The Everglades is Our backyard.
Captain Michael Friedopfer has spent his whole life on this water. Epic Airboat Tours is how we share it, and how we protect it.
Capt. Michael Friedopfer
Born and raised in South Florida, Michael turned his childhood playground into his life's mission. The Everglades wasn't a place he discovered for a tour business. It's where he grew up, learned the trails, and came to know the wildlife by heart.
In 2020 he founded Epic Airboat Tours to share that world the right way: private trips, real local knowledge, and a conservation mission that runs underneath every ride. He's a licensed, insured captain and a passionate protector of the Everglades. Today he runs Epic alongside a small team who share that same commitment, so every trip carries the same local knowledge and conservation mission, whoever's at the wheel.
More than a tour. A reason to protect this place.
Every Epic tour is built around conservation and education, showing guests the real Everglades, teaching them why it matters, and fighting the invasive species that threaten it.
What you won't get anywhere else.
Captains who know the water
No script, no rehearsed spiel, no headset narrator. Our captains read the water the way you read a street you've lived on your whole life, where the gators sit, where the birds feed, where the trails open up. That local knowledge is the whole tour.
Trained tracking dogs for the hunts
Epic's python and hog hunts run with trained tracking dogs, a working capability almost no other operation in the area offers.
Conservation, not just sightseeing
Every tour is educational by design. You'll leave understanding the ecosystem, the wildlife, and the fight against invasive species, and why the Everglades is worth protecting.
Private trips, your group only
Epic runs private charters, families, couples, friend groups. No crowded boat full of strangers, no fixed script. The tour bends to your group, not the other way around.
Ready for the real Everglades?
Book a private tour with Mike and see the river of grass the way it's meant to be seen.