When you embark on a Water Planet 4-Hour Dolphin Swim Tour to Shell Island, in addition to swimming with dolphins, you will have the option of going to Shell Island to snorkel, look for shells on shore and even observe a large variety of wading birds and raptors. The Shell Island Birding and Dolphin Swim Tour combines birding for the ones who like birds, swimming with dolphins, snorkeling and exploring Shell Island to look for shells. All the Water Planet Tours will give you these options time allowing. The captains are flexible and will honor your preferences after reaching a consensus.
There is an interesting story behind this. As you may know, raptors will try to occupy the same nest year after year. The nest in which you see these baby owls was actually built by a pair of ospreys. Year after year, we have taken our dolphin and snorkeling tour from Panama City Beach on Grand Lagoon, to Shell Island where we usually swim with the dolphins, following the same route. Every spring between February and March, the birds build or improve their nest and the female lays her eggs. On a daily basis, the Water Planet dolphin swim boat sails by the tall ship range tower on top of which, years ago, an osprey couple have built a large nest made of dead wood limbs, twigs, shreds of fabric, ropes. etc. We stop by to let our guests observe the nest, the chicks (if they are peeping over the edge) and the adult(s), when they are not busy looking for fish to feed the chicks. This year, for the second time in over 20 years (last time was in 2023/24) a pair of Great Horned Owls (biggest owl in the Americas) had taken over the osprey nest and had forced them to occupy the owls old nest nearby. We can also name our dolphin tour a Shell Island Birding and Dolphin Swim Tour. There are several other bird species we can show you if you take one of our swim with the dolphin tours.
When you are tired of swimming with the dolphins, we will do the snorkeling at Shell Island where you will also have time to observe iconic wading birds like the grey heron, egrets and ibises.
A 10-minute boat ride from the civilized world in Panama City Beach will take you to a pristine and wild world where you can do birding, snorkeling, shelling and swimming with wild dolphins. You will love our Shell Island birding an dolphin swim tour. If your hobby is photography, let the captain know. If you are just a bird lover, you will certainly enjoy watching these raptors and wading birds.
