Whale watching & Samana Bacardi Island

I should start of by saying we did see whales. This would have been a 1 if not for that. So here is the skinny. If you are in Puerto Plata do not book this. I says it 8 hours, but in reality it is more like 16. From Puerto Plata it is a 6 hour drive with the stop for breakfast and around 5 hour drive back. The boat was questionable at best. The food on Bacardi Island was not so good. The tour did deliver on what they say the would. But a over all from pick up time to drop off was 16 hours.

We have booked many excursions via Viator over the years and appreciate honest reviews so here it is… We were picked up in a small but clean motor coach and greeted by our guide Pedro who was funny and entertaining as well as knowledgeable. The bus filled up quickly. The seats were small (husband and I are average size people, large people had a very hard time) and the seats don’t adjust which was not great for a 3.5hr ride -each way. We stopped for “breakfast” at an open pavilion. The food was not great (fried eggs sitting in a serving tray were cold) and there was no coffee (ugh! ) worse yet, in the ladies room there were no locks on any of the 3 working stalls, no toilet paper, no soap and no dryers or paper towels - just gross! Also all of the hand sanitizer dispensers in the entire place were empty. My advice, bring toilet paper and hand sanitizer! (You’ll thank me for it!) We finally got to our stop and there were no restrooms until we took boats to Bacardi Island. The island is beautiful !!!!!! Bathrooms again, not maintained, crowded and I spent 30 mins on line. We spent time on the gorgeous beach (an hour) before boarding our whale boat. There were about 6 whales and incredible to watch! It was worth the ride to see the whales. Each boat is only allowed 30 mins in the whale area and this time limit is strictly enforced. After the whales we returned to Bacardi for a buffet lunch. Fish are served while and fried (I’m not a fan of eyeballs and fins) but there were other choices and overall very good. We bought pina coladas and enjoyed the lunch. The shopping area are to be avoided. The vendors were begging for sales and offering t-shirts for $70 USD but quickly dropped to $12 so be prepared to negotiate or walk. Ride back included rum and cokes which was nice. We stopped back at the breakfast pavilion for a rests too but the conditions of bathrooms had not changed. Overall I’m giving a 5 star for the whales and lunch, 3 stars for the ride and zero stars for breakfast and bathroom facilities.

Awesome day trip. Not a lot of whales. We were there early in the season. Some of the boats crowded the whales, which is dangerous. Our boat kept a safe distance. One whale did swim right under our boat. We saw dolphins too. Bacardi island was gorgeous. Bring snorkels as there are starfish in the deeper water. We had lunch prepared for us on the island. It was typical tour food. The fish was whole though. Not appealing. We stopped at a nice clean place for breakfast and a restroom. The food was included for both meals. We were offered rum & Coke/sprite on the ride. No bottled water though. Other tours include it.