A Florida-based clear kayak company wins over millions of Tripadvisor reviewers and earns a coveted spot on the platform’s annual Best of the Best list – here’s why this paddling experience is worth planning a trip around.
A small tour operation in Tierra Verde, Florida, managed to do what very few travel experiences anywhere in the world can claim: earn a place on Tripadvisor’s 2024 Travelers’ Choice Awards Best of the Best Things to Do list. Get Up and Go Kayaking – Tampa Bay, a clear kayak tour company operating out of Billy’s Stone Crab restaurant on Collany Road, secured its place among the top-ranked activities in the United States. The Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best is Tripadvisor’s highest award tier, and the 2024 edition was announced in June of that year, drawing on traveller reviews submitted between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024.
The Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice Award – specifically the “Best of the Best” category – is not something a business can apply for or buy its way into. The 2024 awards were determined based on the quality and quantity of traveller reviews and ratings posted on Tripadvisor over a 12-month period, as well as an additional editorial process. It is awarded to those who receive a high volume of above-and-beyond reviews from the Tripadvisor community over that 12-month period, and out of 8 million listings, fewer than 1% achieve this milestone. In short, an award like this does not go to whoever has the best marketing budget. It goes to whoever consistently delivers.
Get Up and Go Kayaking in Shell Key Preserve, Tierra Verde, Florida, ranked in the top tier in the US for Tripadvisor’s Best of the Best Things to Do for 2024, a distinction which celebrates the highest level of excellence in travel through a full year’s worth of outstanding reviews and opinions. What the best US outdoor activity Tripadvisor 2024 recognition signals, then, is not just a good few months of reviews. It reflects years of considered effort, refined guiding, and a product that genuinely moves people.
What Is Get Up and Go Kayaking?
Get Up and Go Kayaking offers clear kayak adventures across Florida, Texas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The company was founded on the premise that the view from inside a standard opaque kayak misses the point entirely – particularly in the warm, clear, wildlife-rich waters of Florida’s Gulf Coast. Their kayaks are fully transparent, which means paddlers are essentially seated on top of a window looking directly into the water below them.
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The Tampa Bay location was established in July 2019, offering guided clear kayak tours to Shell Key Preserve in Tierra Verde, Florida. Since then, it has become the company’s flagship location and its most decorated. Across all their locations, Get Up and Go Kayaking has welcomed a family of over 400,000 happy kayakers. The Tampa Bay franchise has gathered well over 13,000 five-star reviews on Tripadvisor alone, a number that speaks to the kind of consistency that award panels – and experienced travellers – respond to.
The company’s mission is to inspire and educate individuals to become stewards of the environment by providing unique and sustainable outdoor experiences that promote conservation awareness and action. They strive to create memorable and meaningful adventures that connect people to nature and foster a deeper understanding and appreciation for the natural world. That’s a mission statement worth paying attention to, because it shows up in everything from how guides interact with wildlife to the certifications the team holds.
Where Is Get Up and Go Kayaking Located?
Tours depart from Billy’s Stone Crab restaurant at 1 Collany Road, Tierra Verde, Florida 33715. Tierra Verde is a small community on the southern edge of the St. Petersburg area, tucked between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Shell Key Preserve sits near Tierra Verde, just south of St. Pete Beach and west of Fort De Soto Park – a short drive of about 15 minutes from St. Petersburg, 35 minutes from Tampa, and 25 minutes from Clearwater. For travellers flying into the Tampa Bay area, this is an entirely manageable day trip from most accommodation clusters on the coast.
The launch point at Billy’s Stone Crab is worth arriving at early. Tours launch from behind the restaurant in Tierra Verde, and on the drive there, you’ll need to pay a one-dollar toll using cash, coins, or SunPass. That’s about as complicated as the logistics get – and even that detail is the kind of thing worth knowing before you arrive.
What Makes Shell Key Preserve Special
The destination itself carries its own weight in the experience. The 1,800-acre preserve protects sensitive marine habitats, including one of the county’s largest undeveloped barrier islands as well as numerous mangrove islands and expansive seagrass beds. Shell Key is considered one of Florida’s most important areas for shorebird nesting and wintering and serves as a study area for these species.
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Accessible only by water, Shell Key Preserve is known for its untouched white sand beaches, clear waters, and abundant wildlife. That water-only access is significant. It keeps crowds manageable, ensures the preserve remains genuinely quiet, and means that the only way to reach it responsibly is by kayak, paddleboard, or small boat. Shell Key emerged as a barrier island in the early 1960s from a submerged shoal on the north side of Bunces Pass. It has been shaped and reshaped by storms and tides ever since, and it remains an island that feels genuinely wild.
What I appreciated most about learning the details of this place is how seriously the stewardship piece is taken. Shell Key Preserve is protected to conserve one of the last undeveloped barrier islands in the Tampa Bay region, with beaches, dunes, and surrounding waters that support sensitive habitats that can be easily damaged by human impact. A guided tour with a company that internalises that responsibility isn’t just a convenience – it’s the right way to visit. This is not a place where you show up on your own and wander. It’s a place where your presence should leave no mark at all.
The Clear Kayak Experience
The clear kayak itself is the product’s most distinctive feature, and it earns its reputation. Daytime tours run two to two-and-a-half hours, and as kayakers approach St. Pete Beach within Shell Key Preserve, the water becomes increasingly clear. Paddlers are encouraged to look through the transparent hull to see the underwater world below.
