Three Nights Adults Only, Three Nights All Ages, Same Sunset
A 90-minute sunset run on Matanzas Bay where the night you choose decides whether children are aboard.
Red Boat Tours runs its sunset trip out of the Vilano Beach fishing pier, across the inlet from St. Augustine's old town. The listing describes a ninety-minute loop through the waters of St. Augustine and Matanzas Bay, and the boat comes back to the floating dock it left from.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday sailings are adults only. Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday take all ages. Monday has no departure at all. The length and the adult fare are the same across all six nights.
The boat is the Pellicano. The operator lists it as a fifty-foot Trident pontoon built in 2023 with plush padded seats, and it carries complimentary bottled water plus blankets for cool evenings. A guide gives live commentary the whole way.
One booking covers up to fifteen travelers, while the shared cruise itself is listed for as many as fifty-six. This is a scheduled public departure. Other groups will be on deck with you.
Red Boat Tours BYOB Sunset Cruise90 minutes from the Vilano Beach pier. Adults only Thursday to Saturday, all ages Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Adult fare USD 41.54.www.viator.comWhich Night You Book Decides Who Else Is Aboard
The adults-only option runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and its booking form carries a single fare band: adult, USD 41.54. The operator states the rule plainly in that option's description, calling the cruise one for adult passengers, no little ones.
The all-ages option runs Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday. That version opens two more fare bands, USD 26.62 for children and USD 8.52 for infants, which is the clearest signal of which nights are built for families. Every reservation still needs at least one adult on it.
Both options leave the same dock for the same ninety minutes, and they share the same departure clock through the year.
Departure Time Moves With the Sun All Year
There is no fixed departure hour on this trip. The published schedule walks the start time later through spring and pulls it back through autumn, following sunset.
Early November sailings leave at 4:45 PM. June and July sailings leave at 7:30 PM. October runs at 6:00 PM, late February at 5:30 PM. The booking calendar carries the exact time for your own date.
One gap in that calendar is worth knowing about. The schedule holds no sunset departures between late November and the third week of January. The operator attributes the break to the Nights of Lights season and notes that dates outside the window can still be booked while it runs.
What You Carry Aboard and What Is Already There
Every sailing is bring-your-own. The operator invites snacks and alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks aboard, and hands out complimentary bottled water once you are on the boat. Blankets come out on cool evenings.
Alcohol, sales tax and gratuities all sit outside the ticket price. Food does too. The freedom has one hard edge: the crew can refuse boarding to anyone intoxicated or showing signs of it, and a trip cancelled on those grounds carries no refund.
Dress for the water. The operator's own note is that it is always cooler out there.
Who Gets Aboard Easily, and What Might Swim Past
The listing marks the tour wheelchair accessible and says all areas and surfaces are, with walkers and service animals also welcome. Infants and small children can stay in a pram or stroller. Life preservers are carried for every age, and the operator sets no health restrictions and no fitness requirement.
Wildlife is the part nobody can promise. The operator names dolphins, pelicans, osprey, manatees and turtles as animals cruisers have a chance of seeing, and that phrasing is doing honest work. Calm water and long light improve the odds without guaranteeing anything.
The dock sits at 260 Vilano Road, on the Vilano Beach fishing pier. Look for the big blue duck statue, walk half way out, then take the ramp on your left down to the floating dock. Check-in happens at the boat.
The operator asks for a 25-minute cushion, calling St. Augustine traffic unpredictable, while the boat itself only ties up about 20 minutes before departure. Arriving to an empty dock is normal. Cancel at least 24 hours ahead for a full refund; inside that window nothing comes back. Weather cancellations are rescheduled or refunded at your choice, and a sailing that misses its minimum passenger count is swapped or refunded the same way.
Then it is ninety minutes on the water, the city turning gold across the bay, and whatever you carried aboard.