Cowboy Jack's Dolphin Tour Adventure! 🐬 Sea Turtles, Sharks, Crabs & More at Crab Island!

Howdy, Cowboys and Cowgirls, it's me, Cowboy Jack. We're in beautiful, sunny Florida, right in Destin, Florida. This is so cool. And I'm here with my buddies at Crab Island Dolphin Tours. I got Cowboy Caden, Cowgirl Addison. We're about to go out with my buddy, Captain Brian, at Crab Island Dolphin Tours and see some awesome critters out on the water. Y'all ready? Yeah. You excited? Let's get on the boat. OK, let's grab our stuff. Come on. Real close. Come on. All right. Oh, hey, Captain Brian. Hey, Cowboy Jack. How are you, sir? I'm blessed. You guys ready to go find some dolphins and sharks? And hermit crabs? Yeah. Sounds like fun? Excited. You excited? Hermit crabs. Hermit crabs? Boy, this is a beautiful pontoon boat. This thing is great. Thank you, Cowboy Jack. I bet it's a lot of fun to cruise this thing around. It's always a lot of fun to be in nature and see all the dolphins every day. Absolutely. Well, let's get it. Wait. These guys probably need something to keep them safe, right? They do. They need life jackets. All right. See if we can find some life jackets for you guys. How about blue for you? Match your shirt. Here you go, Kaden. Addison, let's get you buckled in. Safety. Yeah, girl. Safety first, especially on the water. You've always got to be really, really safe. It feels really cool. It feels cool? Yeah. Yeah? You look awesome in it. This is awesome. This is only like my second time wearing it. Yeah? I never wore it. Are you more excited for the dolphins or for the sharks? For the sharks. You're more excited for the sharks? You turkey. I'm more excited. All right. Will we just find ourselves a good spot and get at it? Have a seat anywhere you'd like. All right. Where do you guys want to sit? Sit on the front of the boat. You'll get closer to the dolphins. All right. Well, then let's sit up front. If we want to see dolphins, we better sit up here. All right. Let's rock and roll. All right. Yeah. We have to do a real quick safety briefing according to Coast Guard. Can you guys swim? Yes. Okay. So if you fall off the boat, I'm going to laugh at you. I'm the only person that's ever fallen off the boat. Don't lean on that door. Please do. Our adult life jackets are required. They are underneath that seat, that seat. Fire extinguisher flares are in there. We have a trusty water level. So Captain Brian just went through all the safety precautions. Every single person on the boat has a life jacket accounted for. The kiddos are strapped in, super safe, buckled up with their life jackets. We have fire extinguishers, flares, everything you could need for any kind of issue you might have out on the water. But I bet we're going to be just fine because we're with a professional today. All right, guys. We're taking off. Are y'all excited? Mama's on screen for once. This is an amazing event. Cowgirl Andrea right there, wave to everybody at home. All right. She does not like being on camera, so I'm going to turn it off of her. Let's take a look at this beautiful water right here, Destin Harbor. This is so cool. Captain Brian's doing a great job taking us out on the waves. Let's get at it. Whoa, guys. Check out that boat right there. That thing is crazy. That's like a party tiki hut on the water. That is so cool. Wow. So Captain Brian, you're going kind of slow right now. Is this a no wake zone? This is a no wake zone, so we don't put a wave to damage the other boats. So we go slower, so we don't put a wave into the dock, so those boats don't bang off of each other and off the dock. Oh, yeah. It looks like there's some really expensive offshore fishing boats out there with some huge outriggers on them. That's those big guys right over there. You can catch everything from kingfish to marlin to tuna, all kinds of stuff, just depending on where you're going. Y'all want to see if we can get some other boaters to wave to us? Wave to these guys. There they are. Check that out. What a cool boat. They have all their life jackets on there. They're being safe, too. There's a sailboat over there with a big old smiley face on the sail. How cool is that? Your right aerosail boat, you take off from the back of the boat with a big parachute and you land on the back of the boat with your parachute. That is so cool, guys. Did you hear that? That's a parasailing boat, so we can look at the back of it right there. They've got the big old parasail right on the back and those guys are actually going to get pulled up out of the water, go way up high in the sky and have a really crazy time. I'm not quite daring enough to try that, but it's really cool, really fun. There's all these great restaurants on the water right here in the marina. This is so cool. Wow, guys, we're coming up to the Destin Bridge and you can see all this beautiful blue water out here and these huge boats coming in. They are ginormous boats. Look at this guy. Wow, he's