Amelia Island is surrounded by wilderness. To the south, Big Talbot, Little Talbot, and Fort George encompass the Timucuan Ecological Preserve. To the north, you'll find Cumberland Island National Seashore and Fort Clinch State Park that makes up about ten percent of Amelia Island. Just to the west are the Tiger Islands and Tiger Basin, most of which are part of the Fort Clinch Aquatic Preserve. It is in this setting that Amelia River Cruises will offer our Eco-Shrimping Tour. This tour will be offered daily from June 10th - August 17th, Monday through Saturday at 10 a.m. for two hours.

During the tour our guests will experience the operation of the Otter Trawl shrimp net much like the nets used by the commercial shrimp industry today. Our guests will be actively involved in this process and deploying and retrieving this net will be part of the experience. The catch will then be displayed in an aquarium onboard and each of the creatures will be identified and then released back into the wild. Then we will continue to explore the backwaters and tidal creeks that make up this estuary that is also part of the St. Marys River Basin connecting Tiger Basin with the Okefenokee Swamp.

The oyster beds, mud flats, and thousands of acres of marsh grass in Tiger Basin are a critical part of our local environment. Salt marshes are the most productive eco systems on earth, providing a nursery for all of the sea creatures that are native to our waters and providing a rich source of food for others. The summer months are most productive and our waters team with life. We may witness the annual arrival of our summer guests.

This is the time of year that our local dolphins are giving birth and we are visited by the manatees that migrate from the springs in central Florida into the salt water to mate and give birth. Sea turtles also visit and nest on our sandy shores. An abundance of shore birds are always seen wading along the shore and feeding. Egrets, herons, spoonbills, ospreys and many others are all part of this wilderness. Today we understand more about this critical habitat than ever. Sharing this knowledge with our visitors should help to protect and sustain the viability of this environment for all of the creatures that surround this incredibly fascinating part of our world.