31 Mar 2023
Don’t take this tour! The tour agency is not responsible for the boat company that takes you to the beaches. It’s not the boat shown on the picture.
It was the most scary experience of my life. More than half of the group participating on the tour decided to leave the tour at the first stop and paid locals to get back to Santa Marta by a local bus used by the beach workers. The boat’s captain disregard any safety precautions and mocked the group for being scared.
The beach workers confirmed to me that the captain is imprudent and that this same situation has been happening constantly.
There’s also no guide at all from the tour agency as described.
I contacted Tayrona Tours after the fact (since the beach has no cell phone signal) and they just responded saying that they were sorry and that they don’t really check the boat company that will take you to the beaches.
Therefore, they are only after your money. They don’t care about their customers and their well being.
I also contacted Viator for a partial refund since I decided to leave the tour at the first stop since it was closed extremely dangerous and I had to pay a lot of more money to return to the city by bus.
The tour agency, as expected, didn’t want to refund anything and Viator only refunded me 10% as a token of gratitude.
In summary: don’t take any tour that uses these type of boats. Take the tours that take you to Tayrona Park by bus/van. Avoid Tayrona Tours at all costs. You won’t have any support from them and don’t care about the safety of their customers.
Additionally, also know that Viator also won’t support you as it should.
Really disappointed for the whole experience. Vacation is something you take to relax not to face the stress of putting your life in danger.
Shame on you Tayrona Tours. Shame on you Viator.