Amazing trip, worth the price! - What an amazing trip! Worth the price! We had a great captain and great guide. We were one of the first groups that got to enter the hidden beach for the day. It is breathtaking. The swim in was a bit intense but they provided safety gear and ensured that everyone in our group made it in and out safely. Snorkeling near the island was amazing and we even saw dolphins and a whale on our trip! Vallarta Adventures was well organized and we would certainly book another excursion through them!

A Puerto Vallarta Must-Do!! - We had heard so much about this “Hidden Beach”, and the photos we had seen were spectacular, so we booked a trip. Maui was the best guide. We saw humpback whales in the morning and afternoon, and one welcomed us with a beautiful show just as we pulled up to the island. The crew knew what they were doing, and were super organized - everything ran extremely smoothly. #1 Tip: Even with life jackets, YOU NEED TO BE A GOOD SWIMMER. From the time you jump in the water, until you need to be back on the boat, you have a total of 30 minutes. The guides swim with you the whole way. You’ll swim under the arch (it’s pretty low, and you will be wearing a helmet), and the quicker you get to the beach, the more time you have to explore. You can’t take your camera, or anything else, onto the beach, but 2 very fun, very professional photographers will be there to do a photo shoot with you. We bought the photo package, and I’m very glad we did. The photos were great - they captured the experience perfectly. We were supposed to go snorkeling, but there were jellyfish in the water, so instead, we toured around the islands, and Maui gave us a fabulous history of the island, along with information about its abundant bird life. We were given some light snacks on the boat, and then we headed back. Overall, a fantastic day, and we were back in town early afternoon.

Marietas Snorkle - Danny and the ENTIRE crew made this a very informative and FUN experience! 100% recommend, even if you don't actually snorkel. Whale watching was good too.

Marietas “Island Discovery” Tour - Love this tour! - We’ve been using VA for years and have done multiple different tours. They are a great, solid, well organized company. Their website gives great information so I’m going to list a few things I didn’t see and wish I knew. We did the Island Discovery Tour which is just a tour of Las Marietas and the hidden beach there. You’re on a speedboat (20-25 passengers) and not one of their bigger catamarans. You can’t put on sunscreen after departure due to the sensitivity of the ecosystem and there is no shade. They do offer snacks (apple, banana, granola bar) after the activities but no water or alcohol. They do offer towels which was unexpected. I definitely recommend this tour and love swimming thru the tunnel to get to the hidden beach. Our tour guides: Felipe, Chema, Angie and Captain Dan were great. The tour is in Spanish and English. My only con are the photos. They took too many of each couple. We would’ve been happy with 2 pose requests but felt like we did 6-7 each time. Also the cost of photos is so ridiculous. Our whole digital set for a family of 4 was $150! We would’ve liked a few and probably overpaid a little but only bargained down to $110 for the whole set. I suggest you bring your own camera/phone. Highlight we did see some whales at the end. Our tour was a little longer than 5 hrs prob closer to 6.

Not a happy compare!!!! - Do not recommend if you don't like to swim in the ocean and wear a helmet to get to your destination also if you don't want to snorkel in bumpy waters. Plus I did the but 2 excursion get one free. Lol not free lol go online and book for cheaper through the Internet not at your resort also they took me back to the port hours earlier since I didn't do the activity but I paid for the full 7 hours. I feel like I got screwed on that other than that the island where neat to see that I did see from the boat. This excursion needs a deeper explanation of what your getting yourself into.

They’ll waste your time - Booked what looked like a cool excursion. 7am departure. 6:30am check in time. Got an uber from Sayulita at 5:50am and got there right at check in time only to be told that the trip was canceled and we should have received a message. We received no message. The guys who came in right after us to check in for the same excursion did not get a cancelation message either. Instead of being able to cut out losses and just get a refund and an uber back, Elena said we had to wait until 7am for the “internet specialist”(?) to get here so to tell us what our options were for refunds/other excursions. So not only did I waste time waking up early on vacation and paying for a 40-minute uber here, I also have to waste time and wait 30 minutes for my refund and to find out my options. Their own website even says that if access to the beach is denied, they will do snorkeling. That was not presented as an option to us. Waited until 7 then Elena handed me a headset? I wasn’t waiting to talk to a real person. She handed me a phone to talk to someone else? Seriously? If you knew you were going to cancel the excursion, let us know in advance. If two parties on the same excursion didn’t get your cancellation message, then you didn’t send it.

