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    Canoe Outpost-Peace River

    3.7 (41 reviews)
    Closed 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

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    Poor conditions for paddling.

    unsafe, poorly managed Peace River is much too shallow at this time, for safe kayaking. alligator infested, debris, unnavigable in many parts. Diane and Old Guy driver are well aware of the situation, and should not be renting to novices. Dangerous! There are plenty of better options than this vendor. PS: it's time for old guy to retire....spent the ride to launch point talking about how much he "hates" his job.

    Chris C.

    We always enjoy a family trip canoeing down Peace River, digging for fossils and Shark teeth, and watching the birds and wildlife, including lots of alligators! We bring a picnic and stop along the way for lunch. A casual 4 hours or so for a relaxing and peaceful day with the family! You can choose the 5 mile or the 8 mile, we do the 5. They bus you up stream. Then you canoe back to the Outpost, so no paddling upstream! Very helpful and friendly staff. I don't bring my wallet on the trip, so I have to remember next time to bring a tip for the bus driver, so sorry!

    Lisa W.

    Canoe Outpost-Peace River is a great place to rent a canoe for the day or longer. There a many options and nights so I recommend checking the website or give the outpost a call.. they are very helpful and ready to answer any questions. Our small group chose to do an over night canoe camp trip. We packed up our camping gear, coolers, food and more into our cars and drove over from Orlando. Upon arriving our gear was placed onto a trailer and dropped off for us at the campsite. We were sized for life jackets and took the fun bus over to the our canoe departing spot... super easy and efficient process. This isn't their first rodeo. They cover just about everything needed for a great trip. The river lives up to it's name. Through the peaceful glide you'll see plenty of wildlife. Gators, birds, turtle... maybe a few humans too. It's a nice quite row through a beautiful part of Florida. The campsite was perfect. Picnic table, fire ring (firewood bought and brought over), and a lot of room for a few tents. There is also an outhouse a short walk away. The next morning you give a call to have your packed up trailer picked up, row back to the outpost, and recover from the slight sadness that it's all come to an end. All in all an easy process with lots of fun to be had. I will definitely do this trip again!

    Dave W.

    The outfitter has a variety of day and overnight trips available. A phone call to get information and reservation was easy and arrival and check in was equally easy. Short shuttle ride upstream then lazy paddle back to dock. Turtles, herons, gators... Would go again.

    Judy S.

    One of my my favorite in Florida canoe. The place in my opinion is pretty organized and clean. You have to make reservations to canoe. This place also has camping grounds. They give have everything you possibly need to make the canoe experience great. From extra cushions to sit to ropes to tide things together. The staff and service was great. I advise to bring bug spray, sunblock and water on your trip. The sun is brutal here. The mosquitoes are plenty and you will get thirsty. I had an adventure today.10 minutes after we started our journey my friend's canoe tipped over. They can not swim either. It was a crazy stressful thing. We managed to get them back on the canoe but one of then hurt his arm and so our canoe trip was over. We contacted the office to let them know what happened. They send a van to pick us up and the canoes. They where so understanding. They took us back to our car. Everyone was so professional. We where all impressed with the great customer service experience.

    Ariel W.

    The Peace river is a 106 mile long river in south west Florida. One of the major points of entry onto the river is in Arcadia where Canoe Outpost-Peace River was founded in 1969 making it one of the oldest paddle water sport outfitters in Florida. It's also the largest in the area. I was given their brochure by the hotel I was staying in but I saw it in several other places in downtown Arcadia. It is located only a few miles from town. Luckily for us they were open on Easter Sunday. They take you on a bus to a drop off point on the river and then you paddle back to them. You need to find out the time the bus is leaving to plan your trip. I made a reservation for a tandem kayak the night before for the 5 mile trip leaving at 11:30 and we had to be there by 11:00. We arrived and filled out the paperwork not holding them liable for our deaths. Next we paid $45 for the kayak and an additional $8 for seat backs. They will also rent you a sieve if you want to hunt for the fossilized shark teeth and prehistoric mammal bones in the river. From there we got on the bus and off we went. We ended up being the only people to chose a kayak so they unloaded us first. Everyone else went with a canoe. You stay drier in a canoe but I find the kayak easier to paddle. Within 5 minutes of arriving we were on our way down the river. If you paddle without stopping the trip will take approximately 2 hours. We added in some stops for fossil hunting so our trip was around three hours. As long as you are back by 5 PM they don't care how long you take. We didn't have the best of luck finding fossils. Fortunately we met a father and son who had better equipment and were nice enough to share some shark teeth they found with us. You can dig from the bank to find fossils but it would take a really long time to find anything this way. The father actually went out in the river up to his neck to dig with a shovel type of tool. With the number of alligators in the river that was not something I would be willing to do. I am perfectly fine with them if I am in the kayak because they usually swim off when you approach. There is no way however I am going into the river with them. In addition to the alligators we saw birds, turtles, and fish. We had a great time on the river. For long stretches we didn't even see other people. Towering cypress and live oak trees line the river bank. The current carried our kayak down the river with hardly any paddling. We basically only had to steer it requiring very little effort. Once you come to the railroad trestle it is only a short distance back to the Canoe Outpost. After you turn in your water craft you can change clothes in their dressing room. In addition to renting water craft Canoe Outpost also has hot dog cookouts for youth groups, camping gear delivery, catering, camping trips, and camping and picnic sites on their property along the river. They will even watch your dog for you. You can take two and three day canoe trips or just go for a few hours in 5, 8, and 12 mile runs. The most popular overnight trip is the 19.5 mile trip from Zolfo Springs to Gardner. The Peace river is perfect for people who may not have a lot of paddling experience. Although not as scenic as some other rivers in Florid further north it's close proximity to South Florida makes it great choice for people looking for a day trip to experience nature.

