes of seeing a snake or a gator. I figured out right away we ‘d never get up to speed or weave through the weeds, which was fine, my bad for having this expectation. But a boring ride through the swamp land and stumbling on a tiny gator for our entire trip is not value. One honest word for this.BORING. Sorry, can’t recommend whatsoever.