sitting up real high. That is so cool. Wow, guys, that is so cool. Captain Brian is talking on the radio to other boat captains out on the water asking who has found the dolphins today. That is so cool. Now, I'm going to take a little seat because the water's getting a little bit choppy. I want to be super safe. All right, guys. When we get to that white sign that says no wake, we can speed up once we pass it. We're out of the closed area. Caden, Addison, y'all having fun? Yeah. Are you excited? We're fixing to go a little bit faster, OK? Hold on to each other. You guys ready? Guys, I had to take my hat off because the wind's kicking up. Wait, are you guys laughing at my hair? Let me put, wait, I don't want to put it back on. I don't want to lose this thing. Look at this beautiful water out here. This is crazy. I cannot believe how blue this water is. This is just incredibly crazy. So, guys, we're looking for dolphins. If you see a fin pop up on the water and the fin stays up and it goes straight, that's a really big shark. It's not a dolphin. If you see a gray fin pop up and it goes down, that's a dolphin. Dolphins come up to breathe and they go back down. The sharks stay underwater to breathe. So help me find a fin on the surface. All right, we're on the hunt for dolphins. We're in the prime location. All we got to do is find these friends in the water. I want to get you all the way up on the front. So sit all the way up. Kind of put your arm over here because we're going to look for sharks at this angle here. The sharks will be swimming away from the boat at that angle. So slide on up. Y'all ready? We're looking for sharks. Caden, you can kind of put your knee up right here. You're okay, bud. You can kneel. You're safe. All right, guys. So we're getting ready to leave the East Pass of Destin and go out into the Gulf of America. As we cross through these two rock jetties, we're going to go from 40 foot of water and make a right turn on the four foot sandbar to our right. On that sandbar, you'll see the water color change. Because the waves break there, there'll be more oxygen in the water. And that's where the sharks like to sit, where there's more oxygen in the water. Wow. Caden, you ready for sharks? Yeah. You like it? Addison, you like it? You're having fun? Yeah, that's somebody parasailing over there. All right, guys. We're going to make a right turn onto the sandbar. The water's going to get really clear. Look at that, Caden. Those guys are on charter fishing boats. There's a lot of fish. Yeah. Just like Captain Brian said, we're out of that 40 foot deep water. Now we're in the more shallow sandbar water. Look how clear that is, Addison. Yeah. There's a shark right here, guys. Oh, look at that, guys. That's a sea turtle. I lied. Oh, a sea turtle. Guys, hang on. We're going around. Wow. Let me make sure that's a sea turtle. We're going to go around for that. Watch that black thing right there. I'm pretty sure that's a sea turtle or a manta ray. Let's get to it before it gets in the dark water. Straight off the front, guys. Off the bow of the boat. There's some marine wildlife. There it is. Y'all see that dark spot in the water? Yeah. What is it? Wow, what is that, Addison? That looks like a sea turtle. That's definitely a sea turtle. I can see his arms flapping. He's big. Look at that guy. That's really tall. Want me to get the pelican for you off the front of the boat? Sure. Addison, you see that big pelican out there? Yeah. You want to go get a good look at him? Oh, there he goes. He's taking off. So cool. Oh, my gosh. Whoa. Big wave. You like the big wave? Oh, come on. You like the big wave. I love it. It's beautiful. Yes, it is. Look over there. It's awesome. Yeah. Now, Captain Brian, that looks like some sort of official boat. Is that a Coast Guard? That is our Destin Fire Rescue Boat. They patrol the area on a regular basis to keep swimmers safe. That's great. I'm glad they do that. Isn't that good, Addison? That's right. Everybody in the water is safe. Are you watching for sharks? I'm looking for them. Yeah. I'm looking for them. Wow. Look at those big swells right in front of us. That is crazy. Guys, there's a shark on your left-hand side. Coming around. Left side. Oh, right there. There's one. Look at that guy. It's a bull shark. Wow. It's one up in front of the boat. I'm going to bring him to you. It should be a shark right in front of us. Oh, here's another one right here, Captain Brian. Kaden, look at this guy. He's right there. Come here, bud. Hold my hand. Look at him. See that dark spot? Bull shark. Look at him. He's huge. Aren't you? Let's see if we can find another one. There's one on our right over here, guys. Big wave. Here we go. Down the right side. Oh, I see him. Right there. Look at him go. Wow. I can see him. That is an average-sized spinner shark. Here he comes. That's awesome. I could circle him really fast for you to get that and then slow it down right when