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    3 months ago

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    2 years ago

    Awesome time, great prices. Very friendly staff. I would recommend this place to any new kayakers, almost no current and a nice breeze.

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    5 years ago

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    Becky B.

    Thanks for coming to see us! Glad you had a good time!

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    4 years ago

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    2 years ago

    Lots of wildlife to enjoy on the trip down river many place to get out to picnic , plan accordingly a 3-4 hrs

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    Ask the Community - Canoe Outpost-Peace River

    Review Highlights - Canoe Outpost-Peace River

    They give you a campsite # that you are supposed to set up camp at and they will drop off your gear there.

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    Manatee Kayaking Company - Guided manatee kayaking tour.

    Manatee Kayaking Company

    4.2(5 reviews)
    37.8 mi

    What an incredibly disappointing outing this was.  After spending almost $400, and not seeing any…read moresign of even a single manatee, on our way out we were talking to someone familiar with this company and found out that we would have been "VERY lucky" to have seen any manatees on the earliest tour of the day, but "didn't stand a chance" of seeing any by the time our tour was set for in the afternoon.   Apparently, the warm winter saw the manatees leave for the gulf very early this season, and since that time they leave the Orange River very early in the day, if they are there at all... something the company was well aware of; and, yet, they sold us a "Manatee Tour".   It would seem that this company also re-brands tours to be "Nature Tours" later in the year, but did not see fit to do so for our trip, despite the recognition that we would spend all that money to see nothing that the tour name promises. Had this been advertised for what it was, a "Nature Tour", we would not have joined the tour, as we are experienced paddlers and could have explored the river with our own kayaks free of charge.  We had paid for a guided "Manatee Tour", expecting a MANATEE TOUR. We feel deceived and that we have been victims of false representation. We gave the company an opportunity to respond, and set things right, but they refused to do so, saying that they do not guarantee manatees will be viewed.  This was so much more than bad luck, though. The only positive I can say is the guide was very kind and great with my son, who has a special need. Other than that, extremely disappointed.

    Went Dec 2022. It was a beautiful warm day, but was the week after the big cold spell came through…read moreso that may have helped. Did the 2hr kayak rental, not the tour. Go to the manatee park, check-in at the gift shop then walk down the path till u get to the kayak area. There's a public launch, but the rental company is past that. The kayak staff were super nice. Kayaks were in good condition. Can wear your flip flops or water shoes on the kayak and bring water if u want. Any shoes u don't want wet can be left by the kayak launch. U will walk into the water a little bit to load into the kayaks so ur feet will certainly get wet. Definitely bring a camera. We only had 1 person keep their phone so we didn't ruin any, but it's so worth it to have your own & capture the moment a manatee swims up to u. We had so much fun and loved the adventure. Had guests in town and this is a great activity to do with people visiting. The guided tour is probably nice - u always learn new tidbits when people r showing u around, but we've used kayaks before, kind of like going at r own pace, and didn't feel we missed out. The river is pretty mellow and easy to navigate. U can make the outing as physically taxing or relaxing as you'd like (at least when u rent ur own). Some people just floated outside the power plant & essentially used the kayak as a chair for observation. Our group opted to be a bit more adventurous, exploring both sides of the river and various coves. The area behind the power plant was absolutely filled with manatee. A couple in r group had manatees come right up to the boat looking up at them, another had a manatee push their kayak up a little as they went underneath, probably b/c it was so crowded with manatee when we went. The workers tell u that going right has the most manatee and going left is more scenic. I'd agree going right had more manatee, but we went down both sides and didn't feel the left side was any prettier or had as much to offer so next time I'd only go right and explore that area a bit more. Lots of beautiful birds so if u love looking for interesting nature, this is a great tour. Thankfully we did not c any alligators or water snakes. Think they offer 2 or 3 hours. For us, 2 hours was more than enough and I would pick that option again. Kayaks start getting a bit uncomfortable after awhile and once you've paddled amongst manatees for a couple hours, it felt like enough. If ur an avid kayaker and want to make it out to the bigger body of water, perhaps the longer time would b better. Would highly recommend kayaking at Manatee Park through Manatee Kayaking Company. Make reservations online - it's easy.

    Canoe Outpost-Peace River - rafting - Updated May 2026

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