Full-Day Catalina Island Snorkeling Tour from La Romana

Of the worst beaches in the Caribbean, only rocks, full of flies, the bar very basic, the worst is transport, bad organization

This Catalina Island "full-day snorkeling trip" was hands down the worst excursion I’ve ever booked—and it truly put a damper on our entire vacation. What a scam. The day started at 6:45 AM with a terrifying ride from our hotel. The driver was reckless, swerving through traffic and speeding the entire time. We genuinely feared for our lives. After that, we were dropped off at a random strip mall to meet up with other confused guests, only to be crammed onto a mini-bus like sardines for a long, uncomfortable ride to the dock—4 hours and 15 minutes after we were picked up. From the mini-bus to the boat, we were constantly packed in with no personal space. The boat was so overbooked that guests were literally sitting on each other’s laps. They advertised English-speaking guides, but not a single crew member spoke English. From the bus to the boat, we had no idea what was happening at any point in the trip, and it felt completely disorganized from start to finish and very scary. When it was time to snorkel at “The Wall,” we were just handed snorkels with no instruction—but there weren’t even enough life jackets or snorkels for everyone on the boat. The gear that was available was disgusting and clearly unsanitized. We were in the water for a rushed 20 minutes, and the snorkeling site itself was full of trash littering the sea floor. It was nothing like the experience that was promised. They then packed up the snorkels as soon as we loaded back onto the boat and passed them off to a nearby vessel for reuse. There was no further snorkeling for the day, even though more was promised at the island. After that, we were taken to Catalina Island for a mediocre lunch served on plates and with silverware that had been washed in a bucket of dirty water. We sat on the beach for about an hour, constantly being harassed by local vendors trying to sell us things. There was nothing relaxing about it. We were then taken back to the dock, where we sat on the mini-bus for over an hour waiting for the scuba boat to return. We used the bathroom at the port, which was not only in a sketchy area but was also the most disgusting facility I’ve ever had to use. We finally left the dock area at 4:00 PM and weren’t dropped back off at our resort until 7:30 PM. That’s nearly 13 hours of stress, confusion, and disappointment. This trip was unsafe, overcrowded, unsanitary, and completely misrepresented. Save yourself the money and the headache. If you want to feel ripped off and miserable, this is the excursion for you. Otherwise—RUN.

L’organisation du trajet manquait de clarté : nous avons dû changer trois fois de taxi et deux fois de bateau, ce qui n’était pas très rassurant. L’accueil initial était assez froid, et en tant que débutants, nous avons trouvé les explications trop brèves (et uniquement en espagnol, 10 minutes avant de plonger). Heureusement, nous avons quelques bases en espagnol, sinon cela aurait été compliqué. Cela dit, une fois dans l’eau, le moniteur (Wilson) s’est révélé très sympa et nous avons passé un bon moment. Pour les photos c’était 50€ demandés pour 10 photos, ce qui nous a semblé excessif. Pour le retour, encore un changement de bateau, mais l’équipe était vraiment top. Une belle expérience malgré un début un peu chaotique.