I get to him. And I'll bring him right to you. Oh, Daddy, I see someone doing that flying thing. Oh, yeah, the parasailing. I don't know. Here we go. Front right side. If you want a good film, go to the front corner. There you go. Try one more time. Golly. All right. I got you, Cowgirl Addison. On the right side, guys. Right there. Well, a lot of the sharks are gray-colored. There he goes. Near right. Wow. That was super cool. Hey, Kaden, aren't you glad we're in the boat and not swimming right now? You wouldn't want to swim with a shark, would you? I would like to. Well, the dolphins here are protected, so they're wild animals. They can protect the sharks from us. Yeah, but we get to watch the dolphins, but we don't touch them. Dolphins are kind. They are very relaxed. They get to have fun in the water all day. Everyone, keep your eyes open for a gray fin to pop up and go back down. Look at that. Kaden, look, ribbonfish right in front of the boat. Wow, guys. Captain Brian has brought us right over here. We're basically beachfront right out here. And this water is just absolutely the bluest, bluest blue you've ever seen. They don't call it the Emerald Coast for no reason. This Destin, Florida water is absolutely incredible. You can see all the way to the bottom. Look here, you can see all the little fish in the water. I hope you guys can see them, because I know I can see them. It is crazy. I got some kind of little... Yeah, be careful, baby. Wow, right here I can see all kinds of little fish swimming down there. I can see jellyfish. We can see seagulls up in the sky. This is absolutely amazing. Wow, there's a lot of bait moving out there in the water. Look at that, guys. Now, if I was on a fishing boat, I'd be getting pretty excited, because that means there's some hungry big fish down below. Look how clear this is. There's people on jet skis out there. This is so cool. We're inside a school of baitfish. They're fishies, yeah? The dolphins use tail signals for their communication. Their communication system, they can make more sounds than we can as people. They can make more noises, more sounds. Their brains are larger than ours. So, guys, there are several dolphins in the area. We just have to find them. They have to come up to breathe. It's a bridge, baby. Yeah, we're going to go under the bridge. Guys, y'all see these numbers on the bridge right there? Captain Brian was telling me that that's actually a gauge, so you can tell how far it is to the top of the bridge up there. Look up at the bridge. See, so a really tall boat, maybe a sailboat with a long, tall mast, needs to pay attention to those numbers to make sure they don't accidentally hit the bridge. That would be terrible. That is so cool. If y'all didn't hear that, Captain Brian was saying there's actually restaurants and everything out here at Crab Island. And there's even an ice cream boat. We'll see. Now that is the anchor for the boat. That's so Captain Brian can keep us from moving. When we want to get to our favorite spot, you throw out the anchor and then you can't drift around anywhere. Wow, I just saw a big old fish. How shallow are we, Captain Brian? We're in 18 inches of water. It's shallow enough that the kids can stand here on the sandbar. 18 inches of water? Wow. Welcome to Crab Island. All right, guys, look, Captain Brian's throwing the anchor. There it is. It's like a big metal fork that you throw in the ground. See, it's digging in. That's going to keep us from drifting off course. Hey, guys, there's the ice cream guy. Check that out, the ice cream boat. No way. Wait a second. Do you guys want ice cream? Addison, you want ice cream? How's it going? Wow, you got ice cream for us? Yes, sir, I do. Right here at Crab Island on the water? That's amazing. A little ice cream boat. We don't have sneakers and we don't have boots. All right, y'all see one you want? Addison, what do you want, baby? I want the ice cream. Ice cream sandwich. All right. All right. I want my ice cream sandwich. There you go. Maybe, we'll see. You too. All right, guys, there goes the ice cream boat. The king of all ice cream out here on Crab Island. That was so cool. Stay safe, my friend. Addison, show Mommy how good your ice cream is. You like that? Come here. You see that crane bird right there? Right up against the bridge? Daddy, a bird. I see that one, but do you see this one over here? He's standing right in the shadows and he's kind of fishing. Look at all those fish right there. There's a lot of fish just right here. Hold on, we're about to bump. We're going to hit the brakes. Bump. There it is. Wow, that was cool, huh? All right, guys, we're going to hop off the boat and wade in the water and find hermit crabs together. All right. All right, guys, let's see who can find a hermit crab first. I see a hermit crab right there. Whoa, I thought I saw one. Let's see here. Oh, those are hermit crabs. Every one of these shells right here is a hermit