Optional Activities

Details regarding the optional wild dolphin viewing & shelling tour are now available.
To participate, please respond by: Friday, January 31, 2025.

To respond, send an email to Christa with the following information:

  • Number of spaces you would like to reserve for your family

  • Full names and ages of all participants

    Once you respond with the requested information, you will be provided with an invoice for the associated cost so that you can submit your payment online. Payment will be due by Monday, March 31, 2025. For students who have been awarded either the PEP or FES-UA scholarship, both of these events may be purchased using direct pay via the SUFS EMA system. In your email response, please indicate that you are electing this option and information will be provided to you on how to request these services using EMA.

 
 

Wild Dolphin Viewing & Shelling Tour

Saturday, May 10, 2025; 2 - 6 PM
@Treasure Seekers Shell Tours, Goodland, Marco Island
Students will enjoy a 4-hour boat ride and shelling tour with Treasure Seekers Shell Tours in the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. While it is well-known for its incredible shelling, this area is also home to a pod of resident dolphins and a variety of other marine life including manatees, sea turtles and spotted eagle rays. Students will complete an assessment of dolphin behavior during the boat ride and then search for seashells along the remote coastlines of nearby islands. Students may keep any empty shells they find.

This excursion is open to registered students and their family members. The tour can accommodate a maximum of eighteen (18) people with six people on each boat. Priority is provided to registered students. The remaining spaces are awarded once interest level is determined. If spaces remain after all students and their families have submitted payment, the additional spaces will be offered on a first come, first served basis to anyone interested so that we can fill the boats and avoid having to increase the per person cost.

Cost: $180 per person

Response Deadline: Friday, January 31, 2025

Payment Deadline: Monday, March 31, 2025

If payment is not received by the payment deadline, your spaces will be offered to the next interested party.