Participants paddle along mangroves, enjoy pristine white sand beaches, and explore secluded areas within the preserve. As kayakers near St. Pete Beach, the water grows clearer with each paddle stroke. What the clear bottom reveals depends on the tide, the season, and simple luck – but the wildlife sightings are consistent enough to be genuinely compelling. In the summer months, look for manatees and the striking pink Roseate Spoonbills. In winter, White Pelicans make the sandbars their home. Throughout the year, dolphins frolic in the crystal-clear waters, and cormorants often swim alongside kayaks.
Groups are kept deliberately small. The fleet consists of five kayaks, so tours accommodate no more than 10 people at a time, making for an exclusive and personal experience. That intimacy matters enormously. It means guests stay within earshot of the guide throughout, conversations are possible, and the preserve doesn’t feel invaded. The whole experience moves at the pace of the water.
As for pricing, daytime adult tours are currently priced at $69, with a lower rate available for children. You can book directly through the Get Up and Go Kayaking website.
The Glow Tour: A Different Kind of Night
The night tour option is something else entirely. For travellers who want a top kayaking experience in the United States that goes beyond the standard daytime paddle, this is the one to book first.
The glow tour begins at sunset, with paddlers watching the sun drop behind the mangroves and the Gulf of Mexico, and as night falls, LED lights illuminate the water around each kayak, the stars emerge, and the experience transforms into a nighttime adventure. Fish grow active at dusk and begin jumping around the kayaks. Paddlers hear them surface in the darkness, see seagrass below through the clear hull, and feel the ocean air while moving through the preserve.
The guide leads the group to the entrance of the mangrove tunnel. Paddling inside, the soft LED glow illuminates the overhead canopy of mangrove branches, creating an atmosphere unlike anything you experience during daylight hours. The night tour is priced at $74 per person and is available for teens aged 12 and older, making it well suited to adult travellers or parents looking for an evening activity that goes beyond dinner.
Both tours launch from Billy’s Stone Crab, and the restaurant itself is a worthwhile stop before or after paddling. Billy’s has been serving seafood since 1972, built entirely from native Cypress and Pine, with a waterfront view of Hurricane Hole harbour. Stone crab is the house speciality, available in season between October and May.
Conservation Is Built Into the Business
What separates Get Up and Go Kayaking from the average tour company is not just the quality of the kayaks or the skill of the guides. It’s the conviction behind how the company operates. All guides at the Tampa Bay location are Guardian Guide certified by Save the Manatee Club, and the company prioritises impact, sustainability, and experience as part of its broader core values.
The Save the Manatee Club’s Guardian Guides Certification is a meaningful credential, not a marketing badge. It is a voluntary recognition and education programme offered to ecotourism providers in Florida that promote stewardship of manatees and their aquatic ecosystems, with the goal of eliminating disturbance to manatees from commercial manatee-viewing activities. Certified guides must complete an initial training workshop and annual continuing education, learn to recognise and report injured or distressed manatees, and follow passive observation practices when wildlife is encountered.
Get Up and Go Kayaking’s stated mission is to inspire and educate individuals to become stewards of the environment through unique and sustainable outdoor experiences that promote conservation awareness and action. The company strives to create adventures that connect people to nature and foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of the natural world. They back that up in practice. A portion of the company’s earnings is donated to Florida Land and Springs Conservation. That stayed with me when I read it – it’s the kind of commitment that doesn’t earn headlines but tells you everything about the people running the operation.
A Record That Keeps Growing
The 2024 Tripadvisor Travelers Choice recognition is part of a longer story for this company. Owner Amber Buzzi notes that this is their fifth time appearing on the U.S. list. By 2025, the Tampa Bay franchise had climbed further, earning the top spot for Nature and Outdoor Experience in the United States and ranking second in the world. CEO Justin Buzzi noted that the team continually pushes the limits of what’s possible while always putting guests and staff first.
What explains such consistency? Amber Buzzi attributes it directly to stability in the team – the same guides for approximately five years, consistently passionate staff who remain excited by the work. That’s a point worth taking seriously. Guides who show up excited, knowledgeable, and invested in the place they’re showing you make the entire difference between a tour and a genuine experience.
The company has heard from guests who planned their entire Florida trip just to take this tour. Some drive across the state from Miami. Buzzi says this kind of traveller behaviour has driven real economic benefit to the broader Tierra Verde area. When a single kayak tour becomes the reason people choose a destination, that’s not luck. That’s what happens when a product is good enough that word travels on its own.
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Before You Go
Booking in advance is genuinely important here. Tours accommodate only 10 people per slot – five tandem kayaks – and that limited capacity means tours can fill quickly. Weekend slots in particular tend to sell out early, sometimes several days ahead. Book through the Get Up and Go Kayaking website and choose your date as soon as your travel plans are firm.
Wear quick-dry clothing and bring sunscreen for a daytime tour. For the night glow tour, long sleeves and insect repellent are recommended, as the preserve’s natural environment comes with the full ecological package – mosquitoes included. The less gear you bring, the better, so as not to obstruct the view through the clear hull.
The Get Up and Go Kayaking Tripadvisor 2024 recognition is meaningful because it reflects something travellers often struggle to find: a purposeful, small-group outdoor experience that respects the environment it operates in, employs guides who genuinely care, and delivers on its promise every single time someone steps into a clear kayak behind a Florida waterfront restaurant and paddles out toward one of the most ecologically important barrier islands on the Gulf Coast. That combination – wild place, excellent guiding, conservation-first values – is rarer than it should be. When you find it, you book it.
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A.I. Disclaimer: This article was created with AI assistance and edited by a human for accuracy and clarity.