Gliding gracefully across the protected St. Andrews Bay, Captain Rick Ackerman pilots  the Betsy Ann Riverboat through the calm intercoastal waterway that weaves through Bay County, Florida.  With just over 40 people on board, its Murder Mystery Dinner Cruise night, and one unsuspecting victim will suffer a pretend fate none so desirable.

The cruise leaves the dock just before sunset and weaves its way past the Port Panama City towards the St. Andrews Marina.  Providing the weather’s good, which it almost always is, the sunset is guaranteed to be nearly perfect.  With a smooth gradient from orange to deep blue, if you’re lucky, the clouds will put on a remarkable show of color changes.  First dinner, then the mystery begins.

On the menu is sweet barbeque to include soft dinner rolls, creamy cole slaw, baked beans and tender and juicy pulled pork with the perfect amount of sweet sauce.  There’s usually enough for seconds.  The lovely Tara serves drinks at the bar, which is not included in the dinner cruise price, so bring your cash.

Reservations are made ahead of time, but you pay at the door when you board the boat.  Upon check in, if you’ve elected to participate, you’ll receive two envelopes, Instructions A and Instructions B.  These are to be held in the strictest confidence, not to be shared with anyone.  Captain Nancy is a ‘professional’ at pairing you with the correct character whose names range from Harry High-Stakes to Mitch Maverick to Montgomery Money; there are 20 characters in all.  When you make your reservation, the theme is announced and you are encouraged to dress the part.  For this cruise, the theme was western as was apparent with participants adorned in cowboy hats, boots and big belt buckles.

The first set of instructions given, Instructions A, include details as to the history of your character and what you are to do as your character in order to ‘play’ your role.  These instructions include specific types of interactions with other characters that – behind the scenes – all work together to slowly unfold and build up to the murder.  When the shots ring off, the ‘victim’ falls to the ground and his body taped to remind the others where the crime took place.  Then a series of narratives are read that have clues hidden in them, so pay attention, this is how you solve the mystery.

Instructions B include a second set of instructions that again detail specific interactions with other characters that will ultimately lead to someone solving the murder mystery.  The whole production ends in filling out a “Who Dunnit?” tally card that is counted by the director of the whole operation, Captain Nancy.  In addition to voting on who you think committed the murder, participants are given the chance to vote on who was the best dressed, who put on the best performance, and who was able to swindle the best play money.  At the end, those that received the most votes in each category won prizes that range from a free trip on the Betsy Ann, free SwampVette Rides or tickets to the Comedy Zone, which is also held on the Betsy Ann.

The Betsy Ann is also home to other events too.  The Captain and his crew offer services for weddings, corporate meetings, private parties of all sorts, birthday parties and can even be rented out for just $800 depending on the season and current event schedule.  Most Friday nights there is a dinner cruise leaving the dock on the Betsy Ann.

Prices: $34.95 for adults and $24.95 for children (3-11)

Website: www.betsyannriverboat.net

Phone: 850-233-7487

[flickr]set:72157616427949657[/flickr]

7 minutes up Highway 79, under the new bridge that spans West Bay lies Airboat Adventures – the tag line reads: “Bay County’s #1 Eco Tour Company.”  Guiding you to the boats, a cartoon gator points the way to the parking lot.  As we pull in, Captain Rick directs us to where he wants us to park.

I have my brother with me, who was visiting from out of town, and we’re all excited to experience an airboat ride.  I’d never done anything like this before.  We had 10 (including my party) going on our tour, but the SwampVette seats 18, 6 people per row.  Their other airboat is smaller, nimbler, named MudStang and seats 6.  They both run modified roaring V-8′s that sound oh so beautiful.

We were all handed our ear protection and asked to board the boat for an adventure that included some water acrobats, gator sightings and a little bit of R & R with gorgeous mother nature.

We started off slow, as the 4-blade carbon fiber propeller gained momentum.  As the RPM’s increased, our speed increased and water began to pass under the flat-bottom boat at speeds of up to 35 mph.  Trailing behind us was a cloud of water mist as the spray was blown into teeny tiny drops from the blades spinning at 3,000 revolutions per minute.  Little wake, however, is created by these types of boats as the water intrusion is minimal.  Airboats only need a few inches of water to perform.

As we soared over the calm waters of West Bay, little did we know that we were about to be victims of Captain Rick’s first acrobatic antic of the day.  After intentionally clipping a tight corner around a small grass covered island Captain Rick broke hard right, causing the entire 25 foot vessel to wip around, dipping the front of the boat down and lifting the back of the boat completely out of the water for a split second in what I came to call the “flippy-turn-around-thingy”.  Scared, I held my camera high as I was very lightly (surprisingly) sprayed with just a little bit of water – my camera was fine.  Of course, those who know me know I’m a big sissy.  Everyone else was thrilled, including my 5 year old son.

“In no other boats can you do a maneuver like that,” said Captain Rick, “that is one of the many things that make an airboat unique.”  Captian Rick used to pilot aircraft, and now pilots airboats.

Our first adventure off the beaten path included a calm, quiet ride up one of the many off shoot creeks to explore for gators.  “This gator we’re about to see up here’s name is Payroll,” said Ackerman, “because he’s always where he’s supposed to be.”  Captain Rick is speaking with a little bit of a country/cajun accent today, as opposed to his casual way of talk he normally carries.  All part of the show.  We quietly coasted up the creek, cutting the engines and floating along.  Payroll was nowhere to be found.  Captain Rick asked us to put our ear protection back on, cranked up the motor, and we moved on.

As we explored up the Intercoastal, we came across two Osprey nests Ackerman said had been there as long as they’d been doing the tours, which was 10 years.  Not sure if she was one of the owners of the nest, we spotted an Osprey watching over us from about 150 feet in the air.  This was one of the coolest experiences we had as it really defined where we were and how beautiful it really was.  All of us were astounded that not one, but two nests were still delicately placed in the same location as they had been for at least the last 10 years, only a mere handful of miles from bustling civilization.  This truly was mother nature at her finest.

An interesting fact: Ospreys are mates for life, once they find a mate, they are with them for the rest of their lives.  Quick joke: Why are there no divorces among Osprey?  No lawyers.

Throughout the one hour tour, we ventured up and down various creeks learning about brackish water and the fact that depending on conditions and bait used, a fresh-water or salt-water fish could be caught.  We learned about the special breed of grass that grows on the shoreline and islands these waterways are peppered with.  We learned how to find where gators had been sunning and we learned a little about ourselves, being given an opportunity to get a small glimpse of life on the protected waterways of West Bay.

When we got back to shore, Captain Rick brought out Chomps, a 3 foot long 4 year old gator with a hair tie around his mouth.  Allligators have tremendous strength in their jaws to close their mouth and “chomp” down, but very little muscle to open with.  In fact, all it takes is a little bit of tape to keep their mouth closed.  Of course, Chomps was just a name, he was born in captivity and has been held all his life.  He was very docile and quite willing to be passed around, seeming to enjoy the attention.

The half hour tours cost $18.95 for adults and $11.95 for kids and the one hour tours are $28.95 for adults and $21.95 for kids.  For more information, visit www.SwampVette.com.

[flickr]set:72157617112949987[/flickr]