The water level and rapids was perfect today for my first time experiencing whitewater rafting…read more We arrived a little after 9am, we made reservations ahead of time and there was a couple of big groups checking in ahead of us. The process was quick, check in, sign waiver forms, get your paddle, life vest and helmet and you're ready to go. Before we got in the water we got some instructions how to go down the main rapids: Wildcat Falls, Lone Star Dam and the Narrows. The Wildcat falls, go towards the right of the river, aim center of the two giant boulders and go down left. Most people went way right down it and got stuck at the bottom boulder and some fell in the water. We manage to go down successfully after watching a few rafters. The Lone Star Dam, stay close to the right side to go down it. The rest of the dam has a under tow that can be really dangerous and can pin you down specially if you go down sideways. The Narrows, make sure to hit it straight on and just ride the rapids. That was my favorite section. Yes, this can be dangerous. Just follow the instructions, ask a lot of questions and know your ability. Their is no guide on the raft with you. Tips before going. -Make sure to watch the safety video first, link provided on their website. -Make sure to check the water level and speed at the US coastguard link provided on their website as well. -Lastly know your ability or skills/experience paddling/kayaking/rafting. -I also watched a few YouTube videos to have an idea of the areas mentioned above. -They only accept cash or check. Today, 6/8/19, the water level was 8 feet deep and flowrate of 1500. Classified as Class 3. There was a huge group of boys scouts out the same time we did it and everyone got through it safely and had fun.

I went white water rafting yesterday and it is seriously beautiful! So much wildlife, nature and…read morethe path is very nice you can even see a waterfall at the end, it is dangerous if you don't know what you're doing or go alone but go in a group and research before you do this activity you will be fine. It is kind of sad that there is garbage every now and then left on land, people ruining the nature but still beautiful for the most part. As other reviews state, avoid the dam area , paddle to the right.

Jeff is the nicest, chillest guy. He had our equipment ready and gave us great tips on how to…read moresuccessfully get through the course. We had an absolute blast and will be back!

Yak Shack is a great local paddling outfitter... very knowledgeable and they are willing to teach…read moreyou all you're willing to learn! Good selection of gear selection rentals as well as some used kayaks to help beginners get into kayaking on a budget. They have boats to fit everybody from kids to big guys!

IF YOU ARE READING THIS, VISIT THIRD COAST PADDLING!!!! We visited on 6/3. It's a beautiful area to…read moreexplore while being active as well! The equipment was in excellent condition and the staff are WONDERFUL. The young gentleman working on Wednesday June 3 around 2pm was very kind! He offered us some points of interest to look out for along the way and encouraged us to come back over the summer, which we plan to! We had a hiccup with the parking situation but the staff went above and beyond to help us remedy that quickly and efficiently, so THANK YOU to the Oliver for reaching out to us. Please share our gratitude with your entire team-- customer service like this keeps people coming back!!!!! Excellent excellent excellent!

We enjoyed our time. The rental comes with life jackets and the marsh is beautiful. I'm…read moreAn experienced kayaker but what concerns me is that on a busy Sunday only one high school kid was working, there was no instruction as to where to turn back, which way to go, what areas to stay out of, or what wildlife to keep a safe distance from. (And there were swans with babies there. I mean I know that they're one of the most aggressive shore birds that exist, but some city folk don't) The fine print on the confirmation tells you which way to go, but it's a compass direction, not a right or left. There are no signs stating which way to go. Ive lived here over 30 yrs, I don't think I could tell you which way was which. The kid working doesn't say anything, he just shoves you off. Also, there were storms rolling in about 4pm. Anyone working for an outfitter should always be aware of the weather and tell ppl, your reservation is for x mins long, but keep an eye on the sky, or maybe a white board posted with the forecast? I didn't know about having to pay for parking until I got there as it only shows this in fine print AFTER you get your confirmation. Also I arrived on time but they were backed up and being that there was only one person and there's no sign that says "kayakers must pay for parking" both myself and another group had to run back and do the parking stuff after we had waited 15 minutes for our turn. I was pretty frustrated thinking that surely they own their own parking spaces, but the city of new Buffalo as screwed me over once again. Again, I have kids, which means they can only handle paddling for an hour. This stupid parking Situation FORCES you to pay for 3 hrs regardless if you're there or not. I think that's ridiculous and they're doing it to rip off tourists. Well I'm not a tourist, I live 20 mins away. My family has been here since 1989. The only ppl This hurts is the hardworking locals. I think it's dumb that only the ppl living in the city of new buffalo are allowed to get a parking pass. Give me a break. I'm sure plenty of ppl would pay $100 per year for an annual parking pass. Because of this parking nonsense, I'll be investing in my own kayak and SUP and going elsewhere. This parking nonsense has to stop, it's freaking Michigan this is NOT the HAMPTONS. The city needs to get over itself. I'd give it 5 stars but parking plus lack of staff and lack of communication is why I only gave it 3.

This is a pretty nice rapids course in south bend, Indiana. It's about a half mile long rapids…read morecourse and you can go alone or fit up to 6 per raft. It's not insanely difficult but the rocks on the rapids do make it a bit difficult- hit one of them and you're flipping for sure (I did today). I don't like that you have to walk the half mile back to the start to do it again, but it's a nice course overall, just a pretty short rapids course - you're on the river for about 5-10 minutes. There is no "break" sections in the water - the rapids are non stop just FYI. Fun place though, I would recommend.

