DO NOT USE THIS PLACE! We usually float with friends that own a rafting business, however, this time we didn't float with them (our mistake) and my husband and I decided to take our two sons (ages 12 & 15) floating.
We arrived at 3RO at the designated time and went in to check in and pay. So far so good.....after paying, the lady behind the counter very hastily "explained" to us the route we would be taking on the river. We had told her this was our first time to float this particular route; you'll think she'd take a little extra time and effort, but no.
So we go outside and are told to pick out our life jackets from a pile of ANCIENT life jackets. They are so old, weathered and ragged. After that, we watch two workers load up a blue raft on the trailer behind the most rickety, rusted out, dented up white van I've ever seen. We get on the van and its filthy and stinky. Yeah I get it, it's the river and it gets wet from passengers. But it was dirty, dilapidated, and it hadn't had any TLC or maintenance in years. Once the driver gets in & turns the key, silence. Nothing. The motor doesn't turn over. The driver then yells out the window to the other workers, "hey, y'all got any jumper cables?" No one does, and after fiddling with who-knows-what, it eventually starts. Then we embark on the roughest, most hazardous and bone-rattling 3 mile journey to low water bridge. We weren't familiar with this location but let me tell you, it is NOT an appropriate start point for a raft trip. Once parked, we get out, worker takes the raft off the trailer and I ask "is this really where we get in at?" He says "yeah". That's it, nothing else. No instruction, no concern, nothing. He gets in the van and drives off. We place the raft in the water (all 3-4 inches of it because this area is nothing but rocks by the bank) and try to push it past the rocks. Eventually we do and we begin floating. About ten min later, we notice the raft seems to have filled up with more water Han is typically normal. After some more thorough looking, there's a small hole in the raft. So, we spend the trip with water over our ankles and have to stop twice to dump it out. The raft had no seats, it was very old and it had been patched multiple times on the bottom.
Once returning to the office, my husband and I both expressed our frustration and disappointment with the experience and never even got an apology. It was almost as if they didn't believe us. They could have easily gone out right then and inspected the raft but they showed no concern. They never said "I'm sorry" or offered to compensate us in any way for the terrible experience.
Their lack of empathy, professionalism and decent equipment leave me wondering how on earth they're still in business. If we had been a group of inexperienced teenagers or young adults, the raft could have easily turned into a tragic situation.
I will never use them again, obviously, and I will also discourage any one else from using them. There are many other SAFER options. read more