Late one Saturday afternoon, a privately run and owned kayaking service at Stump Pass Beach State Park told us they’d be open from 9am-4pm the next day and invited us for a fun kayaking trip.
When we arrived to the beach on Sunday morning, we waited 25 minutes to get into the parking lot and expected to jump right into a kayak. The rangers at Stump Pass Beach were incredibly nice and helpful. We loved them! Everyone was excited.
Unfortunately, the privately run kayak service was unmanned. We called the company’s other kayaking location and asked why no one was there during the time they told us to come. They said “First of all, we don’t take reservations, and if no one’s there, it means our employee didn’t show up.” Yikes! We asked for a call back once they figured out the situation and schedule. They were unapologetic and never called us back.
We had to find a way to save our day’s plans.
Enter Allure Boat Rentals, just one mile away. They saved our our day and made it a million times better than we could have ever expected. We called them from Stump Pass Beach, hoping they’d be open. Their owner and operator, Michael Stipp, answered the phone in a jovial mood. When we explained the situation, he said he’d deliver kayaks right to us but the other guys (who weren’t even there) had the exclusive right to provide kayaks at Stump Pass Beach. Bummer!
So we all got back into the van and drove up to Allure Boat Rentals.
Upon arriving to Allure Boat Rentals, they already had their kayaks prepared with life jackets for everyone. They gave us a bunch of cold water bottles, a rundown on where we could go to find dolphins, beaches, islands, manatees, and wake-free paddling paths, and even provided a laminated full color detailed map of the area. They even adjusted and added seats in kayaks as necessary.
Six sun soaked hours later, we returned. Well hydrated but sunburned and happy as could be. We showered on location, hosed down the swimming gear we brought with us, and hopped back into our van to find some food (we’ll write on that in another article)!
As for the kayaking trip with Allure Boat Rentals, let these pictures speak for themselves! Two of the highlights included spending a lot of time with dolphins who would even swim right under our kayaks and stop to check out our paddles, and we also enjoyed the most serene and beautiful island beaches you could imagine finding.
Two dolphins swims in front of our kayak 
A beautiful beach on one of the islands we landed our kayaks on 
A beach turtle crawls around in the grass 
A dolphin begins a short dive under our kayak and paddles 
Dolphins playing in the water next to our kayak 
A picnic table near one of the beach landings at Stump Pass Beach State Park 
A dolphin turns over under water to closely inspect a yellow kayak paddle 
A dolphin swam right up to our hands.
Here you can see the tip of the dolphin’s nose right under the water.
If you ever make it out to Southwest Florida, be sure to find Allure Boat Rentals. Michael and his team will make sure you’ll have the best time ever. And, most important of all, they’ll be there and greet you with a lot of Southwest Florida cheer and hospitality!
