Fossil Tours

Please scroll down and read the descriptions below of each of our awesome tour options. We have also included a video explaining the Tours a bit more in depth down near the base of the page. Remember, not all tours are available every day and some tours may be more suitable for your party than others.

IF YOU'RE READY AND HAVE THE TOUR OF CHOICE IN MIND, THE AVAILABLITY OF CURRENT TOURS CAN BE SEEN/BOOKED BY CLICKING THE BLUE BOOK NOW BUTTON ON ANY PAGE AT ANY TIME!

BE SURE TO WATCH FOR YOUR CONFIRMATION EMAIL AS SOON AS YOU BOOK. THIS WILL CONTAIN PERTINENT INFORMATION SUCH AS ADDRESSES, WHAT TO BRING, WHAT TO EXPECT AND MORE!

HAVE MORE QUESTIONS? CLICK HERE

PUBLIC TOUR OPTIONS

Airboat Ride and Fossil Hunting 5-Hour Public Tour

$150 Per Person

Our most popular fossil service, tailored for those who want to see what the Peace has to offer! Enjoy a ride to our consistent fossil grounds in style on our airboats. Dock to dock time spans 5 hours. This is a family friendly adventure that is water based/wading required. A great beginner to intermediate option with regular smaller teeth and fossils, and occasional stellar finds.

We also offer private airboat tours. Please scroll down for more.

Swamp Buggy Ride and Fossil Hunting 4 Hour Tour

$150 Per Person.

These weekend tours usually begin at 9am and are 4 hours in length. Enjoy a swamp buggy ride to a preselected secluded creek or river dig site, a fossil dig, and a ride back on the buggy at the conclusion. Recommended for those more physically able as light hiking and traversing is required, as well as wading/digging in the water up to waist deep. This is a great option for a mix of sharks teeth and ice age fossils.

Minimum of 4 as a requirement to run. Private options available; scroll down.

Premium Dig

$250 Per Person

A crowd favorite! This includes long airboat rides to preselected locations on the Peace River which put out some of the best finds of recent times for us! Finding mammoth teeth, large mammal fossils and of course lots of large shark teeth (yes, and megs) is not uncommon and this is your best get at finding the good stuff! This tour usually runs from 9am to 3pm and is only available at select times. A great option for those who have that hunger to find a meg!

Airboat 5 Hour 'Boneshelf' Ice Age Dig and Eco Tour

180$ Per Person

Enjoy our Ice Age intensive river fossil dig and airboat ride combined w/a little bit more learning and fun on the airboat! After our mammal/reptile heavy 'boneshelf' river dig, enjoy an extended airboat ride covering miles of pristine Peace River shoreline, learn about the history, see wildlife and enjoy some extra splash and turns on the airboat ride in the process. Mammoth finds here!

NOTE ***This is not a shark tooth intensive dig but some monster sharks teeth do occasionally surface here***

Raw Fossil Dry Dig Experience

$125 per person

Our 4hr dry dig allows you to dig fossils as they lay naturally in the fossil layer via shovel & sifter. It's the most honest fossil hunting you can find!

Includes all equipment & transportation to the site. Enjoy a short van ride through beautiful Florida backcountry and see native wildlife, plants and mind bending scenery on the way in. The FIRST and ONLY raw land site fossil layer dig in Florida! Shark teeth and other fossils are found here.

*Intensive digging in heat at times--please note*

Private Access Wauchula/Peace River Walk-In Tours

$150

Enjoy a private entry into fossil rich grounds on the world famous Peace River in Wauchula! Formerly the grounds accessed and used by Peace Paleo Adventures, Fossil Recovery has obtained exclusive access into the fossil rich zone and is super excited to open digs to the public here! Nestled on 7 private acres with 1000 foot of riverfront access, this fossil rich area is known to put out 100s of fossilized shark teeth per digger per day!

Peace River Oaks Guided Walk-In Digs

$125 per person

Fossil Recovery is stoked to bring this awesome new adventure to the public! Offered on select days, join our walk-in guided tours through the private access of Peace River Oaks campground in Bowling Green, FL! Walk through the majestic live oaks and cypress trees that line the Peace River and drop into selected points, enjoy a 4 hour dig alongside our guide, and tap into meg-laden deposits today! As always, all equipment provided.

Max 9 persons

Guided Hardee County/Peace River Canoe Digs

$150 per person

Partnered with our friends at Peace River Oaks, we now offer 4 hour guided canoe dig tours of the northern areas of the Peace River in Hardee County. Join us for new adventures hitting multiple areas for amazing fossils and enjoy one of the most scenic paddles the Peace River has to offer!

Max 8 per day, please note smaller children must accompany adult in canoe.

Guided Arcadia FL/Peace River Canoe Digs

$150 per person

Thanks to our friends at Canoe Outpost, we now offer 5 hour guided canoe dig tours of the Peace River in Arcadia! Join us and hit multiple spots while paddling our well known stretch of paradise! As always, all equipment provided.

Max 9 per day; available on weekdays only.

Bonecamp Ice Age Airboat Seasonal Dry Dig Adventure

$900

A private, intimate dry dig FILLED with Ice Age goodies! A similar deposit to our Boneshelf Dig in the river, here we find anything from gator to mammoth, tortoise to glyptodon and more! There is even a few sharks teeth mixed in to boot. Utilizing a sifting and scraping method, we draw the fossils right from the ground under the shade of massive oaks w/ the Peace River rolling by in the distance. This is offered as a seasonal format via airboat for 5 persons or less, flat rate of 900$.

