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Eli's Eco tour or Xtreme tour???

lynnquenby

By lynnquenby,
in Antigua

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lynnquenby

lynnquenby

Posted
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We're looking to do one of Eli's tours - have been to Antigua before and done a catamaran circumnav.

 

Can anyone advise which would be better? Leaning towards the xtreme as think that the Eco tour may be a bit too laid back - would be happy for advice from anyone who has done either tour.

 

Thanks

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lovesdachshunds

lovesdachshunds

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My husband & I just returned from our cruise and did the Xtreme tour while in Antigua. It was my favorite excursion of the whole trip (My husband's 2nd favorite...diving the Wreck of the Rhone in Tortola won)! It was a great way to see Antigua. Well worth the money!

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geosgirl

geosgirl

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My husband & I just returned from our cruise and did the Xtreme tour while in Antigua. It was my favorite excursion of the whole trip (My husband's 2nd favorite...diving the Wreck of the Rhone in Tortola won)! It was a great way to see Antigua. Well worth the money!

 

Hey Neighbor! You are the only other person I think I have seen on here who is from Knoxville :D

 

I am pretty sure this is what we want to do in Antigua - and we keep hearing good things about it. Any more details?

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lovesdachshunds

lovesdachshunds

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Hey Neighbor! You are the only other person I think I have seen on here who is from Knoxville :D

 

I am pretty sure this is what we want to do in Antigua - and we keep hearing good things about it. Any more details?

 

It's a small world! What part of Knoxville do you live in?

 

The Xtreme tour had some nice snorkeling spots and lunch was at a very pretty private island. Lunch was barbeque chicken (the BEST we have ever had!), pasta, salad, banana bread, and local beverages (their version of tea and fruit punch). We also visited a beautiful private beach and they served rum punch (not the sappy sweet stuff normally served...this was again the BEST we've ever had!). The crew was very professional (they were a few minutes late picking us up in the morning from the dock...don't panic if this happens, they pick up people from all over Antigua...we were the only ones from the cruise ship). It was a great day & we wish we could go back and do it all over again!

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geosgirl

geosgirl

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It's a small world! What part of Knoxville do you live in?

 

The Xtreme tour had some nice snorkeling spots and lunch was at a very pretty private island. Lunch was barbeque chicken (the BEST we have ever had!), pasta, salad, banana bread, and local beverages (their version of tea and fruit punch). We also visited a beautiful private beach and they served rum punch (not the sappy sweet stuff normally served...this was again the BEST we've ever had!). The crew was very professional (they were a few minutes late picking us up in the morning from the dock...don't panic if this happens, they pick up people from all over Antigua...we were the only ones from the cruise ship). It was a great day & we wish we could go back and do it all over again!

 

North - Corryton. How about you? This tour sounds absolutely wonderful! I cannot wait!

 

You may not be able to tell from my avatar, but we are Jack Russell lovers :D We have 2 and my DH would love to have a house full!

 

Thanks for the info on the tour!

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coco6

coco6

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How long are these tours? the xtreme tour and the eco tour. I'm planing on doing a helicopter tour to mt. monserrat volcano first, which takes about 45mins then I was hoping to do one of Eli's tours, just wondering if I have time to do both. The ship is docked from 8:00-6:00pm

 

Thanks

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Miss Vickie

Miss Vickie

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How long are these tours? the xtreme tour and the eco tour. I'm planing on doing a helicopter tour to mt. monserrat volcano first, which takes about 45mins then I was hoping to do one of Eli's tours, just wondering if I have time to do both. The ship is docked from 8:00-6:00pm

 

Thanks

 

 

I'm not sure that would be possible. The Xtreme tour pick up is around 9, and the EcoTour closer to 10. And each one is about 6 hours long. You absolutely can't go wrong taking either one, though.

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newcruisergal

newcruisergal

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Definitely our favorite port and our very favorite excursion of the entire week. This is an all day excursion on a power boat that takes you all the way around the island of Antigua. Cost was $153/person and worth every penny. We had 14 people on board, I think they take a max of 16 or so which was nice.

 

The crew were superb: friendly, knowledgeable about the history and culture of the island as well as the stops we made, and just fun to hang out with. Our crew were JD, Trevor, and Chris. We stopped at Stingray City for snorkeling, where the local guide Scooby gave us an orientation to the rays. This was amazing, no one else was there so we had lots of time and space to explore and play with the rays. We were first time snorkelers and had no problems at all, although the speed with which the rays could sneak up on you took some getting used to! They are very gentle though and so much fun to watch. We continued on the tour, just riding on the boat was SO fun! It was really great out on the Atlantic side of the island where the surf was rougher. We sat in the front so got more bounce but not wet at all.

