Aruba Glass Bottom Kayak Tour through the Mangrove Forest

Posted By : rkjones527
I don't like writing negative reviews, but in this case I'll make an exception. First, though, let me say that JD and Eli were both friendly and knowledgeable. However: We booked the tour for April 13, paid, showed up early, and no one came to meet us. With some difficulty, we managed to contact the company and were told they'd overbooked and so had cancelled us; they said they'd sent us a message a day ahead, but we never received any such message. They offered to take us out on April 14 or refund our money, and we changed some other plans in order to go on April 14. The tour is titled "Glass Bottom Kayak Tour through the Mangrove Forest." We did not, however, go through the mangrove forest. Instead, we were out in the open ocean, and the gunwales of our kayak were so low that we shipped a lot of water. We could SEE mangroves in the distance, and for about 15 minutes we were in a calm cove alongside the mangroves, but we never went "through the ... forest." In fact, I asked about channels into the forest and was told that there aren't any. The tour description says that "fruit and water" will be provided. They weren't. (We were offered iced tea at the end, and it hit the spot. But no fruit.) The description also says that the tour lasts "90-120 minutes," but we were out for a little less than an hour. I'll mention but not complain about the facts that the company pickup that took us to the put-in spot broke down and that we saw zero fish through the plexiglass (not glass) bottom of the kayak. Vehicles sometimes break down, and fish don't wait around for us to come look at them; we know that. We don't really even care about the fruit. But a tour that bills itsef as going "through the mangrove forest" and lasting "90-120 minutes" really ought to actually GO through the mangrove forest and LAST 90-120 minutes, shouldn't it?!
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Posted On : 2024-04-15

Posted By : Darshita_A
It was very pleasant experience doing clear kayak. The staff guided us really well and made sure we experience the most out of it :)
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Posted On : 2024-04-06

Posted By : Chris_M
The hosts were not totally clear on the meeting location and we got there and didn't know where the group was. We finally found them down a bit further. They drove some of us to the site where we put the kayaks in the water and had to go pick up some others who were late. This left us sitting in the hot sun waiting for about 30 minutes, not fun and not how we wanted to be spending out time. The kayak was tandem so this made it difficult to paddle together with my partner (we have very little experience with it). Luckily it was a calm day and we made it til the end. The hosts left again to pickup drinks and fruit and we were waiting for an other 15 minutes. It was a decent excursion but I feel like it couldve been better executed. This could be a challenging experience on a windy day with more waves.
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Posted On : 2024-04-01

Posted By : Yvonne_D
The mangrove forest tour was a bit of a dissapointment. We we're the only 2 people who joined the tour. The Kayak was sinking and turned over so we had to swim to the beach starting from the sea. The rocks were also very sharp, cut my knee, had several bruses on my leg The sea was also very rough. We didn't see any fish or turtle and returned very soon. I think it should have been a better decision to cancel the trip because of the rough see and high waves. The guides were friendly but they should have canceled the trip, it wasn't worth the money.
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Posted On : 2024-02-29

Posted By : egutshall52
Beautiful day to be out on the water around Mangel Halto Beach in a glass bottom kayak. Our guides D.J. and Elijah were energetic and motivated to show us a good time and that they did. They pointed out numerous coral formations, jellyfish, and local plant life. We especially enjoyed seeing numerous sea turtles during this excursion. We spent little time within the Mangroves (might want to change the tour title), but this did not detract from the outing. Take time to see how beautiful the SouthWest coast of the island is by joining this team for the glass bottom kayak excursion.
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Posted On : 2024-02-29

Posted By : Scott_W
The guides were fun and knowledgeable and the nature was beautiful. I'd do it again in a heartbeat! They will even walk you through everything if you are a beginner as well.
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Posted On : 2024-02-25

Posted By : Dan_H
The tour guys were friendly and polite. Cool guys. BUT Definitely not what I was expecting. Based on the name mangrove forest, I was thinking more river kayaking through mangroves. Not the case at all. Open water ocean kayaking only. Just happens to be mangroves on the shore line. A clear bottom kayak are made for calm back water NOT the ocean. Kept filling with water with bigger waves. My wife was freaking out, open ocean in a kayak, not her thing. It should be advertised, open water/ocean kayaking. Then we would have known before hand. Plus you may attract people looking for that. Provide a single ocean kayak and go for it! Ride the waves. The water is not clear enough to really see anything anyway in the ocean. I seen a lot of good reviews. So if you are into ocean kayaking and okay with the kayak filling with water. Have at it. You'll be fine. Just know what your paying for.
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Posted On : 2024-02-12

Posted By : Cheryl_C
Our guides JD and Elijah were so kind. We are older so they definitely made sure we were doing fine.
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Posted On : 2024-02-07

Posted By : Susan Z
We had a lovely time on the tour. My husband saw a huge moray eel and it was very cool to be able to look through the bottom of the kayak and see everything so clearly underwater.
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Posted On : 2024-02-07

Posted By : AnastasiyaBolgova
This was a unique experience discovering the mangrove forest of Mangel Halto and the coral reef further out to sea. If you love adventurous kayaking in open water with some waves then this experience is for you! Jeandrick was an incredible tour guide that went above and beyond to lead the group out to sea and give us a wonderful tour!
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Posted On : 2023-11-25