19 Jan 2024
This one is hard to give a star rating for a review. The bus ride is far to long and wasn't discussed with when booking. It was a nice way to see the countryside, but we spent more time going there and coming back then we did on the boat. When we did arrive to the beach it was definitely 5 star from that point, the boat staff were awesome and service for drinks or food was great.
We had a younger child with us and it was fun for her also but our group was mostly adults and the atmosphere was more a party. Everyone was very courteous about our child on the boat. I dont think it stopped anyone from having a good time and she still had fun also. I think we got to the boat around almost 11. Went to the shallow spot for a 15-20 minute swim which was nice cause it was pretty hot so it was a good cool down time. Slid off the top deck slide a few times which was a fun feature. Loaded up then took another ride to the sand bar. Was 2 other boats with people that were there over the same time period so got a little crowded. The snorkeling was the highlight of the trip. Seen lots of neat fish but only did that for about 20 minutes then sat on the sand bar and had a couple drinks and some fruit for snack, not much for shade so lots of people were huddled around the shacks to get out of the sun after swimming. It was a very neat place and cool to see but definitely got busy with other boats. The mangroves weren't really much just pulled into a bay gave a little speech about the ecosystem and the importance of the Coast Guard, (aka the mangroves). Then worked our way back to a spot further down the beach then we arrived at, which was an excellent late lunch of chicken, rice, lobster, and some sort of fried fish. Everything tasted great. Was a short time to eat then back on the bus for the long ride back to the resort. Loaded on around 3:30-4pm. The ride back was quicker even with the stop at the little store on the ride back. Got a couple items and worked our way back to the resort. It was a funtime on the ocean and snorkeling but definitely be prepared for the journey there.
There was a photographer there taking pictures the whole time on the boat, we bought the photo package off of him because we wanted some great memories from the trip and we think his prices were reasonable and we got alot of great photos, he did a great job and really appreciate it. If it weren't a family thing for us we probably wouldn't of bought the pictures but he took some awesome shots and will have them to look back on. We could tell lots of people weren't interested in buying the pictures but for us it was worth it. We got over 100 pics and a 15 minute go pro video as part of what he took of us.