- berky
- First Reviewer
- 2 out of 5
- Avg. Member Rating
- 3
- Reviews
Editor Pick
Aquatours-Part 3
- February 17, 2007
- Rated 2 of 5 by
berky from Nepean, Ontario
“Follow me” back to the boat where he took off my fins, helped me back onto the platform and then filled up two glasses of water. I was thinking I now had to drink these and we were quite far from the bathroom and I was not inclined to “go with the fishes” again as we had been counseled earlier when someone had asked about bathrooms. My worries were for naught as he took the two water glasses and poured them over my head, then handed me some paper napkins. I wish I had been somewhat more prepared, but it was nice to get some of the salt water out of my eyes.
Once everyone was back on board, it was time for a quick soda and then back to the big boat and the same procedure as before to get onto our speed boat and get us all unhooked for our trip back to the excursion headquarters. This time we drove even closer to shore and were actually in danger of smashing into a large party barge coming out to sea and we were way too close to swimmers enjoying the ocean waters. By this time the sun was out, so at least we were warming up a bit.
We actually all managed to make it back to headquarters (although one boat did stall) where there was a hose next to a pile of garbage where we could rinse off the salt water. There were flush toilets and they were cleaner than one would have expected. Pictures were posted ($8 US) and there were several reminders that the guides would appreciate a tip. Surely they deserved a tip because they worked hard. They all must be in great shape to be nimbly jumping from boat to boat and holding boats together and diving down to the bottom of the ocean to entice fish up for us to admire. All of the guides were relatively young and I imagine it is not a line of work that one could stay in for many years.
Disposable cameras were for sale. Be sure to just wear a bathing suit; everything gets totally wet. There are lockers to store anything you don’t want to bring along.
From journal Our First All-inclusive Resort Experience
Aquatours-Part 1
- February 17, 2007
- Rated 2 of 5 by
berky from Nepean, Ontario
We wanted to do a half day excursion and little was available except for this. The tour agent sold it to us, but did not seem too enthused. We soon learned why. Only do this if you are in good physical shape and are okay with risking your life and that of others.
The tour starts out fairly innocuously with a bus trip to the headquarters on the beach where we were introduced to your guide, outfitted with a life jacket, and were given a brief overview of the excursion. There is a small feeling of trepidation as we see the speed boats are 200 feet out and we are told to swim out to the boats. We all laugh at the joke and are relieved to see a water taxi appear. Feeling safe and confident with our life jacket on, we all hop gracefully (not) into an open boat with 15 to 20 other daredevils and a few guides who assist us with the climb from lapping shore waves into bobbing boat. The fun begins as the boat picks up a small amount of speed and salt water starts to spray into the boat. This might be refreshing if it were really hot out, but the day was slightly cloudy at this time of the day.
As we get close to the line of speed boats, the large ferry boat slides alongside and with one guide holding the two vessels together, each couple hops from large boat to smaller speed boat. While we are trying to get settled, we are told to look up and smile for the obligatory picture of what a good time we are having. The process is repeated for each couple and the next process is to unhook all the boats, One of the guides does this and as he releases each boat, he hops on board and starts the boat. Standing up and leaning over the couple, he drives to the next boat and agilely leaps over to repeat the sequence. We are told to circle while waiting for everyone to be freed from the line. It is obvious that some people either do not know how to drive a boat, were not listening or do not care that they are about to smash into another boat. Defensive boat driving is a must!
From journal Our First All-inclusive Resort Experience
Editor Pick
Aquatours-Part 2
- February 17, 2007
- Rated 2 of 5 by
berky from Nepean, Ontario
The next part of the excursion requires a trip along the coast to a reef for snorkeling. Somehow these boats seem to be designed to get the occupants as wet as possible in the minimal amount of time. Again were it sweltering hot, it would possibly be refreshing, but there was so much salt water spray splashing into our eyes, we could not even keep our eyes open. I was the passenger so just kept my eyes closed at all times. If I were to do this trip again, I would be wearing goggles. It is probably not a good trip to go on if you have a bad back or hips as the boat just kept bouncing on the waves. Under my very thin cushion there seemed to be some kind of metal bolt that I landed on very time the boat crashed down on the water. The nose of the boat kept rising higher and higher as the back filled with water adding to the difficulty of seeing anything in front of us. Nevertheless the guides kept urging us to go faster and faster.
After a 30-minute ride, we were close to our snorkeling destination and we now had to anchor our boats to a line. With hand signals and whistles we realized that we were to aim our boat directly at a black head bobbing in the water. This fellow was there to “catch” our boat and attach it to the line. We had remembered the part about pulling out the key, but obviously some people had not as the poor guide was almost overrun. Once we were all attached, we did the reverse sequence of before to get into the water taxi and then we were boated over to the diving platform where we were outfitted with snorkel gear and fins.
We were all cold and wet and longing for the sun to come out and warm us, but as that was not happening, we elected to jump into the water with our guide as it was warmer than the air. Each couple had their own guide who had a fist full of fish food which he shared after showing us the varieties of fish swimming around. My guide did not speak much English, so I did not get much information on names of fish, but I could see that there were different colours and sizes. He also seemed to know exactly where each different type of coral was and took me around to see them all.
From journal Our First All-inclusive Resort Experience