St. Augustine Eco Tours (Matanzas River Kayak and Eco Tours)

The French who explored this coast before the Spanish arrived named the Matanzas River *Rivière des Dauphins* — River of Dolphins — and the bottlenose dolphins are still here, year-round, visible from the water. St. Augustine Eco Tours runs kayak, boat, and catamaran sailing tours out of this estuary, staffed by interpretive naturalist guides and USCG-licensed captains. The salt marsh and the river shaped this city before any fort was built. Getting on the water is the clearest way to understand why anyone stopped here in the first place.