Such an enjoyable experience! The owners are the kindest people, and they are very accommodating…read more Not to mention they have a great playlist they play during the cruise! It was an added bonus that we saw SO MANY dolphins. Highly recommend, best of Swansboro!

We had a wonderful sunset cruise tonight. Their was about 13 of us and we boarded at 6:30. The…read moreowners had bottled waters in a cooler for everyone. They were very nice and at one point they stopped and told us some history about Blackbeard. They also told us about Bear Island and showed us the Emerald aisle bridge. They went over safety regulations before hand and had life jackets for everyone on board if needed. The not had a bathroom and the seats were very comfy. This is a beautiful 90 minute cruise to see such beautiful landscape. I recommend this as a nice thing to do before a dinner on the water.

Fun 2 hr. guided tour of isle. Would definitely repeat next time we're down visiting. Business…read morefriendly and guide knowledgeable and helpful in our trek to lighthouse.

we had a great time on our jet ski tour! friendly, efficient and easy to follow. Reservations were…read moreeasy to make online

First time going out, and definitely won't be our last. The Capt., and first mate are great at what…read morethey do. Made the trip fun and enjoyable, we caught around 41 Spanish Mackerel with only a half day. Our next trip will be the 8-11 hour trip to try and catch bigger fish. Couldn't recommend these guys enough.

I had an amazing experience fishing with Justin from Family Time Fishing Charters. He had us on…read morefish within minutes and we had such a great time catching fish and learning from him. Will be back!!! John

This ferry service connects downtown Beaufort to Shackleford Banks and, less frequently, Cape…read moreLookout. Their catamaran style boats are very stable and covered from the sun. As an approved vendor for the National Park Service, you know their quality is very good. We did the trip to Shackleford (hourly service through the day), which was a great choice. We saw four of the resident wild horses, which was very cool. Lots of birds and shells too. I walked from the drop-off point to the pier (there are restrooms and an info board there), then I followed the trail across the island to reach the ocean side and completed the loop back along the shore. Super pretty and super relaxing. Please remember to pack out everything you bring and a little bit more. I picked up a small bag full of litter I found. Leave No Trace is the only way to go.

Randal and Crysta were amazing! So nice and helpful. I would recommend this outfit anytime!! In…read morefact, I want to work with them!! Lol Doreen B.

Short Version: There's a strong trend in the reviews for this vendor. Many people get their boats…read moreand have a good time. But Crystal coast Boat Charters has a problem with communication, and if anything at all goes wrong, you'll find yourself wondering what just happened and be left without a boat. We booked a boat for rental on Friday, May 28, for our family coming in to town for Memorial Day weekend. We had a couple calls with Krista over the next couple weeks, up until two days before the rental. During that call she told me the person who was bringing the boat (I think she said her husband, but not sure if I remember that right) had a broken phone, but that she promised to get me "some phone number so you could reach him." Not exactly confidence inspiring, but stuff happens, so I rolled with it. I went back to other reviews after the crash and burn and found this broken phone thing was a common issue that they still haven't fixed. The day of the rental came and I finally received a phone call about an hour before our rental time. The gentleman who called me was bewildering at best. Instead of clearly telling me what was broken and whether it could be fixed soon, I got a bizarre set of contradictions ranging from, "I have a guy in Swansboro hooking me up" (With what? A new boat? A part?), to "I'm trying to just delay an hour" and then ending with, "I'm shootin for the stars, man, I just dunno. I'm a nice guy, though, I'm an owner operator." It was difficult to get further details out of him. As we got closer to delivery time, I texted. No response. Then I called at the time he was supposed to deliver the boat. "Sorry man, I'm not 1000% sure it's going to happen today." I said "ok, if it isn't, then do you know anyone else that rents boats?" Instead of responding to the question, he said "Gimme a few minutes man, I'll call you back." When he called me back, he said, "We got it and we'll be at X launch point in 30 minutes." When I told him, "We ordered it for Y launch point," he replied, "Well that's news to me!" But we expected to meet him there in 30 minutes. 30 minutes later, I received a vague text message, "The hub is done sorry I will call you." I tried calling him and he stopped picking up the phone. Not knowing exactly what that text message meant, I texted Krista indicating what a stunning failure this had been and received a text full of excuses. Mechanical issues are out of people's hands. I get that. But communication is fully in the business's hands. Bottom line: this company is a slap dash operation who won't take responsibility for their failures, and will just stop talking to you when everything founders.