crab. Look, that guy's walking. Yeah, I see another guy walking. You can pick them up, but please don't drop them or throw them. You guys are like a giant to these little creatures. So please be really gentle with them. Guys, look what I... Look, Kaden, look. Addison, come here. Look, this is a beautiful hermit crab. See him? He's right up inside that shell. All right, we better... I'm going to put him back on the ground. Watch how I let the air out of him. Let the air out. Then I put him back down so he can walk like that guy. Oh, that way he doesn't get air trapped in his shell. That's a great idea. I see it. Which one do you want to pick up, Addison? This one right here? I better roll up my sleeve. This little one? All right, here we go. Here, you can hold it. Hold your hand out. He can't bite you. Oh, Kaden! Be careful, don't drop him. Put him in my hand. He can't bite you. You got to put him down so he can walk. He's upside down now. Ready? He's going to come out. Addison, Addison. Walk across your hand. Here, hold out your hand. He'll walk across your hand. There's one walking right by your feet. I'm going to pick that one. Oh, buddy, you want to see one? Let me see it. Hey, guys, a jellyfish. Here goes the crab. He's about to walk across my hand. Addison, look. The crab is moving. Daddy, I found one. Yeah. All right, let me put this friend back in the water. There he goes. This guy got scared. Y'all scared him. Oh, wow, you better let them go. This guy was huge. Look how big this guy is. He was running across the bottom of the water. Oh, wow. Look, you can see his pinchers. Look at his little hands right there. See if you can touch him. All right, I'm going to let him go. Hey, guys, look at all these hermit crabs. Wow. They're climbing the bridge. They climbed the bridge pier? To eat the algae that grows at the waterline. So that's why they're all at the top of the waterline. Because that's where the algae grows. And that's what they eat. That is super cool. Man, Captain Brian knows all the cool stuff. Look at this guy right here. That is so cool. Good job, Addison. You're like Miss Nature Explorer. Wow. Oh, Addison, look. Show the camera. Show everybody at home. What did you find? A hermit crab. And what does he have on him? A little baby right on him. All right. Here you can see this guy's claws. This is a big hermit crab. And you can see his claws. Wow, guys. Now we're still on the hunt for dolphins. We had a bunch of fun looking at hermit crabs and everything else. But we wanted to find some dolphins. Look at the weather out here. It's getting a little bit crazy. Safety on the water. You always have to be safe. So we're making sure there's no lightning strikes or really strong winds. Because if there is, we're going to have to head for cover. Wow, guys. Look at that water. It is just boiling through here. That's the current coming in and going out. So cool. Do that. Oh, Addison's saying, look at me. Do that one more time. Show the camera at home. She says, watch you. Watch me. Watch you. Hey, Kaden. Captain Brian said there's dolphins at Joe's Bayou. It's about 15 minutes away. Are you up for a 15-minute boat ride? Yeah. You sure? Addison, you up for a 15-minute boat ride? She said probably. All right, let's hit it. Oh, I just saw. I see two fins. Dolphins right there. Look at them. Check that out. Addison, you see them? Look at them. They're right in front of us. Those are so beautiful. There they go. There's a baby dolphin. No way. Guys, look at those dolphins right there. That is so cool. Slightly right. There they are. Me either, buddy. This is crazy. Oh, look at that. That is so cool. That's amazing. This is so fun. There's a baby dolphin on the left. Look at these guys. Oh, there he is. Right at the boat. Guys, if you wave to the dolphin, use your whole arm because they use their tail to communicate. And your arm looks like a tail. Don't just use your hand. Use your whole arm. Wave back and forth. All right. We better get some good waves in. Look at them. They're right in front of us. They can see you better than you can see them. Wow. Now, these dolphins are wild animals. So they're unpredictable. You don't know exactly where they're going to be. So we found a spot. And now Captain Brian has his eyes open all over the place right here at Crab Island Dolphin Tours. And he wasn't kidding. He said he was going to get dolphins right to the boat for us. And they were right here with us. This is so incredible. Addison, do you like it? You love dolphins? Kaden, what do you think? You love dolphins too? Me too. These are so cool. Me either. Oh, there they are. Look at those guys. They were waving to that boat right there. Kaden, look. Here they are. Wow. Look at those dolphins. They're right here. There's a baby with them. Right there. Yeah. Wow. So dolphins are mammals. And they have to come to the surface to breathe. And they're blowing the water out of their blowhole so they can breathe. No. They