Terex

I just returned from a wonderful week at the Sands. The Sands was great... Studio w/ garden View. Fishing was a different story...if you are an avid fisherman/woman and are looking for a charter Beware of the GWENDOLYN... Looks great on the brochure, but the boat is an unkept 30year old boat. No cushion on the chair (god forbid you latch on to the 600lbs. Marlin)The mate and the captain hardly speak to each other. There was no changing of Lures. The Mate was inside until one of us yelled fish on. The advertised A/C was on the top deck, when the captain was doing about 20 knots or more. Bring a flashlight if you need to use the facilities, unless you want to go with the door open. If you catch fish plan on having the captain take half, Usually in the past it is up to the people chartering the boat to give it to the crew if they don't want to take it. We did take ours (2 small fish) and had the chef at the Sands cook it for us it was great!! Well I guess I have said enough. It probably would have been fine if you just wanted a boat ride for 4 hours at $700 dollars paid up front so they would have enough gas.
Sorry if I have offended anyone, it was just my experience I wanted to share.

barginhunter

Thanks for your input we are planing a trip to Provo and all feed back helps. did you do any bone fishing? How was the snorkling? Thanks for your input.

Terex

Hi Barginhunter,
In reply to your message we did not do any Bonefishing, but a couple that we had met had previously been on a trip and said that it was ok, nothing real special I think they had gone with J&B tours. My suggestion is to talk with some people maybe down at where the tour goes out of..
As for Snorkling we did not take a tour, we brought our own snorkles and masks and walked to Coral Gardens from the Sands about a 20 minute walk on the beach. We saw some great fish, (baracuda named Elvis I think) some sea turtles. I was nice. the water was a little rough for Provo when we were there, but very similar to Aruba. Our vacation was to relax and we chose not to do many tours. We did snorkle in front of the Sands and saw Starfish and Sand dollars, and some little fish.
Let me know if I can answer anything else for you.

cdt

To barginhunter -

We also snorkeled at Coral Gardens and it was fairly good; we preferred Smith's Reef (also shore snorkeling). You can also take a boat out the the barrier reef for good snorkeling.

Terex mentioned Aruba: the snorkeling was MUCH better in Provo.

Terex

CDT
I just wanted to clarify the Aruba Comment: I was not comparing the Snorkling to Aruba but the condition of the Surf or waves while we were there. The locals commented that the BAY is usually much calmer like glass. There was a storm pattern hanging over the Island while we were there and it made the seas a little rougher than normal, more in the same way Aruba is with the constant wind and waves (although the Current was not a nearly as strong as Aruba)

barginhunter

Thanks for all your input. We will be going next year, but have begun planning.The weather is always a ? in the caribbean. Provo sounds like the perfect island for great beaches and snorkiling, and great fishing is a bonus. With three kids we are not looking for the craziness of The Beaches Resorts, just relaxing beaches and an island to explore.