Mellow Ventures

My boyfriend and I booked a full day charter and arrived at 9am to meet with Captain Chris. He recommended a few of his favorite beers to bring onboard and gave us a rundown of our itinerary for the day. He drove us by a popular spot for dolphin sightings and was patient enough to wait around with us to see if we'd spot any. He dropped anchor in about 5-10 feet of water and let us snorkel. Despite the poor visibility, my boyfriend and I had a great time. Finally, Captain Chris brought us over to a secluded island and let us walk the shores for shells while he hung back and snapped some photos. The island was beyond beautiful-- mangrove trees, white sand, clear blue waters. By the time we were leaving, about four other boats had pulled up. Captain Chris was super knowledgeable about the area and had no problem answering any/all of my questions!

When we pulled back in, the boyfriend and I picked up lunch at Mellow Ventures. Their macaroni and cheese was AMAZING, and we both ordered taco bowls. They served great, clean-tasting food.

Mellow Ventures is too notch. Our trip was cancelled, rebooked, cancelled, and rebooked and "modified heavily" due to weather systems in the Keys that week. Captain Chris was flexible, knowledgeable, honest, and helpful in getting us out on a trip that would finally work. I can't say enough good things about him and our experience. It wasn't exactly how he and I had planned it, but we still had a great time. Thanks again for giving us a great time without much to work with.

I cannot say enough negative things about this company and the owner.Run far and fast.

Friend and I booked a half day excursion. For the TWO OF US. We wanted our own boat and captain and not the annoying aspect of sharing a boat with strangers and dealing with small talk.

We specifically listed what we wanted to do: kayak, paddleboard, fish. That was precisely on our order form. We also specifically noted that snorkeling was not an option. I had a procedure on my ear and could not submerge my ear in water.

We book, we pay.

We call the next day to confirm because we hadn't received any notification by phone or email.

Leave a message and the owner calls at 9 pm the night before our scheduled excursion the next morning. He tells us that there was a mixup online and they don't have enough boats/captains.

Say what? We were pissed. It was our last day and it was too late to schedule a new excursion.
My friend let him know that this was riduculous.

about 30 minutes later he calls back and lets us know that it's all worked out, everything is fine, see you tomorrow morning.

We show up the next morning and it was a shit show.

Our captain comes in, scruffy, and greets us. Takes us out to the dock and shows us the boat we are going to be on and that we just have to wait for the other employee to come back with the bait.

We sit. Then sit some more.

Next thing you know, we are introduced to a family and find out that we are all sharing a boat. WTF.

We paid money for the TWO of us for a half day excurision and to have our own boat. It wasn't cheap. At all.

We explained that this is wrong. We are then told that they had a large party make an appt so the other boat was reserved for them.
Basically, screw you. We are making tons more money with this large party.

The boat for 5 guests and the captain was a joke. 2 people could sit up front on this little boat , the other 3 sat on Yeti coolers.

Scruffy explains our plan for the day: snorkeling and swimming.

We chime in that snorkeling/swimming is not an option and not what we paid for and where are the kayaks and paddleboards?
The FAMILY paid for an all day excursion and that's what they requested. Hence, more people and all day = more money.

Both of us at that point are pissed. scruffy says he will squeeze on paddleboards, but kayaks are going to fit. YOu know, because we were on a boat that wasn't big enough for the people on it.

Then proceeds the issue regarding our half day excursion vs the family's all day excursion. Scruffy starts trying to get us to upgrade to an all day excursion so that he doesn't have to cut into the family's all day tour.

We weren't about to pay more money for the shit show that was taking place and tell him too bad, we aren't doing an all day because I wasn't about to sit my ass on a boat while everyone swam and snorkeled. That wasn't what we paid for.

We get on the tiny ass rinky dink boat and head out. We go to a little island. Scruffy drops us off, gets the fishing gear out and takes us around a bend of the island. He drops us off in a little cove, asks if we know how to fish and then says he will be back in a few hours because he is taking the family snorkeling by a boat wreck.
WTF?

So the two of us are in awe. We say we need our bags, our lunch, some WATER while we are left Gilligan's Island style in some random cove.

He leaves us. We start fishing. Something starts biting us. Biting us ALL.OVER.
The little cove was infested with sand fleas. Both of us were covered with sand flea bites. If you know sand flea bites, you know how god awful itchy they are.

We immediately got the hell out of there and went to the main part of the island/sand bar is where other charter operations were. We then proceeded to hang out waist deep in the water because I can't get my damn ear wet.

