PLEASE READ BEFORE BOOKING!
LOST ALMOST $1000
(Revised to add this paragraph, which trip advisor won't allow edits to include this warning): Be careful. We had 5 adults on this trip. All 5 left reviews on trip advisor and he thinks I'm posting all 5. He's threatening legal action saying we're trying to ruin his business. THIS ALONE is why they have 5 stars on trip advisor. Trip advisor will remove your bad review if he disputes it and you don't reply promptly. Well I replied promptly and so will my family. This guy is crook! BE CAREFUL! He admits on my comment there that winds were 20 mph. That's all I really need. He should have canceled.
Booked snorkeling and sandbar for 11. Sent a text 3 hours before departure to ask if weather was a concern. Matt replied quickly saying snorkeling was out due to weather but the sandbar had great weather and the water was calm. (photo posted). He refunded us $330. Not ideal, but we were past the point where we could cancel and decided to take this mans word that the sandbar was worth $816 and that the weather was nice.
Weather seemed ok until we got out on the water. The winds for whale harbor at 1pm on 11/22/21 were 19-20 mph (you can look this up). 6 of our group got in the water thinking if they just kept their body in the water they would be ok. 5 refused to get in. 2 were crying. We immediately put the 3 year old in moms hoodie and rocked him to sleep, he was freezing. Holding him provided a personal heater so we were all passing the baby around to keep warm. There were 40 people on this boat and less than half got in.
The people who got in stayed at the back of the boat where the wind was being blocked. My brother in law tried to take one of the kayaks out but the wind was just too strong to have any fun.
A good captain would ACKNOWLEDGE that the crowd was miserable. Like "shoot guys, I tried. Thought the wind wouldn't be bad but I was wrong. What are you guys thinking, you want to stay, you want to head back." But we got nothing...he cowered in the back of his boat and pretended like nothing was wrong. You look at the photos he advertises and there are tons of other boats and tons of people in the water. On our trip there was ONE other boat and it was a fishing boat, not a soul in the water. At the tail end of the 2.5 hours of hell another snorkel boat showed up (snorkel girl) and less than half of their passengers got in too. I don't know what either of these two captains were thinking.
Actually I do. This guy decided $4,000 was too good to pass up and he didn't care that the wind was 19mph - he was not going to cancel.
He didn't make eye contact, ignored the problem. Not a single person left a tip. It was hell! $816 to sit on a boat less than half a mile away from the parking lot. This guy could see from his dock the spot he parks his piece of crap boat, could see the flags out there flopping around like crazy! He didn't care! Someone said they were cold and he said, we at least it's not as cold as it was this morning. My husband was the last off the boat and told Matt that he should have canceled the trip, he would not respond or make eye contact. I text him a couple times afterward asking for a full refund and he flat out ignored all communication. (photos shared)
We've snorkeled with horizon divers in key largo for john pennekamp, captain pips for sombrero reef, taken the seaplane to the dry tortugas, fished with key largo fishing adventures, eaten at 50 different places. Shopped all over. Stayed at 12 different places. Quite literally have encountered 100 different business owners in the keys over the years and have not had a single bad experience. We LOVE the Keys. Love the easy going laid back island life. We've had 3 different adventures canceled on us due to bad weather (I've left reviews on their cancelation methods saying we appreciated not being charged for a bad experience and appreciated the good call of judgment).
This man needs to be put out of business. He is a crook and I plan to work with my credit card company on this because it's crooked. Refusing to make eye contact, refusing to address the situation, and refusing to respond to our inquiries for a refund. Taking people out in bad weather to make money. You clearly lack ethics! I hope you lose your business.
Book with a company who won't take you out on a bad day and rob you of almost $1000! read more