Naples Waterway and Wildlife Tours

Naples Waterway and Wildlife Tours, run by Captain Stephen Strassel aboard the boat Water Wuber, offers a mix of dolphin watching, sunset cruises and excursions to Keewaydin Island from a base at Naples City Dock. The company’s focus on wildlife and natural scenery sets it apart from the dock’s more transportation- or fishing-oriented operators, positioning it closer to a nature tour than a straightforward sightseeing cruise.

Dolphin sightings are common in Naples Bay and the nearshore Gulf waters just outside Gordon Pass, where bottlenose dolphins regularly feed and travel, and a dedicated dolphin watching cruise gives visitors a better chance of an extended, close encounter than they might get from a general sightseeing boat that isn’t specifically looking for wildlife. Sunset cruises round out the standard evening offering common to most Naples Bay tour operators, taking advantage of the same reliable Gulf Coast sunset that draws boats out of the dock most evenings during the winter season.

The trip to Keewaydin Island is a more specific offering: Keewaydin is an undeveloped barrier island south of Naples, accessible only by boat, known for its untouched beach and shelling. A guided trip there gives visitors access to a stretch of Southwest Florida coastline that looks largely as it did before the region’s development, a contrast to the built-up waterfront most visitors see from the city dock itself.

Beyond its scheduled cruise offerings, the company also books private charters, letting a group customize a trip around dolphin watching, a sunset run, an island excursion or some combination of the three rather than following a fixed public tour itinerary. Operating from Naples City Dock keeps the business within the same historic marina complex as most of Naples’ other charter operators, close to Third Street South and downtown Naples for visitors looking to combine a boat tour with shopping or dinner.

As a single-boat, wildlife-focused operation, Naples Waterway and Wildlife Tours fills a specific niche among the dock’s charter offerings, appealing to visitors whose primary interest is seeing dolphins and undeveloped coastline rather than fishing or a large-group party cruise.

Bottlenose dolphins are a near-daily presence in the waters around Naples Bay and Gordon Pass, often traveling in small pods and occasionally riding a boat’s bow wake, which makes a dedicated dolphin-focused cruise a reliably rewarding trip even for visitors who have never been on a wildlife tour before. Pairing that with a stop at an undeveloped barrier island gives guests a fuller sense of what the Naples coastline looked like before the waterfront was built up.