I know the company is going to dispute this, and that's fine. I have to disagree with reviews who say Kris "Pirate" is awesome. There was no bioluminescence, and that was fine, totally not in anyone's control. My issues are Kris's treatment of wildlife - he chased a heron out of the water with his kayak so we could all hear the noise it makes when it's mad "it's so cool, it sounds like a pterodactyl". We hit a sleeping manatee with our kayak, we felt terrible, and it could have been avoided if we'd gone out another 5', which we did on the return trip. Manatees are endangered, and regardless, if you can avoid hitting an animal, why don't you? Kris was also hell-bent on catching an alligator even though we were all fine just looking at one from a distance, but no, because "there's nothing like catching and touching one", "don't tell my boss, he'll freak out", and "don't leave a bad review". The night time stars were amazing, we saw shooting stars. It could have been a great tour, but with no respect for the creatures in the area, it was upsetting to me. I asked the company for a refund, we got a voucher for another trip, but I would have left a bad review regardless. Harassing animals is just not something we enjoy. Owner Josh Myer says the website says you might hit a manatee...but again, if you can avoid that by paddling in a slightly different place, why not do that? Kris used his paddle to demonstrate why there would be no manatees at a deeper section, so clearly they know where the animals are more likely to be. One of our kayaks capsized trying to go down a very narrow canal so Kris could look for a gator to catch - the other group didn't even try to go down it. Josh says people capsize, it happens. Ok, yes, but it would NOT have if Kris wasn't so determined to have his way. At that point, I said we were done and would like to go back. And we did, successfully avoiding manatees in slightly deeper water, so thank you for that. It was just a real disappointment to see a "professional" act like that.
Odpowiedź od gospodarza
Jun 2021
It's always unfortunate when there is a negative review.
However when you accuse us of intentionally hitting manatee, hunting alligators during a tour, chasing wildlife, disagreeing with other customer experiences with Kris, it is just too much for us to take too seriously Paula F..
1st of all we do not intentionally run into manatee. Since you were so keen on listening to the guide, you probably heard him say the average depth of the lagoon we paddle in, is 3.5 ft deep. manatee can literally bed down anywhere for the night , with no way to see them. They don't sleep in the same place every night for us to know to avoid them. They are WILDLIFE. hey sleep where they want, they swim/travel where they want. All we can do is let you know of this possibility and how to be prepared for it.
Chasing alligators to catch from a kayak? Lol, this is hilarious to anyone reading this who actually paddles the lagoon. The 2-5ft alligators we see, will disappear long before we get anywhere near them. No one was hunting alligators on tour "asking you not to tell the boss". Every employee knows we send out follow up emails asking for reviews, as such they get paid an incentive every time their name is mentioned in reviews.
We give a group orientation prior to every tour. While it is unfortunate that a group in your party rolled out of their kayak, this is on no way our guides fault. When someone runs their kayak into the treeline, they will normally roll over. Our guide wasn't paddling the kayak, that was operator error. That may be hard to hear since its your party, not to be insensitive, it is just factually relevant.
The mangrove trails are part of our tour as stated on the website. It wasn't Kris having to have his way, it was Kris, aka Pirate, doing his job.
As I stated to you, and as you mentioned you were given a voucher regardless of what you left in your review. We hope to see you soon!