cannot breathe underwater like sharks. They have to come to the surface. They don't have gills like fish. They breathe with lungs just like you and me. You know what's really crazy about dolphins, Kaden? Do you think they ever stop to sleep? Wow. Kaden, look. The baby dolphin is right here with its parents somewhere. Oh, there they are. He's right there. I think the baby dolphin is all the way in front of us next to that big white boat. So usually the mama dolphin will push the baby out in front of us. And she'll put herself between her baby and this boat. Over and over and over. A good mama protecting her baby, right? That is so cool. They're behind us. Wow. I'm making clicking noises. It attracts the dolphins. So they communicate using clicks and noises. And sometimes they're just curious animals and want to see what I'm doing and making noises. These dolphins are echolocating constantly. So they're sending sonar out. Well, we have a metal boat. So it echoes back differently than a fiberglass boat or a tree would. And so they don't typically aim directly at our boat. But they'll let us swim alongside. Or they'll stay right in front of us over and over and over and over again. They're coming straight at us now. I'm going to get a little speed and get up to them. Look at these guys right here, Addison. Right there. Right there, right there. Guys, I'm going to go back to where we just came from. These dolphins are probably hunting and chasing a school of fish in circles. They hunt as a pod of dolphins in a group. And they will encircle the school of fish and trap them, push them to each other. And they're all over the place now. You got them every which way I'm looking. Wow. You see that, Addison? Right there. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Look at them swim in there with their tails out of the water. Right over here, honey. We are. Wow. Look at them. Oh, yeah. Good. Good. I came straight out there. You saw one straight ahead. Oh, yeah. There he goes. Yeah. Good eye, buddy. Good eye. They're going to be the back end of the Southern Star. Here they come right at us. Look at these dolphins. You can even see the water moving right where their tails flap. That is so cool. There they go. Oh, yeah. See them right up here. Wow. They are right in front of us. Look at them go. Wow. So, guys, we're approaching the tide line from where the ocean water meets the bay water. And you can see the change of color as we come from the bay into the ocean. We're crossing over a tide line right now from bay water into ocean water. Look how clear the ocean water is. Wow, guys, we just stopped here at Crab Island. And this is incredible. We're literally standing out in the water. I'm less than waist deep. The most beautiful crystal clear water. I can see my feet right there. We're having so much fun. Addison's about to jump in. We got this huge water mat over here. Come here, Addison. Wow. Don't swim too far away. Stay close by. One thing you always got to pay attention to is the current on the water. So we're having fun. And it feels like a big swimming pool. But you never know if the current might start to pull you in or out, depending on the changing tide. So you got to be real careful. Look at you swimming, boy. You having fun? Wow, guys, Crab Island is absolutely incredible. I'm going to do a walk around of the boat for you guys. Look at this. This is the beautiful pontoon boat that we've been hanging out on all day with Crab Island Dolphin Tours. We're literally just walking around in the water. I can see my feet right here. It looks like I'm in an aquarium, but I'm not. This water is so crystal clear. This is amazing. Look at this boat. And it's a tri-hull. I can't remember. Captain Brian was telling me about it. It has three separate pontoons underneath it. And that way it's really stable. We were out in some big, big waves. Wow. Here's even a food delivery truck coming right at us. A food delivery boat. This is so amazing. Look at this boat. And look at that big old water mat you can hang out on back there. That is so fun. Addison, are you having fun? Say hi. Watch out for the motor. One, two, three, go. Come on, Addison, you got it. You got it. Stand up. I'm holding it still. Now run. Here, I'll hold your hand. Run and jump. Wow, guys. This has been such an incredible adventure here at Crab Island Dolphin Tours in Destin, Florida. We've been hanging out on this beautiful boat all day with Captain Brian. He's been taking us all over, showing us all the cool things. Addison, what was your favorite thing to see? Kaden, what did you like to see? Seeing the sharks thing over there. Oh, seeing the sharks? Right on. Well, hey, y'all want to help me do the yeehaw? Alright, guys, if you end up in Destin, Florida, make sure you look up Crab Island Dolphin Tours. My friend, Captain Brian, will hook you up and show you the coolest animals. But until we see you next time, one, two, three. Yeehaw! Nice!