Event Themed/Large Group/Educational Fossil Hunting Tours

We Offer It All!

Ages 6 to 10 years old. Includes 2 hour fossil hunting with all equipment provided and children educ

Home Schooling and Special Group Rates

Home schooling group rates cater to your children of all ages. We can tailor these based on group size/age and needs. All are welcome...we can handle ANY group size!

Special rate (sliding scale based on experience/group size) includes 2 hour fossil hunting with all equipment provided, preceded by a children's educational presentation and fossil display and a detailed ID session post hunt.

Team Building and Special Events

Call or Text for Pricing

Celebrate your special event with a private group fossil hunting tour with rates listed below, or, if groups are larger than our parameters for a Private Tour, on a sliding scale. Of course, all equipment provided. These can be fully customized to experience, needs and times.

Lectures and Interactive Events

Call or Text for More Details

We love coming out & speaking for your school/large group! We offer a variety of lectures and interactive activities. Here are some:

Lecture for kids, public/ your location, >1 hr, touch & learn w/ fossils. 250$

Lecture w/ interactive activities (dig/hands on learning/worksheets) , max 40 ppl, 1.5 hr, public/ your location. 400$

Lecture with beach walk/dig/activities, Venice area, max 40 kids, 2 hr. 500$

Lecture, activities and dig in fossil material in Arcadia ( 15 or less people), 2 hr. 750$

Private Excursions

Please Call/Text 585-880-3150 for More Details and Availability

SWAMP BUGGY PRIVATE TOURS

We offer Swamp Buggy private tours from Monday to Thursday. These tours are special order and would be an intimate experience that would consist of just your group and the guide, with no other guests on the excursion. Each purchase of a private tour comes with a tailored, personalized dig experience side-by-side with your guide, as well as a one on one, after-tour educational identification of your finds in full focus, a perk not available on our main weekend public excursions when multiple parties must be attended to.

We have a maximum of 5 people for these trips. Depending on availability, we may be able to fossil hunt for up to 6 hours vs the public time of 4 hours.

The cost for the Swamp Buggy Private Experience is 1000$. If more people are in your party, we can accommodate each additional guest for 150$ more, with a maximum of 10.

Please allow 48 hours before booking to ensure availability.

AIRBOAT PRIVATE TOURS

We offer Airboat Private Tours as well, with three options based on availabiity and party size. These tours are special order and would be an intimate experience that would consist of just your group and the guide, with no other guests on the excursion. As with the swamp buggy, each purchase of a private tour comes with a personalized dig experience with your guide solely focused on you and yours, and of course a one on one, after-tour educational identification of your finds. These carry a focus not available on our main weekend public excursions, when attention is needed due to multiple parties.

We have a max of 9 people for these trips. Rates are as follows:

A small airboat (up to five guests) would be 1100$.
An medium airboat (up to 7 guests) would be 1350$.

A large airboat (up to 9 guests) would be 1650$.

PREMIUM PRIVATE AIRBOAT DIGS ALSO AVAILABLE AT A FLAT RATE OF 2000$ FOR UP TO 7 GUESTS! Message us for more details.

We can accommodate more than 10 guests, please contact us for large group/customized rates for Private Tours.

Only one type of boat may be used at a time for these trips.

Please allow 48 hours before booking to ensure availability here as well.

CANOE PRIVATE GUIDED DIGS

NEW! We offer guided canoe private tours by reservation only. These tours are special order and would be an intimate experience that would consist of just your group and the guide, with no other guests on the excursion. Each purchase of a private tour comes with a tailored, personalized dig experience side-by-side with your guide, a scenic paddle amongst the best wildlife and backdrop Old Florida has to offer, as well as a one on one, after-tour educational identification of your finds in full focus, a perk not available on our main weekend public excursions when multiple parties must be attended to.

We have a maximum of 6 people for these trips. Depending on availability, we may be able to fossil hunt for up to 6 hours vs the public time of 4 hours. We highly encourage children under 8 and older folks to consider alternate options as this can be physically demanding.

The cost for the Canoe Private Experience is 250$ per person, with a minimum of two.

Please allow 48 hours before booking to ensure availability and location. Please indicate your location when booking (Hardee/Arcadia).

Do I Need a Fossil Permit?

IT ALL DEPENDS!

In the state of Florida, when keeping shark teeth, you do NOT need a fossil permit at all. BUT, if you wish to keep any vertebrate fossils, as in reptile, mammal, fish (not shark), or bird fossils, we encourage you to buy a permit prior to your tour with us.

We request (but will not require) that guests wishing to keep these vertebrate fossils should buy one. They are easy to use, cheap ( only 5$), and can be found here:

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/vertpaleo/amateur-collector/fossil-permit/

Please note that the law states that any vertebrate fossils kept that equal the volume of less than a gallon bucket from a single dig need not be reported unless deemed significant. For the most part, this means that most of our customer's final hauls will fall outside the necessity of having a permit, although we of course urge obtaining one as it provides the state program with support.

See more on the FMNH website link above. Thanks!

FLORIDA'S PREMIER GUIDED AIRBOAT & BUGGY FOSSIL DIGS SINCE 2015!