We signed up for a snorkeling trip with Oceano Adventures at Marietas Islands through GetYourGuide.com. We were running about 10 minutes late and OA called to make sure we were still coming. Thankfully we were only about a minute away when they called. We were introduced to our guide, Manuel, reminded about the 200 peso National Park entrance fee to the islands, and we introduced ourselves to the other three people joining the trip. About 5 minutes later we hopped in the van and headed out for the approx. 30 minute drive to the marina. At the marina we waited near the marina store and restaurant for about 10-15 minutes while Manuel and the two crew members that met us at the marina loaded up the boat and got everything ready.
Once on the boat we met "The Captain" and Kevin, the other two crew members. All of the crew members were in their early-to-mid twenties and very friendly and informative. Manuel and Kevin both spoke very good English. The boat ride to the Marietas Islands took about 30 minutes and we go to see a pod of dolphins along the way. Manuel filled us in on the details of the plans for the trip.
Once at the islands, Manuel scuba dove with the one guest who was diving, and Kevin joined the rest of us that were snorkeling. Kevin made sure to remind us about the rules of the park and pointed out the best places to view the marine wildlife and the birds of the island. We spent about 20-30 minutes snorkeling in the first spot and then we hopped back into the boat for a short trek to a small beach on one of the islands. After another 20-30 minutes on the beach we re-boarded the boat and took another short trek to the next snorkeling spot. This second spot had so many more fish than the first one. The water was warm and pretty clear at the first spot, but even more so at the second one. Very comfortable swimming the entire time. After about another 30 minutes of snorkeling we made our way back to the boat and at lunch on the way back to the marina.
Except for the phone call from OA, all of the communication came from Get Your Guide. The information was fairly clear, but not super thorough. They mentioned lunch and drinks being provided, but no mention of what those would be. Since our crew was all vegetarian we decided to play it safe and bring our own food, which was for the best since the lunches only consisted of chicken salad sandwiches and a cookie. The other folks said the provided sandwiches were decent, and my kids loved the cookies. Bottled water and cans of Coke were the provided beverages and the crew told us to enjoy as much as we wanted. The communication from GYG also wasn't very clear about the departure times. 9am was when the first email said to arrive, and the next one said 8:30am. What we determined when we arrived at OA was that 9am is the departure time from the marina, which is about a 30 minute drive from the OA office in Sayulita. So get to the OA office a little before 8:30am.
The crew was very helpful with any questions we had or helping us get our masks and fins adjusted if needed. Manuel was especially very social and out-going and informative.
The cost per person through GYG was about $1750 MEX/$90 USD, and then we spent an extra $200 MEX/$10 USD for the park passes and about $600 MEX/$30 USD tipping the crew. Not cheap, but worth it in our opinion. I'd be happy to book through OA again next time we are in Sayulita. read more