Crab Island Charter in Destin/Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Captain Jonathan and his crew were awesome. We picked a day with not so great weather and could only stay at crab island for a short time but we went out looking for dolphins not only did we get to see a huge pod of dolphins with their newborns we saw a shark and a manatee. The crew was amazing and made sure we had the best experience. We will use them again next time we’re in the area for sure.

This experience was awesome! My sister was celebrating her birthday. We all enjoyed ourselves. The Captain and his team were amazing.

I booked a 4pm boat ride for 3 adults and 1 child. We arrived early as indicated in the instructions. There were 2 women inside the building you check in at and they were both very nice and pleasant. I bought $50+ worth of stuff from the store and was looking forward to the ride. Around 3:30pm or so, one of the women inside the store/check-in area said we can go ahead and board the boat if we like since everyone was there. I ran to the restroom real quick while the rest of my party got on the boat. It took me 3 minutes. I walk out to get on the boat and realize it is not secured to the dock and pause for half a second because I'm not sure if they want me to get on or if they want me to wait for them to secure it. The captain of the boat then yells at me, "Come on! We don't have time for people who can't make up their minds!" For clarification, this was not said in a joking manner. In fact, he has a scowl on his face when he said it. One of the young ladies who was assisting the captain came over to help me get on the boat at that point. The scheduled cruise time was 4pm and they requested for us to get on early "if we wanted to" and he is behaving like I'm holding him up even though it's 3:40pm - 20 minutes before the scheduled departure time. He didn't say hello, or any other pleasantry prior - just that rude comment. My party of 4 were the only people on the boat besides the crew members. The captain took off for literally a minute then turns around saying he is having electrical issues and can't continue and it's cold anyways. In my opinion, he didn't want to do the ride in the first place. I don't know if it was because we were the only people on the boat, if he was tired and cold, etc. I doubt it was due to electrical issues. They had similar boats sitting out on the water. We drove 40+ minutes in traffic to get to the venue. Pre-paid. Filled out all of the electronic waivers, etc. for this occasion. They could have called or texted us beforehand to cancel/reschedule instead of having us come all the way there to be treated like crap. One of the women offered to reschedule us for the next day, but we declined solely because of the rude captain. What made me the angriest is I have an autistic son who was looking forward to the boat ride for days. When the captain told us we had to leave, my son was so sad. He doesn't say much but I could tell. My other son (9) commented, "Mommy, that man was being so rude to you." Thankfully, we booked a different excursion on the water the next day with a different company and we had a great time. I sincerely hope they invest in getting the captain some type of training on how to deal with the public so no other group has to deal with his nasty, unprofessional attitude.