I've waited a week to write this review, we were a group of 5.
The group overall loved the experience on the water with the boat crew, I would rate that as a 5/5. Although, we were given stats by the owner of how incredibly rare it would be to see a shark. We were told 7 sharks in 30,000 tours, sharks don't like people or lights, bla bla. Pulling up to the spot, we saw dolphins which was neat. We werent 30 seconds on the light board and a massive 7 foot Galapagos shark swam within 10 feet of us. My family thought it was cool, the main guide said it was a good omen, but it scared me sh*tless and I was having a mild panic attack for the next 30 min. They offered to swim me to the boat but all I could remember was "they dont like the light, they hunt in the dark", so I stayed with the group/lights. They asked us to PLEASE not tell the group coming in after us. That sits weird with me. If you hid something like this and someone was attacked, then what? Thankfully, it didnt bother us and slowly swam away.
The crew was A+.
They are under new management, and my mother and law an I were really put off by the new manager. In summary, it's really unprofessional to brag about your business, give numbers on money and tours, and scare people into paying another $10 for wet suits. The ocean temp that night was 78 degrees, same temp as the hotel swimming pool. When we did this tour 2 years ago, it felt authentic. This, felt like a money machine, and we didnt need to hear all the details from the owner of how much money he has spent on wetsuits etc. It was just over the top hearing about money and expenses and how his business is now so much better than the last guy. Owner seemed put out he had to work the check in booth and engage with customers, made it clear the person to work that shift didnt show up and it was all on him. Just a terrible vibe to give when you drop that kind of money for a group and first words out of his mouth were irritation that we were 20 minutes early.. "was my text not clear" - well, maybe say "booking time" instead of check in time. We did a caged shark excursion and they want you there 30 min early. So tourists are groomed to be there early....but instead of rebuke us, maybe continue to evolve your communication and customer service skills.
Odpowiedź od gospodarza
Dec 2024
Aloha, we are glad to hear that your family had a great time! While it is incredibly rare for somebody to see a shark on one of our tours, like you mentioned, we had seen 7 out of about 30,000 passengers so far this year (we tell you that to understand the rarity of sightings, not to brag) they are wild animals and they do live in the ocean! We cannot control what a wild animal is or is not going to do, and we do recommend that if you are afraid of seeing a shark, that maybe you should not swim in their home. Furthermore, we have had problems in the past with theft, which is why we explained that wetsuits are not free to use anymore, and we have had to spend a ton of money on them as a company over the past few years, and that is why we charge for them, just like just about every other company that operates out of our harbor. Our confirmation clearly states that your scheduled time is your CHECK IN TIME, not departure time. We also send out a text message every single day, to every single passenger, to specifically NOT show up early, and to show up at your scheduled check in time. We do understand that some people maybe just do not read our instructions, or read our text messages that we send out hours before the tour. Maybe some operations choose to book a departure time, and ask you to check in earlier than that, but we do not, we book a check in time for you, and this is very clearly stated in your tickets when you read them. Again, it is also communicated via text and/or email with just a few hours before your tour starts. This is not a communication issue on our behalf, this just means that you did not read your tickets and/or text message that we sent out to you where these things are clearly defined.