Tortuga Island

Full Day Tortuga Island: Inside Tours via Get Your Guide $115 pp

Today was confusing. So I get a text last night from Interbus about the tour today and they say they will pick me up @ 'Hotel A' @ 515 am. Then I get another text from another

number but same brand symbol saying the pick-up is at 'Hotel B' @ 520 am. When I noted 'Hotel B' was permanently closed and if it was safe for me to wait- I received nothing in response. So I really didn't know where to go.

At 5 am, I call an Uber: 6 mins away. At 5:07 a, they cancel w/o cause. Another comes and I see them circling around an area and the p/u time gets delayed. I text them, they read it, and no response so instead of just sitting like a dead duck, I started walking towards my destination. While I walked, I decided to give the guy a call and he says for me to cancel it because he isn't coming. Seriously dude! I am speed walking in flip flops now hoping I'm going to the correct place to catch another bus! Luckily, the tour guide calls me while I am en route and confirms my attendance and then come to find out, we were all late and 3 people missed the shuttle and tour.

Apparently, there was a marathon event going on at the nearby park and the streets were shut down.

Anyways, well now, so the journey started with about 10 of us on a mini van for a 2-hour drive to the coastline. We stopped after about 1. 5h to a large cafeteria and souvenir shop. It was actually pretty nice w/ a very reasonable cost. Breakfast was pretty traditional.

Restaurante el Jardin Orotina $6.900

Moving on. We left the restaurant to a dock by the water. We all loaded a speed boat and got to the island in about 40 mins. Originally, I thought it was supposed to be a catamaran boat but this was better. Little more comfortable and a lot faster. I chose a good spot to shield from the sun. During the ride, there was a short time where we saw a school of dolphins close up.

Before reaching the island, You have an opportunity to snorkel- Yeah, not for me! But then we got to the island around 10a to hang out until lunch. It's a private beach so beach chairs go for $10 a piece and they also sell fresh fruit cocktails for about $12. On the island, there is Kayaking, PADI boarding And banana boats to rent. Otherwise- just relax here. Luckily, Our group was given out own set of benches with complete sun coverage.

Lunch was small but pleasing, just no dessert. I spent the last 2. 5h under the cover avoiding the scorching sun and dry salt. The ride back was the same and ended back at 'Hotel B' around 6:30pm. Definitely would recommend the visit to this island-just not with this company.

Once I reached my apartment, I decided to go across the way to Nucleo Gastro for a quick dinner and a backup snack to pack for tomorrow!