Cas Cay - Kajakwanderung und Schnorchelabenteuer

Our experience with VI Ecotours was all around great! It was very easy to get a taxi from the cruise terminal, but I would recommend leaving plenty of time to for travel as we just barely made it to Ecotours in time for our tour. It wasn't a problem at all though, the staff was quick and efficient getting us checked in and getting gear for us (life vests, snorkels/masks). We were able to rent a locker to store our valuables and got right on our way! Our guides were Jim and Zach and they were so friendly and knowledgeable. They took lots of pictures which were made available for purchase - I appreciated this because our group opted to leave phones and cameras behind for safe keeping. For first time cruisers, and a first time snorkeling experience, this was a great introduction just to get a taste of each activity. I would definitely recommend this experience to others!

Soren led a great morning of kayaking, hiking and snorkeling. He shared lots of interesting information about the plants and animals we saw! We not only learned about mangroves, we grew to appreciate their impact on our ecosystem. He engaged us about cool trivia about hermit crabs, native plants, and even tales of pirates. We started with a great kayak tour followed by a fun hike. He kept the energy going by getting us right into the water for an invigorating snorkel that allowed us to see many coral, fish, and anemones. What's great about this company is their passion for bringing awareness to ecological concerns and we leave with fond memories and a greater awareness for preserving the beauty of our natural world.

I was here a few weeks ago on Holland America Line in which this company was used as an excursion option. The excursion included, kayaking, hiking and snorkeling and was advertised by the cruise line to be 4 hours. I love kayaking, though I don’t go nearly as much as I’d like as well as hiking and snorkeling so this excursion seemed perfect for me. The rest of my party was more interested in relaxing so I went on the excursion solo. The taxi was coordinated by the cruise and by taxi I mean it was an early 90s Ford F350 with the truck bed swapped out with safari style seating. The ride through the mountains was breath taking albeit a little nerve wracking as they drive on the left side of the road and the roads are narrow two way streets. The company’s dock area doesn’t look like much from the street but it’s deceiving. The facilities were more than adequate for the safety briefing that was involved, lockers which were available for our use and it was all covered and had fans which provided shade and a nice breeze. On this excursion, our tour leader was Troy and assisting him was Hector. Tory greeted us enthusiastically and from start to finish 5 hours later after the excursion he had great energy, was enthusiastic about telling us the history, ecology, and impact on the unique USVI environment. We started out on tandem (2 seater) sit-on-top kayaks cruising as a group by mangrove forests, through pretty clear water where you can see jellyfish, sea turtles, and even manta rays. Troy was up front leading the group and Hector brought up the rear ensuring no one got lost along the 1 mile kayak. Along the way Troy told us about the different aquatic and avian species we were likely to see along the way and even stopped a few times to talk about whatever creature it was we came upon. Once at the end of the kayak portion of the trip we brought the kayaks up along a beach area and proceeded to hike another mile to a very rocky, but very picturesque beach where there were lava formations and great photo opportunities. The company does offer a photo package where they’ll take your photos with professional type cameras and a sampling of the highlights of animals they have seen overtime. I brought a go pro and my phone so I didn’t buy the photo package but it was there if you wanted it. After hiking back to the kayaks we were able to snorkel in a nearby lagoon which was a little cloudy because a tour ahead of us was walking around on the sand (so don’t do that if you go) but it was still clear enough to see lots of aquatic life. Troy was great about pointing out exotic creatures including an octopus, several species of tropical fish and other objects of interest. After the snorkel we kayaked the mile back to the starting point where we disembarked our kayaks and we’re able to collect any belongings left in lockers and waited for our taxi/bus to come back. I would recommend bringing your own towel in a bag as they didn’t have any and of course didn’t expect it. They do have a very nice gift shop with lots of long sleeve fishing style shirts and other apparel. I would also recommend wearing water shoes as the hike went over a lot of gravel and small branches on the trail like you’d expect but there’s also water that you walk thru so hiking shoes or flip flops would be a bad idea. The overall value for experience was perfect and I would highly highly recommend this tour and Troy & Hector as guides if you’re in the area and want to see the best of the natural beauty that is USVI.