 

There are many millionaire homes and hotels on this island and our captain JD pointed them all out to us, including Eric Clapton’s house. Very cool! We stopped for lunch on a private beach and ate barbecued ribs, fresh salad, fried plaintains, pasta salad, and homemade banana bread under the coconut tree. They had water, passion fruit juice, and tamarin juice which was delicious, it tasted like iced tea sweetened with fruit juice. We all had seconds, everything was excellent. We next went to Nelson’s Dockyard where it became clear that our crew knew everything about every single yacht that was docked, who the crew was, etc. Very entertaining! We then snorkeled at the Pillars of Hercules which was wonderful, Trevor got in the water and lead us all the way up the shore line. Visibility was great and the fish plentiful. Very fun. We were again the only group here and we could simply hop off the side of the boat to begin snorkeling.

 

We ended the day at Rendezvous Bay, the most beautiful, natural and secluded beach we’ve ever seen. Here we enjoyed rum punch and some swimming before returning back to the ship. We would do this tour again in a heartbeat, it was professional from top to bottom and so much fun. Might also try their Eco Tour although we just loved the speed boat so much that we might miss it. :D I don't think you can go wrong with this very professional outfit.

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geosgirl

geosgirl

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Definitely our favorite port and our very favorite excursion of the entire week. This is an all day excursion on a power boat that takes you all the way around the island of Antigua. Cost was $153/person and worth every penny. We had 14 people on board, I think they take a max of 16 or so which was nice.

 

The crew were superb: friendly, knowledgeable about the history and culture of the island as well as the stops we made, and just fun to hang out with. Our crew were JD, Trevor, and Chris. We stopped at Stingray City for snorkeling, where the local guide Scooby gave us an orientation to the rays. This was amazing, no one else was there so we had lots of time and space to explore and play with the rays. We were first time snorkelers and had no problems at all, although the speed with which the rays could sneak up on you took some getting used to! They are very gentle though and so much fun to watch. We continued on the tour, just riding on the boat was SO fun! It was really great out on the Atlantic side of the island where the surf was rougher. We sat in the front so got more bounce but not wet at all.

 

There are many millionaire homes and hotels on this island and our captain JD pointed them all out to us, including Eric Clapton’s house. Very cool! We stopped for lunch on a private beach and ate barbecued ribs, fresh salad, fried plaintains, pasta salad, and homemade banana bread under the coconut tree. They had water, passion fruit juice, and tamarin juice which was delicious, it tasted like iced tea sweetened with fruit juice. We all had seconds, everything was excellent. We next went to Nelson’s Dockyard where it became clear that our crew knew everything about every single yacht that was docked, who the crew was, etc. Very entertaining! We then snorkeled at the Pillars of Hercules which was wonderful, Trevor got in the water and lead us all the way up the shore line. Visibility was great and the fish plentiful. Very fun. We were again the only group here and we could simply hop off the side of the boat to begin snorkeling.

 

We ended the day at Rendezvous Bay, the most beautiful, natural and secluded beach we’ve ever seen. Here we enjoyed rum punch and some swimming before returning back to the ship. We would do this tour again in a heartbeat, it was professional from top to bottom and so much fun. Might also try their Eco Tour although we just loved the speed boat so much that we might miss it. :D I don't think you can go wrong with this very professional outfit.

Thanks for the review - I can't wait to go on our cruise so we can check this out! Glad you all had such a great time!

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newcruisergal

newcruisergal

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I know a lot of folks have trouble deciding between the two! I really think you can't go wrong. My impression was that the Eco Tour gives you a bit more time at each destination, it's more of a laid back day. The Xtreme tour is all about the speedboat...not exactly laid back but very exciting! But I still felt we got to know a great deal about the ecology and history of the island on the Xtreme tour. Bottom line, it's a top notch organization clearly dedicated to customer satisfaction...pick one tour and then you have a great excuse to come back and do the other on the next cruise!

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PaddleAddict

PaddleAddict

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I did the Eco tour in October. Rearding the description of the Xtreme tour definitely makes me want to take it the next time I am in Antigua, but I really think you can't go wrong with either one. The Eco tour was probably slower paced, but fabulous, professional, interesting, fun and exciting, too (when we crawled through and on top of Hell's Gate--scary!!). The food was excellent, the crew was wonderful. I simply can't recommened this tour group enough!

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