Dolphin Landings Charter Boat Centre, St Pete Beach

Travel distance/time from Florida Delight (95.5 miles: 1 hour 41 minutes) 

We have visited St Pete Beach three times now and on the last two occasions been on one of the dolphin watch boat trips with Dolphin Landings Charter Boat Centre, each time with a group of friends. We have been on the 12pm booking time on each trip and saw dolphin both times. We would recommend booking in advance.

This really is a fabulous way to spend two hours and at $40 per adult for a two hour trip on a beautiful sailing boat, seeing dolphins swimming in their natural habitat it is great value and we all thoroughly enjoy every minute of it. You even get  a free water or soda on the trip which is very welcome as it can get hot out on the water. Check the prices on their website though as they will probably have increased since we last went.

When we were in Orlando in February 2022 we went across to St Pete's and took our son who had never at that time seen dolphins in the wild. We went on the sunset cruise on this occasion but were really disappointed as we only saw a brief glimpse of one dolphin during the entire 2 hours we were out on the boat. Not necessarily down to the sunset cruise being less likely to see dolphins than during earlier hours I don't think but more a case that when you are dealing with wildlife nothing can be guaranteed and sometimes you can get lucky and see a lot and on others very little. 

To drive to St Pete  Beach from the villa it takes around 1 hour 45 minutes and is motorway nearly all the way. We have come down and stayed overnight to make the most of being at the coast but on our last trip we drove from the villa and back in one day and it wasn't hard at all and if anything it was nice to not pay out for additional accommodation by paying for a hotel when we could get home to the villa easily enough.

We parked in the large free car park next to the mooring at Dolphin Landings Charter Boat Center 4737 Gulf Blvd,St Pete Beach Florida 33706 and walked round to the IHOP for breakfast about 5 minutes walk away. There is also a nice french bakery called Cafe Soleil  right next to Dolphin Landings where we have also had breakfast before or even good just for a coffee.