About an hour/hour and half later, the boat rolls up. We tell Kermit that we couldn't fish because of the sand flea infestation. We want to paddleboard since we are stuck on this island. We paddleboard, are hanging out... and an hour later Scruffy yells to us that it's time to go because our time is up, BUT we can add another hour for an extra $100 a person. Uh, hell to the no.

We paddle in. Get on the boat. The obnoxious father proceeds to push us towards staying. Obviously they didn't want to waste an hour of their time paid for the charter while schlepping is back to the dock.

At this point we are furious. We did nothing but paddleboard for an hour and get bit by sand fleas and sit in water. That's it. It cost us $250 a person for that crap.

Furious.

we get dropped off, get in the car and my friend who booked wrote the owner Rob (? I think is his name) and told him there were major issues and to call us. Nothing that day. We call, we leave messages. Nothing.

We call again. We FINALLY get an email from him.

long story short, this was an expensive and unprofessional piece of garbage charter. STAY AWAY.

Pure serendipity that we found their brochure at the airport. This charter was exactly what we were looking for and was the highlight of our trip.

We were a group of 5 with a tight schedule due to a conference. Luckily they were free when we needed them and booked a half day tour, explaining they would cater activities to our desires and the weather/tide conditions. They also provided ice, coolers, snorkeling equipment, and paddle boards.

Captain Lisa was great - super friendly and chill and helped us load our provisions onto the boat. She took us to a snorkeling spot but unfortunately the weather/water conditions were not cooperating. We then went on to Little Mulllet Key and had THE BEST stand up paddleboarding tour. Our group was varied in experience and athletic ability but Lisa worked with all of us. We saw some big sting rays, paddled through the mangrove tunnels, saw lemon sharks, fish, and tons of birds. The biology/ecology lessons along the way were great and Lisa took some pics of the group.

On the ride back, we stopped in the dolphin playground and drifted for a bit along with a pod. The water was gorgeous and the dolphin closeups were amazing.

This sunset cruise was absolutely phenomenal. Our boat captain Eric was great and entertained us the whole time. This is a must to do while in Key West visiting.

First time paddleboarding--we went out with Scruffy who was awesome. Went out to some channels which were very calm to paddle through--saw some fish, little crabs and a nurse shark! The tour takes pictures at no charge which is sweet. Scruffy also gave us little a tour along the coast of key west--he was awesome and informative--gave good tips about bars+happy hours to hit up along the water. We stopped for a swim towards the end of the tour. Recommend it. Don't forget to tip $!

This was a fantastic tour of the keys. Capt Lisa was so warm and nice and taught us all how to paddle board. She made it so much less intimidating and all of us were able to do it. She gave us tons of interesting info about the mangroves we paddled through and the plants and animals we saw. We saw dolphins right next to the boat, baby sharks under our boards and tons of different birds. She customized the trip to what we wanted to do so we would get the most out of it. It was relaxed and fun and a wonderful afternoon! I'd love to spend everyday like this. They also made it super easy. We just showed up and they took care of the rest.

Perfect family day!!!
We booked with mellow ventures for a half day of fun but ended up doing a full day because we were having such a great time for our family of five. Three kids ages 3,6,7 and the day could not have been more perfect. Captain Lisa was not only super helpful and sweet with the kids but she also taught the oldest boys how to paddle board. She is truly a gem. From seeing dolphin to snorkeling to a private beach lunch and finishing off the day paddle boarding this was such a great experience for our family. Low key and mellow! Just what we had wanted. We highly recommend especially if you have younger kids. Super affordable and fun. We will definitely be back.

I came here with my boyfriends family and we had the most WONDERFUL time! We had Capt. Axe and he was phenomenal! We did dolphins, snorkeling and paddle boarding and everything was so so beautiful. For the dolphin portion- we got so incredibly close! We came across a group of 3-6 dolphins who were swimming curiously around the boat and at one point one of them came close, made eye contact, rolled on its back and "waved" and then continued on to "play" with a little fish by blowing bubbles at him. it was incredible! We had go pro's and got the most amazing underwater footage of them by the boat. We then went on to snorkel by a ship wreck and paddle board out at a little island with a beach and mangroves. It was the most beautiful serene experiences to glide through the mangroves and listen to the birds flapping their wings. absolutely 10/10 and an even bigger plus- they cooked the fish we had caught the day before and their whole menu is delicious and creative!!! A MUST DO

First off the beer selection is phenomenal. The tuna Poke Bowl was amazing as well as the tacos. 10/10 recommended .