Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - snorkeling/adventure

We just got back from the Island Expeditions Paradise Islands Trip.

It is a lodge based trip, as opposed to camping. The first lodge we stayed at was absolutely awful - cockroach infested and we could see through the walls and the floor. Way beyond rustic - more like dilapidated. The entire Tobacco Caye island is unappealing and was a bad start to the trip. The second lodge was much improved and better lived up to the billing as "rustic". However, neither of the two lodges we stayed at were half as nice as the interior of the beach cabin shown on the Paradise Islands section of the website. There should be some truth in advertising, as a result buyer beware.

Also, even though I.E. asked for food restrictions, there was no accommodation for vegetarians or folks who did not eat red meat. The first 3 meals were all pork and/or beef. The only alternative was peanut butter sandwiches or rice/beans. For the price, that was a pretty pathetic alternative. There was also very little fresh seafood - perhaps 4 meals total, which was a disappointment. We had been told that almost all the meals were fresh seafood caught that day. Also, whenever fresh fruit was served, there was insufficient quantity for all the guests.

The Guides were very nice people, but I.E. looks to have gone for cost cutting and we did not have the North American guide the trip was billed as having. Instead we had 2 local guides, one of which spoke very poor English. Unfortunately, he also was the lead guide, which created safety issues as he was difficult to understand especially when on the water.

Safety was a bit of a concern. First off due to the language issue mentioned above, but most importantly the guides did not seem to have updated weather forecasts. The first day we paddled into a pretty severe storm – heavy rain, wind and currents. We were battling headwinds and current, which caused the group to spread way out, as no one wanted to stop, as doing so would push us back the way we’d just come. Ideally, the guides would have known the weather and got us going earlier in the day, so that we would have made the first destination prior to the storm hitting. Nothing bad happened, expect for one exhausted kayaker needing to be towed the last few miles; however, if anyone had capsized it could have been a bad situation. On a positive note, the first day did include wet exit training, as everyone had to capsize, exit and re-enter their kayaks.

Kayak equipment is fairly old and a bit run down. Spray skirts are not waterproof or even water repellent – any water soaks right through pretty much immediately, filling the cockpit with lots of water. We requested and had confirmation from the Canadian office that we would have 2 single kayaks. However, the Belize office arbitrarily cancelled the request without notifying us. Kayak instruction is also very limited, so don’t believe what is in the brochure - no advanced instruction and actually very little instruction even for novice kayakers. Novice kayakers weren’t even told the correct, most efficient way to paddle (using torso and leg muscles, instead of just your biceps). Many folks complained their arms were exhausted.

We felt there was too little kayaking (2 hours/day) and way too much snorkeling (3 – 4 hours), but then we are experienced kayakers who love being on the water. The islands are very far apart, so there was less opportunity to explore than we had hoped.

The trip wasn’t awful, as pretty much anything beats working, but it really wasn’t what we expected and the quality of lodging/food/equipment was much lower than we expected. We would not do another trip with Island Expeditions and would not recommend any of their trips to a friend.