Whitewater rafting in the urban midwest! When you live in the midwest as I do, you learn to dig…read moredeep for new outdoor ideas. Finding this place was the equivalent of striking gold!! East Race Waterway is a man-made whitewater route using the water from the St. Joseph River. The course is about a half mile long and it takes roughly five minutes to navigate. You have three main options to use the race. Non-kayak owners (renters) can choose from the inflatable doubles kayak (seats two..of course) or a large raft (3-6 passengers). Rides in the inflatable kayak or large raft are $5 per person, per ride. If you bring your own kayak it's $15 for the day. The rented boats come with oars, life jackets and a helmet, so you don't need to bring those pieces of equipment. As for the race, you're going to get wet. Let's call it soaked! The race contains category II whitewater rapids and in at least three spots, you're going to get a rush of water thrust upon you. It doesn't take much experience to figure out how to guide your boat and if you go at the rapids head on you won't capsize. We watched many go over though, and that's because they broke the cardinal rule of hitting the rapids with a sideways boat. Even if you capsize it's no big deal. There's a few things you'll need to bring or consider. First, a soled shoe that covers at least the backside of your heal and straps across the top is mandatory. Basically, anything except open-toed flip-flips will work. Hard sole water shoes like Keen's work the best. Remember that you're going to get wet, I mean soaked..so phones, car keys, jewelry and loose sunglasses are all a really bad idea. If you have to bring keys make sure you bring a ziplock bag and have a zipped pocket to store them in. The water isn't nearly as dirty as some claim and there's a hose with clean water at the end of the race to rinse with. All the same I'd still recommend wearing older clothing if you can. This place is a total blast and a unique opportunity for mid-westerners. The race is only open June-early August and only on the weekends, so be sure to plan this one carefully. We'll certainly be back!

The staff is so nice and accommodating. The equipment is good. We come back every year!read more

Ckg in was no problem. We had 14 in our group, with life jackets, coolers, personal packs, and had…read moreto cram into a van that seats 12 - not a good experience. Arrived at launch 'area' ~ side of the road with @ least a 30 deg. downslope of jagged rocks to the river's edge. Our driver (Dan) off loaded canoes from the trailer rack & we were left to take them down to the river, along with all of our gear! WTF? It wasn't safe for my 62 y.o. self & my 50 y.o. brother didn't need to be manipulating the heavy aluminum canoes (6 of them). Additionally, it wasted a lot of time that we could've been on the water. End of trip wasn't better. Off loaded at a small beach area within a campground. The van/trailer was backed up to beach area, but we had to go ashore about 8 paces before the beach because there we a bunch of kidz playing in the water. Again, our group had to unload our stuff from canoes AND haul them up a berm & over to the trailer (Dan may have moved 1). It was quite obvious he copped an attitude, by his changed demeanor from our interaction with him @ beginning of trip. We had no idea why the change, but didn't imagine it had anything to do with us. Upon returning to the office to ck out, we were told to hang up our 14 life vests (been on a lot of canoe trips & never had to do the staffs' jobs before - smh). As our group was in the lot saying goodbye to one another, one member approached me to say 'I know why Dan was angry when he picked us up. I heard him tell the lady behind the desk that we didn't go ashore at the beach right by his trailer, so he had to haul the canoes over to it.'. SMH We tried this business on the Kankakee River to save us drive time to Tippecanoe River (riverside rentals), which has been our 'go to' for the last few years. We'll be going back to them now & I won't complain about the drive time (lol). MUCH better service (staff puts canoes in & takes them out), $20/canoe cheaper & they're fiberglass so they're lighter), they use a short school bus to transport which provides plenty of room for our group/gear. And, at the end (knowing we're pooped out) they even help us remove our gear from the canoes! Note; the kankakee river route wasn't woodsy (residential) & was often parallel to back roads which were busy with cars/motorcycles - so noisy as well, there were speed boats zooming all over near the beach area where we needed to go ashore, and there weren't ANY good places to stop to stretch or have lunch - too high embankments & MUCK 6" deep (we were told there were plenty of island to stop at - sure, you can stop but you can't access islands). We were also told there was a good current, which was only true in a very few areas where the water was shallow so we didn't appreciate the heavy canoes. All in all it was a lot of work for us & a big disappointment :(

I found this travel agency on Reddit of all places! After seeing their great reviews on Yelp, their…read moreyears of experience, and that their US office was located in Chicago, my husband and I utilized their services to book our honeymoon. The booking process was very smooth. Andi was assigned to us and she took great care of us. I appreciated that she asked activities that we were interested in and planned our stays around that. The information provided to us was very detailed. The tours, hotels, and transportation were wonderful. The vans they had us in were super clean and drivers were friendly and bilingual. The transportation arrived at exact scheduled times for ALL of our tours and transfers. I also appreciated that they included what to pack for the different activities. I highly recommend this travel agency for your costa rica travel needs. PURA VIDA!

Shoutout to the good folks at Costa RIca Experts! Aaron and his team helped me plan a 7 day, 6…read morenight trip to beautiful Costa this past week. They really listened to all my inputs, from locations to types of activities. The final result turned out to be one incredibly detailed itinerary that also had room for flexibility and spontaneous exploration. I'm writing this review literally still on my second to last night here and am so grateful to have found them on Yelp!

First time kayaking. The staffs were very friendly. Explained the safety features in detail. Walked…read moreus thru the route. Gave tips as well on where are the best spots, which direction to go, how to manage the flow, how to avoid the boats. Happily took pictures for our group. The kayaks were in good condition and so was the life jackets. A must try and gotta to experience it with REI team!

Great experience today at REI rentals! My friend found out…read moreabout this place and we had to check it out! We went on a Friday and I recommend that day as the staff said Saturdays get busy. Staff Naomi walked us through techniques before getting in the kayak. They provide dry bags. Please note no lockers so I wouldn't bring a full size backpack. Tips: water shoes or shoeless, clothes that you don't mind getting wet, and a change of clothes. They helped us into the water but not getting out.