Although my boat is Coast Guard Certified for and has seating for 12 recreational passengers, she is limited to 6 passengers when "carrying passengers for hire" because she isn’t an "inspected" vessel. This makes for plenty of comfortable seating for everyone, and there is plenty of room to walk around to different areas of the boat to see what everyone else on board is looking at. She is stable and safe even when everyone is all on either side, or the in the bow or the stern.
Because we can travel much faster than the larger capacity Head Boats, we can cover a much larger area during a tour, giving us many more opportunities to find dolphins, manatees, nesting and migratory birds, and other critters. That’s why I can offer my guarantee that if we don't see dolphins, your next tour is free. You’re not likely to find that guarantee on a Head Boat.
We are often able to get the dolphins to chase us and jump our wake very close to the back of the boat, where my passengers can go to see them doing their tricks up close and personal. Without the high railings required on inspected vessels, my passengers are often within arm's reach of dolphins and manatees, but of course, we don't touch them. I've had several passengers get sprayed with mist coming out of a dolphin's blowhole.
Since all of my passengers are in the same party, I can be flexible and accommodate their wishes, and we can add more time if my passengers aren’t ready to head in just yet.
We can access backwater and shallow areas to find more critters and scenery, and we can go out into the Gulf. There, we have beaches and sandbars that are only accessible to the general public by boat. These areas never get crowded, and we are often the only people there, so my passengers usually do very well at finding plenty of treasures. The bigger boats are limited to beach-combing and sand-barring, where everyone else goes.
Since I don’t carry as many passengers, it costs a little more to go on my private tours, but my passengers often tell me they have tried both and that it’s well worth the difference.