nixnutz

I couldn't have said it better! You are 100% right.

;)

Can't wait to go back...

Did you know that your picture of you and the monkeys is in Victor's website? Just thought you would like to know that. Thanks for the info.

Yep, I sent him a review with the pics. We LOVED this tour! The kids are still talking about it 2 months later. We took about 30 minutes of video from the tour and the kids watch it constantly. It has been the best excursion we've had of all our cruises...

As for some of the snorkelling questions....there is some beautiful snorkelling about 20 yards off of the beach at West Bay. Lots of sea fans and brain corals. Tons of colorful fish swimming in schools. While we were snorkelling off the beach, a guy named Gustavo offered to take us to a better reef by boat. He charged us $10 pp and actually got in the water and guided us through the reef. It was a 5 minute boat ride from the beach with about 1 hour of snorkelling at the reef. GORGEOUS!!! It was some some sort of marine reserve, so it was pristine.

If you go to West Bay beach, look for some small boats in the water near Island Pearl Hotel (local hotel, not a resort). Ask for Gustavo and see if he'll take you to the reef. I was a little nervous, but he was a complete gentleman and spoke perfect English. My DS15, DD14, DS's girlfriend 15 and I went snorkelling with Gustavo while my wife lounged on the beach. If you have a big group and some want to stay at the beach while others snorkel, this could be the solution for you!

HTH...

nixnutz, your photos are great! i cant believe I will be there in a week or so! I am twice as excited now!

It's a beautiful place. I can't wait to go back!

Enjoy~~

We used Victor Bodden's tours when in Roatan a couple weeks ago. Our tour guide was Jorge (Pilo) who was born and raised there. He was very knowedgable, and took us anywhere we asked to go. I never met Victor or his family, but got several emails from him. A very professional tour!

Hey! We were on the same cruise!!! :D

Rahn,

Thanks for the great review & pics. I LOVE the monkey pictures. I think that's one of the things I'm looking most forward to on the cruise. Well, that & the ziplining. I know you can't please everyone, but from what I've read, Victor has a 90% or greater success rate. Did they let you pet/hold the anteater? I know I read one thread about a guy holding the anteater & getting nibbled on a little, but he didn't seem to mind too much.

Debbie

No we didn't hold or pet the anteater. The kids were so facinated by the monkeys that we stayed with them. the ant eater was on the other side of the house. We could see him over there pacing around, but we didn't go over.

As we were leaving, another group arrived, so we wanted to keep moving.

My kids were most excited about the monkeys too. We planned to snorkel on the barrier reef in Belize, which I thought would interest them, but the monkeys were definately the highlight.

Enjoy!!

Thanks for the reply. We've decided to go to the Mayan Princess on West Bay, just so we have use of their facilities. We're using Victor to get there.

I don't think you'll be disspointed. There are several "beaches" along a stretch, which are essentially one big beach. It's not like there are fences between them or anything.

Victor's people are really great. At least they were really great to us....

What resort were you by when on the beach?

There was no resort. This was a public beach. There was a place directly behind us called "Island Pearl", but I don't think it was a resort.

Roland dropped us off about a 30yd walk from the main road. He parked the van while we set up on the beach and met us there after about 10 minutes (while he parked).

We were within walking distance to the Carnival beach area (Beach break at $40pp). We walked about 50 yards, through the Carnival area, to a pier where we hired the guy with the boat to take us snorkelling. Gustavo was his name....another positive in Roatan!

HTH...

I have booked Victor for our cruise in March. We're planning on doing the ziplines, touring the area, and going to his house to see the animals. Though most posts on this board RAVE about Victor and his guides, I have read one post saying they did not like the tour guide they had.

 

If you used Victor, did you love the guide? If so, who did you have? & finally, does anyone know if you can ask for a particular person?

We were there on Nov. 28th with Carnival Valor. Our tour guide was Roland and he was outstanding. Roland had lived in the US for awhile, so he spoke excellent english. He was very accomodating and extremely patient.

I say patient because we spent three hours at the beach and Roland stayed with us the entire time. He was always within sight and keeping a protective eye on us. At one point, a beach vendor came up to us and was "hard-selling" his wares. Roland came over and gave him a talking to and off he went.

We never felt unsafe or concerned on tour with Roland.

We were worried that we were trying to squeeze too much into one excursion, but we ended up having plenty of time.

For $25 pp we did:

Iguana Farm (+$5pp)

Victor's house with monkeys (+$2pp)

Sightseeing/photo ops along the way

Beach time (We actually rented a boat ($10pp) and went snorkelling for awhile here too.)

Orphanage

Shopping

Like I said, we thought we were asking too much, but we had plenty of time to do all this. As we were driving around the island, Roland would point things out and if we seemed interested, he would offer to stop. There was some shopping, which was no where near the ship, and Roland offered to stop while we got out and looked around.

I don't know if you can request a particular guide, but it can't hurt to ask. Victor's email is on his site, so send him an email and ask. I'm sure he'll accomodate you.

Here are some photos for you:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f184/nixnutz/DSC_0060.jpg

My kids feeding the Iguanas.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f184/nixnutz/DSC_0125.jpg

The family at victor's house with the monkeys. Roland is in the back and the picture was taken by one of Victor's friendly realatives.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f184/nixnutz/DSC_0116.jpg

Me with the monkeys.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f184/nixnutz/DSC_0138.jpg

West Bay beach in Roatan.

If I had one negative for Roland, it would be that he's not a great photographer :rolleyes: ...LOL. Here's a picture of us with the kids, at the orphanage, that Roland took:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f184/nixnutz/DSC_0144.jpg

Sorry if this was more than you asked for, but we REALLY enjoyed our tour with Roland. Hope that helps!!