FAVORITE PLACE HERE. We spent hours finding the most amazing shells. The water is crystal clear and…read morethe wanes aren't bad at all. I would come back in a heart beat.

We had so much fun on Shackleford Island. We saw so many horses, found a lot of cool shells, and…read morethe beach was beautiful. It's about a 30 minute ferry ride from Beaufort. There is a restroom but NO amenities or food available for purchase. Bring everything you need with you. Once we arrived, there was a tour guide but it wasn't much of a tour. She walked us to the other side of the island to show us two horses on the beach and then walked all the way back to where we started to show us where to find the best shells. Her "tour" lasted about 30 minutes. We did most of the exploring on our own and that's when we found the majority of the horses. As long as you aren't looking for a super guided tour, this is a great day trip!

I was in a brief vacation with my family at Emerald Isle recently and decided to head up the island…read moreto take a sunset ferry trip over to Shackelford Banks. We boarded the "Shackelford Lady" piloted by Captain Jose'. The trip was basically 30 minutes out, an hour on the island, and then a "30" minute trip back. The island is simply beautiful all on its own, but Captain Jose' made it extra special. He was in constant contact with other boat captains relaying the location of dolphins and anything that would make the trip special. On the way back as the sun was setting, he would turn the boat so that everyone could take pictures. It was truly an amazing experience.

Beach for shelling or relaxing, or to check out the 130 wild horses that roam the island. Take a…read moreferry from Beaufort or be lucky enough to have your own boat. Depending on the company the final ferry should go from 8am and depart at around 5pm (every hour) but that's plenty of time to explore the island. A ride there and back will cost roughly $17 per adult. A warning, it gets extremely hot in July and August. There are no facilities on the island, so a ride back to the mainland is at the minimum 10 minutes or more. Do not overexert yourself in the heat, bring PLENTY OF FLUIDS especially if you are going to explore around looking at the horse in 90 degree weather and be on the island for hours. Bring food, bananas, Gatorade, water. The north side of the island will have calm water and tons of boats parked with people sunbathing. The south (ocean) side of the island will be almost empty and with shells everywhere. You can definitely cut through the island hiking through existing trails and dunes but make sure you are physically able to do so. Reminder there are no facilities or emergency services on the island, it's completely uninhabited so if you need any help whatsoever you are out of luck. BE SMART. If you really want to find shells I recommend going to the far northwest point of the island and walking around. That tip is a perfect combination of waves, shells, and beach area. Just make sure you watch about for the tide later in the day so your stuff doesn't get washed away.

Absolutely amazing! What a great Captain, teacher and guide…read more After years of taking my son fishing with his (very well meaning) Grandpa who has all of the nicest rigs and boat, etc.. etc... and dreams of his glory days as an offshore fisherman, my little man was so sad that he had never caught something "he could eat" (really he hadn't caught anything I'd allow him to eat from the backwaters of marinas with oil and God knows what in the water). Chris was astounding. He was so patient and thoughtful with my little fisherman (age 8). He took us to several spots, knew the waters well, the fish types and sizes legal for keeping and gave so many wonderful tips and tutorials along the way. My little guy doesn't like strangers and immediately loved Chris. He's already asking when we can go back out with him!

Booked a trip with my wife that don't have much fishing experience. She had a blast and enjoyed…read moreevery minute of the trip. Couldn't recommend Chris enough.