Coral Breeze or Eco Tours

[freezone]

Have decided to do shark/ray alley and Caye Caulker which group would you recommend? I have tried to book thru Coral and for some reason it will not let me book, so I left a message for Coral 3 days ago and haven't heard back. Suprisingly Eco Tours left me a reply I had on a recent thread. So obviously I know which group uses the computer more. Anyway who should I use, wanting whatever company will give me the most time on Caye Caulker. The DH hates when we get to the beach and the announcement is made as soon as we get settled in that it's time to go. Thanks for the assistance.

[SunFunCruiser]

I heard that the Govt. shut down Coral Breeze because they lost a snorkler?

Anyone else have any info on this?

[freezone]

Somethings going on. E-mailed twice with no reply and cannot book on-line. Whats up?

[southwardbound]

Do you have a web site for the Eco Tour? Thanks.:)

[freezone]

http://www.ecotoursbelize.com

[mrleo33]

Freezeone, We had a great time with ecotours. Our guides name was Natalie and she was fantastic. We were basically stood up by Coral Breeze (for more info. read the thread "Not impressed with Coral Breeze"). I can tell you that we had a much better time on this tour than our friends who went on the Coral Breeze Tour.

[Chalker Guy]

We were also happy with Ecotours.

 

SunFunCruiser,

I heard on the local news several weeks ago that somebody from Nebraska drowned on a snorkel excursion in Belize, but never heard any additional details. I think it was a passenger on a NCL cruise, but don't know who the tour operator was. From other posts, Coral Breezes seems to have a reputation for being safety conscious. I wouldn't hesitate to use either them or Ecotours.

 

No matter what you do, there are risks. We felt perfectly safe snorkeling in Belize, and will do so again in 2 weeks.

[freezone]

Thanks for the thumbs up for Eco Tours. Made the on-line reservation today just waiting for the confirm. How long is the boat ride ? Do they serve drinks, etc. or is it like a dive excursion where you just ride out, get ready and dive in ?

[mrleo33]

Duplicate post

[mrleo33]

I can't remember exactly but I think the boat ride out to where you snorkel is about 25-30 minutes. The sights along the way are neat so sit where you can see out of the boat. There are no alcoholic drinks offered on this tour. However, bottled water is plentiful. You will stop briefly in Caye Caulker before going out to snorkel and at that point anyone who doesn't want to snorkel or swim with the sharks and the rays can hang out on the beach there. There is a nice little beach side open air restaurant that has good food and drinks ( I highly recommend the Belikin Beer) you will return here for lunch after snorkelling and playing with the sharks and rays. Lunch is not included in the price of your tour but it is well worth the price for authentic Belize cuisine. I hope you have Natalie as a guide, she is a lovely young lady who I enjiyed talking to immensely. She will tell you all about the culture and she speaks creole and english and is a wealth of knowledge. She was very safety conscious, she warned us of a very large barracuda (5 foot) that was swimming very close to the people from the Coral Breeze tour that I believe they were unaware of, and instructed us to remove all of our sparkly jewelry since they think diamonds and anything that shimmers is lunch. I didn't know this fact and now make it a point when we go off the ship to do anything in the water to leave the jewelry on the ship. She also got off the boat first to check the area out for safety before she let anyone else in to the water. She found a large poisonous spiny sea urchin and relocated it away from where we were so no one would step on it. So word to the wise, leave your jewelry on the ship and wear water shoes. After d/h saw Natalie and the Sea Urchin he opted to wear his Tennis shoes while in the water which ruined them, so we ended up shopping for new tennies in Puerto Rico lol! I think you will be in great hands and have a blast.

[Chalker Guy]

Natalie was great, very professional as well as entertaining. Quote from Natalie on the fast boat trip to Caye Caulker: "Hang onto your hats. If you lose it, we are not going back for it unless your head is in it."

[freezone]

Sounds fantastic ! Will try the beer recommendation. Thanks for all the great info !!!!:)