"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"…read more
In my opinion, One Star rating, for Ecofun / Rocky Point Adventures. And all of this review , is my opinion. We seemed to have trouble contacting the company. In attempt to book the sunset cruise on Wednesday 23 October, my friend called on Tuesday and talked to a lady who told us yes, there is a sunset cruise on Wednesday and to call back Wednesday morning though to book it. When he called Wednesday, but perhaps not til afternoon, a guy answered the phone and said the office is always closed on Wednesday. We wound up going to our hotel concierge who then booked the Sunset cruise for 9 of us. We enjoyed a very pleasant Ecofun sunset cruise. The guy checking us in, (Matt?), said he was one of only two guys who answer the phone number we had called, as my friend read the number to him to verify it. So when we eventually walked away to board the sunset cruise we were simply confused about the phone contacts knowing our number was good. At boarding, we also inquired about the Bird Island tour and the guy who checked us in told us it was 1:45 -2 hours cruise to get to the Island and the time window was 7:30 to 3:30 for the trip. We paid for the Saturday Bird Island tour and then all nine of us boarded for the sunset cruise. Very nice weather, pleasant seas, friendly captain. Prompt and polite service for drinks. The snack was a slightly below average brand of tortilla chips with some salsa in a basket. So room for improvement there. Didn't mind that too much as we had dinner plans immediately afterward. So for about $28 total per person, two hours with the views back at the mainland, a few drinks and pleasant staff, it was very enjoyable. I also had a friend during the tour tell me the Captain said he would be our Captain on Saturday, so I was glad to hear this second hand information. But I am not for sure exactly what was said. So now on to Saturdays trip to Bird Island, and unfortunately, it was just a feces show. What happened was basically in my opinion, close to a bait and switch, that resulted in the ultra long day from hell. We find the same gentleman, Matt?, who checked us in for the sunset cruise, and we get led to a holding area and then shortly onto a boat called the Sea Senior. Already loaded were about 6 divers on a dive trip to the island apparently led by the local dive shop director. With several others, but not too many folks, we departed for the island about 8am. The food and drink servers who worked the boat were first rate. Very polite, friendly, and constantly checking on the passengers. 6 stars on a 5 star scale for the interior crew service. Several snacks that included fresh sliced fruit. Lunch was a ham sandwich but on a nice bread with fresh lettuce and tomato. Unfortunately these great servers really worked a long long time as it took over 3 hours to get to the island on this calm seas low wind morning. Not 1:45 - 2 hours. Once anchored, they put out a line with floating life ring and they let the divers get in the water. The crew also put out a tethered round swim float and a large matt which was still rolled up. A few people loaded into kayaks and then swimmers were put into the water, all with life jackets. I was about the fifth swimmer in. I floated a little past the life ring and then decided I should get back to it. And it was not an easy swim back to it with the life jacket on. A few more swimmers entered a few stayed on the floats while a few others drifted away with the current not realizing the current. I looked farther out and for over ten minutes a kayak tried to pull one swimmer back to the float line, but it just made no ground. A different kayak was paddling around apparently far less difficulty. The deck crew would wave at people to swim back closer to boat, but didn't seem to understand they could not as they drifted farther away. This is happening over a significant period of time and it is taking that long to put people in the water. It took one of our friends talking to the captain to convince him that many of the people in the water so far away were caught in a current. I was utterly shocked how the boats deck crew seemed oblivious to what was happening with the current. The boats deck crew finally told everyone to get back into the boat that was near it, and this still while someone was telling my wife to go ahead and get in. So I had to tell my wife to stay on the boat. Loading back on the boat, the boat had a shelf about 15 inches wide at water level, but it had no stairs. Some folks had to pulled up by their life jackets, which at the end of the day left a couple of my friends with sore bodies. After loading the close swimmers from the floats/lines, the boat repositioned to where most of the swimmers had drifted and with the one well paddled kayak crew, the swimmers were finally collected up. (continued in attachments)
