Coastal Kayak Adventures Amazing!
Today is the day to get out and explore something new!
Our Guided Tours
Escape the ordinary – only 10 minutes from busy downtown Sarasota, Lido Key is a pristine paradise. For easy paddling, we select the best route depending on weather, wind and tide conditions. Your expert nature guide takes you through sheltered winding mangrove trails, pointing out native marine life, plants and birds of the Ted Sperling Nature Park. Learn about this tropical ecosystem and how the mangrove islands and sea grass beds serve as a marine nursery for Lido Key’s fish and birds. See dolphins, manatees, rays and fish in the water and birds soaring overhead. Feel the tropical air kiss your skin, hear tropical bird calls around you.
No experience is necessary. Our expert guide provides you with paddling tips for our kayaks. We use high quality sea kayaks with comfortable back rests. Both single and tandem kayaks are available. On our guided tours we provide stable, easy-to-paddle, high tech kayaks designed to accommodate any rider with a contoured nose section to cut through chop with more forward speed and a comfortable paddling position. Children are welcome on our tandem kayaks.
Lido Key and Ted Sperling Park
Follow your guide into the famous Sarasota Bay around Otter Key in search of the gentle manatee or an encounter with bottlenose dolphins. Explore the shallow waters of Little Lagoon and navigate your way through the maze of exotic mangrove tunnels that lead you into the sun-filled grass flats of brushy bayou and Big Grass Lagoon. Along the way you will become acquainted with the creatures that call this ecosystem home. No alligators!
Each tour is limited to a small group, making it easy to follow your guide as they point out the various marine life, plants and birds during the tour. We pride ourselves on having the most knowledgeable and friendly guides in Sarasota so you can ask lots of questions along the way. Or if you prefer, just glide along, enjoy the sounds of nature, and soak in the natural beauty surrounding you.
A photographer’s dream, opportunities abound for nature photos throughout this Lido Key backcountry tour. Whether you prefer pictures of birds, animals, tropical fauna or unusual sea life this is the top Sarasota attraction for you. We provide dry bags for cameras.
Explore the Exotic Mangrove Tunnels!
The mangroves off of Lido Key are one of the most popular kayaking spots in Sarasota for both locals and visitors. Paddling your kayak through the mangrove tunnels will make you feel like you’re in a scene from a movie – it truly is a whole new world. All your troubles will melt away as you enter the tunnels.
Choose the Tour that works for you… Book it Now!
MORNING TOUR
The best way to see Ted Sperling Park is from the water! Enjoy a relaxing loop through a marine preserve paradise and see the wide array of marine life including friendly Dolphins who show up when you least expect them.
AFTERNOON TOUR
There is so much marine and wildlife to see while kayaking Sarasota Bay it’s hard to believe!. Follow us into the into the gentle waters surrounding Sarasota Bay around Otter Key in search of the gentle manatee.
PRIVATE GUIDED TOURS
Our expert guides will take you on a two-hour tour that leads through Sarasota’s exotic mangrove tunnels, and if time permits a stop off at a secluded beach where you can take a quick dip in the bay or do a little shell hunting
“YOU DESERVE THE BEST KAYAK TOUR, SO TREAT YOURSELF TODAY!”
Coastal Kayak Adventures is a Authorized CRTO
Veteran Owned & Operated - We are a fully authorized Commercial Recreation and Tour Operator by the County of Sarasota. Helping to support the preservation of our marine environment through your participation in our tour program.
What our guests say on Trip Advisor!
Great Guided Kayak Tour!
Had a Great Time. Tyler was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Got to see lots of wildlife including a manatee. Equipment was new and comfortable.
Date of experience: March 2021
Had a Great Time. Tyler was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Got to see lots of wildlife including a manatee. Equipment was new and comfortable.
Date of experience: March 2021
Tim S.
Lido key Visitor
We had so much fun today on our guided tour! Tyler was awesome! He’s fun, knowledgeable and passionate about the local wildlife! We had never kayaked before and it was easy and fun! We highly recommend Coastal Kayak Adventures!
Allison T.
Connecticut
Great choice!
Tyler was awesome and very knowledgeable!
We had a great time! Also his equipment is brand new which was a plus!
Date of experience: March 2021
Tyler was awesome and very knowledgeable!
We had a great time! Also his equipment is brand new which was a plus!
Date of experience: March 2021
Trisha P.
St. Louis
Quick Details
Tour Times: Morning and afternoon tours
Tour duration: about 2 hours
Available 7 days a week
All experience levels welcome
Bring your camera!
Tips for our Guests
- Dress appropriately for the day’s weather. If light rain is predicted, bring a rain jacket!
- Wear a bathing suit and light clothing that you won’t mind getting wet. You may get splashed from time to time by paddle drip!
- In the winter, consider bringing a sweater or a windbreaker, as it can get chilly out on the water
Feel free to bring your own beverages with you. You may even bring a small cooler that will fit in a tandem kayak. - Bring extra cash (~$40) if you’d like to purchase any Coastal Kayak Adventures gift certificates for your friends and to tip your tour guide.
- We provide dry bags and PDF.
- Please arrive 15-30 minutes before your tour is scheduled to depart. We will leave right on time!
New To Kayaking... No Worries!
In less than five minutes, you can learn kayaking basics like proper entry/exit, how to correctly hold a kayak paddle, paddling forward and backward and making a turn. Watch to paddle better and enjoy your time on the water more.
FAQs
Here are some commonly asked questions about our Guided Kayak Nature Tours and Private Guided Tours
Simply decide which tour you would like to participate in and then click the calendar on the day and time that you wish to participate. You will get a confirmation email after you book and a receipt of payment for your tour. Your tour guide will contact you the evening prior to your tour and provide his/her cell # and make sure that you know everything that you need to know.
It is certainly customary in the United States to give a gratuity to service personnel who have done a good job, just as you would at any other venue. Remember that your tour guide is checking the weather and tide, loading and unloading the kayaks or boards and working hard to find wildlife on your kayak tour. All of this is in addition to the significant investment in training and equipment that our professional guides have put forth.
There are alligators in Florida. We don’t provide tours in areas that normally would have any significant population of gators. Remember also that gators really just want to eat, sleep and make more gators. They usually eat things like fish, turtles, etc.
Ideally you should protect your skin from the sun, either with sun block or sun protective clothing. Sun protective hats and clothing are good idea too. And please don’t forget to bring your sunglasses and a camera
We have both! When you book your tour, the booking software will ask you if you would like singles or doubles. And all of our equipment is brand new and the highest quality. We only use the safest and most stable kayak available – OCEAN Kayaks.
All of our equipment is completely sterilized before each tour to ensure your health and safety!
Always! In fact, on nature tours our guides will recommend that you wear one.
Not to worry – it’s easy. Our guides are also instructors. Your tour will be a beginner lesson and a tour!
There are quite a few months in SW Florida that getting rained on can be just wonderful. However, you guide has been checking the weather carefully in an attempt to avoid lightning. If we can’t go for safety reasons, or if it will be just too wet then we will gladly refund your money or reschedule your tour, as you wish.
Here's How To Book Your Tour
Simply decide which tour you would like to participate in and then click the button below to select the day and time that you wish to participate. You will get a confirmation email after you book and a receipt of payment for your tour. Your tour guide will contact you the evening prior to your tour and provide his/her cell # and make sure that you know everything that you need to know.
Ted Sperling Park - 190 Taft Drive, Sarasota, FL
On Lido Key
833-2 KAYAK 1 or (833) 252-9251
