Private Boat Charters
in Marco Island, Florida
The whole boat is yours. Every trip we run is private, up to 6 guests, and your party is never combined with strangers.
USCG licensed captain • Up to 6 guests • Never shared
A private boat charter on Marco Island means one thing aboard the Sweet Melissa: when you book a trip, the boat is yours. Not a seat on it, not a share of it — the whole boat, the captain included, for as long as the trip runs. If there are four of you, four people go out.
There is no separate private charter to book here, because there is nothing else to book — every trip we run already works this way. So the question is not whether to go out privately. It is which trip you want: about three hours looking for dolphins, about two at sunset, or a full day at Keewaydin Island.
The Whole Boat Is Yours
Six guests is the maximum, and it is the maximum for your party rather than a capacity you are sharing with anyone. Book two people and you go out as two. Book six and you go out as six. Nobody gets added to make the numbers work.
That has consequences which are easy to miss until you have been on the other kind of boat.
The captain is yours for the duration. On a boat carrying six, that is a conversation rather than a commentary. You can ask him what that bird is, or whether the water is always this colour in March, and get a real answer.
There is no fixed script, either. The trip has a shape and a length, but inside that the day is allowed to matter. If dolphins are working a shoreline and everyone wants to sit and watch them, you sit and watch them. If the light starts doing something worth stopping for, you stop.
And nobody else's schedule shapes yours. Nothing waits on a party that has not turned up, and nothing gets cut short because a stranger has somewhere to be.
The thing people mention afterwards is usually quieter than any of that, though. On a private boat you can stop performing. You can sit and say nothing for twentyminutes, or have the kind of conversation you would not start in front of people you have never met — because there is nobody aboard you have never met.
How This Differs From a Group Tour
This is a difference in structure, not a claim about anybody else's boat. Group trips are run well by people who know this water, and for a lot of visitors they are exactly the right thing to book.
But a boat carrying more people has to work differently, and the arithmetic is not really optional. More passengers means a route decided in advance and kept to, because a fixed plan is the only way to get everybody back on time. It means a departure time set by the boat rather than by you. It means whoever is guiding is addressing a group rather than talking to you. And it means the people around you for those hours are whoever else booked that day.
None of that is a failing. It is simply what carrying more people requires.
A private charter takes the opposite side of that trade: fewer people, one party, and enough slack in the plan to let the day decide some of it.
Choose Your Private Boat Tour
Three trips, all private, all aboard the same boat. Shelling is included on every one of them.
About 3 hours
Dolphin & Wildlife Cruise
Out through the passes looking for dolphins, with time to stop and shell along the way.
Read about this tripAbout 2 hours
Sunset Dolphin Cruise
The shortest of the three, timed for the last of the light — booked by people who want to slow down rather than cover water.
Read about this tripAbout 8 hours
Keewaydin Island Adventure
A full day out to a barrier island you cannot drive to, with the whole boat and the whole day at your disposal.
Read about this tripStill weighing them up? The tours page puts all three side by side with live availability. If the beaches are the real draw, start with shelling tours instead.
What You Are Booking
We should be straight about what this is not. We do not run events. There is no package, no catering, no photographer, and nobody decorates the boat before you arrive. It is a private boat, a captain who knows this water, and however many hours you booked. What you do with them is your business.
What's On Board
The Sweet Melissa is a 31-foot Stamas running twin 225 Suzuki outboards. Below deck there is an enclosed restroom, a cabin with seating, a refrigerator, and akitchen area. Up top there is shade and a sound system.
The restroom is the thing people ask about first, and on a longer trip it is the difference between staying out and turning back early. There are more photos and a fuller description on the yacht page.
Your Captain: Mark “Gramps” Barrett
Captain Mark Barrett — "Captain Gramps" — is USCG licensed, with more than 45 years on the water and over 20 of them at the helm of the Sweet Melissa. On a private charter most of that experience shows up as judgement: where to be, when to be there, and when to stay put. He is also the person you will be talking to for the whole trip, which is the part of a private charter that is hardest to put in a specification. There is more about him on Captain Mark's page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the boat really private?
Yes. Every cruise we run is private — the entire boat is yours for the trip, and your party is never combined with strangers.
How many guests can come?
Up to 6 guests. Because the whole boat is yours, that is the limit for your party rather than a capacity you share with anyone else.
Can we choose where we go?
Within the time the trip allows, and within whatever the weather and the water are doing that day, yes — tell the captain what matters most to you and he will shape the trip around it. What we will not do is promise a fixed route in advance. Where the dolphins are, where the water is calm enough to be pleasant, and where the shelling is worth stopping for all change day to day, and the captain decides what is safe.
Is there a restroom on board?
Yes. The Sweet Melissa has an enclosed restroom below deck, so you never have to cut a trip short. The cabin below also has comfortable seating, a refrigerator, and a kitchen area.
Who is the captain?
Captain Mark Barrett, known to most people as Captain Gramps. He is USCG licensed, has spent more than 45 years on the water, and has run the Sweet Melissa for over 20 of them.
Whoever you bring is who is aboard.
One party, up to 6 guests, never combined with strangers. Check live availability across all three cruises.