The worst snorkeling excursion in my life!! Beware of ECHOTOUR

[Squaletto]

I recently used ECHOTOUR in Belize for the tour “Shark Ray Alley & Caye Caulker” and I’d like to share my negative experience with this operator; the worst in my life!

Real snorkeler lover should stay away from this company, they give you a standard life jacket, the orange one you use in case of emergency, like the one you have on the ship, and they pretend you wear them in the water meanwhile snorkeling!!! If you insist you know how to snorkel they still pretend you keep the life jacket from one of the leash and drag it around with you making practically impossible to swim underwater and If there is a lot of current like the day we went it just keep dragging you away.

At the end by the desperation I have thrown these silly life jackets at one of the tour guide and ignored his request of get them back until he got tired of trying to convince me.

Beware also they use a small boat, very uncomfortable and not design for snorkeling tour. They install the ladder only after everybody has jump in the water. They have very bad masks and fins and they don’t even have a de-fog solution to rinse the mask (fortunately we had our own equipment)

I hope this tour operator is the only one forcing you to use a life jacket instead of a proper snorkeling vest that can be deflated to allowing you to swim underwater.

Can you please share with me what the other tour operator do in this respect?

Marco & Stefania

[Snorkel2Much]

You threw your life jacket at a guide? Seriously? :eek:

[mdrobtx]

Safety is #1. Yes they want you to have a life jacket. Even if you're dragging it. I've snorkeled and dove all over the Caribbean. Every tour operator has required the life jacket or vest while snorkeling.

 

I also used Ecotoursbelize.com for a flight over to Ambergris Caye to snorkel shark/ray alley. Awesome trip. Echotours hand walked us from the tender to the flight over and back. AWESOME snorkeling adventure. The small boat enabled us to get right next to a pod of dolphins. We were able to interact with nurse sharks, turtles and rays.

Wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

[Whumcruise]

Basically everywhere we went snorkeling with an operator (rather with a guide from the beach when renting equipment), they will want you to wear a life jacket. Some people do not react well to heat on the boat and get into the cooler water or even underestimate swimming in the ocean for a while. I wear it all the time just for safety.

[monicajay]

Thank-you for your post. I too would be VERY upset if an operator forced me to wear a life preserver. They are useless for snorkeling if you like to dive down. I always wear an inflatable snorkel vest. Let the air out when you want to go down, blow it up if you need support.

 

Fortunately, in all my snorkel trips we have always been provided with proper snorkel vests.

[Snorkel2Much]

Thank-you for your post. I too would be VERY upset if an operator forced me to wear a life preserver. They are useless for snorkeling if you like to dive down. I always wear an inflatable snorkel vest. Let the air out when you want to go down, blow it up if you need support.

 

Fortunately, in all my snorkel trips we have always been provided with proper snorkel vests.

This is standard practice for most of the cattle-boat snorkel operations in Belize, to keep novices from touching and killing the reef. Contact a private vendor and ask about their policy before booking if you don't want to float through your swim.