Caution: The Beating to Hidden Beach - This is one of those tours that sounds incredible on paper, but the way it was handled left us shaken and disappointed. Our Zodiac (inflatable raft) was oversold and overcrowded, four of us sat sideways in the very front. The surf that day was extremely rough, and instead of adjusting speed, the boat flew over waves at 30+ mph. Each hit launched us into the air; my wife thought she injured her back, and I was badly jarred as well. For 45 minutes it felt more like a punishment than an adventure. By the time we arrived, my wife was so seasick she couldn’t attempt the 100-yard swim into the cave. I stayed behind with her, but the guides seemed visibly annoyed. Those who did go said the swim was rough, helmets smacked the rocks, and it was harder than expected. Multiple passengers were sick over the side, and the tour was cut short. At the end, the guide said, “I can’t control the ocean.” Very true, but a responsible operator can control boat capacity, vessel choice, and speed in unsafe surf. A sturdier boat would have handled better, and better judgment could have protected everyone’s safety and enjoyment. Playa del Amor is a stunning natural wonder, but if you book, use caution. Ask what kind of boat will be used, how many people they allow, and be aware that conditions can make this a very tough ride. It’s not for everyone, and it shouldn’t be oversold as casual or easy.

FRAUD with VALLARTA ADVENTURES, the worst FRAUD !! - FRAUD don’t use Vallarta Adventures, they only turn you over in the caramaran, you don’t go down to the sea or the hidden beach. Pure GARBAGE

Snorkeling tour without snorkeling - You are considered as a walking wallet in this tour with really poor organisation. The group was too large arriving at the island from what we heard from the guards (not the first time he told our host apparently), so we wasted 30 mins by splitting the group in 2 and waiting for each group to do the first and only activity we had. You swim to the pretty hidden beach, to be shot by a photographer, you cannot bring your own camera, GoPro or anything. After that, there were jellyfishes at the snorkeling spot (50 meters next to the hidden beach) so we could not do it. After that, we did some rushed bird watching and explanation about the island before going back. Did we do the hidden beach activity even though there were jellyfishes and not the snorkeling because they take pictures of you that they sell 100$ ? Maybe, or maybe we couldn't do the snorkeling because we wasted 30 mins with the poor organisation. With the port fees, the conservation fees, the photos price, the tips and the activity price, you have to pay US$250. No refund, even partial was accepted for the cancellation of the snorkeling.

This tour is not what was advertised... - My husband and I did this tour on Feb 18th from the Puerto Vallarta port (it was called "Island Discovery" when we booked it). First off, the wicket to purchase the port access tickets didn't open until nearly 7:15am, but our reservation email said we had to check in at 7:00am, so we woke up around 5:30am at our resort in Mismaloya to be there by 7:00am. The reservation email also said that the tour would begin at 7:30am, which it didn't. There was a cruise ship that came in late to dock, so we didn't leave until about 8:30am (see photo). The Vallarta Adventure employee said not to worry, the tour wouldn't be cut short as a result but it was. We left at 8:30am and returned at 12:30pm (see photo), which is a 4 hour tour, not a 5 hour tour as advertised. They have this advertised as a beach and snorkeling tour, which isn't accurate. The hidden beach part is pretty cool, but first off, it doesn't look like the photos they show on their web site. Once everyone gets in there, they shed their life jackets and helmets, cluttering up the hidden beach, which makes your photos not as nice as they have shown on their web site. Also, a big part of this tour is the two photographers taking photos of everyone in the beach area, making it difficult to enjoy the beach and the water without feeling like you're constantly in someone's photo. Not to mention, you only have 30 mins (strict) to swim in, take your photos and see the beach, and swim back out from the time the authorities there give you the helmets. So the swim in is frantic, rushed, fairly difficult with the tides, and the tour guides make you feel like you're holding up the show a bit. Oh, and the smell of the droppings from the resident birds on the island all over the rocks you're swimming past and under is ABSOLUTELY FOUL, which they don't mention. So that's the hidden beach part, which amounts to 30 mins front to back of the entire tour. Next, we went "snorkeling", which involved about 8 mins of snorkeling in dark, murky waters, where we saw precisely zero fish. Once people started heading back towards the boat because they had personally decided there wasn't anything to see, the guides started ushering everyone back to the boat, again in a big rush. So I'm not kidding when I say we were in the ocean "snorkeling" for 8 minutes. The rest of the 4 (not 5) hour tour involved driving around on the boat hearing about the local birds and fish around the islands and the trip from PV to the islands and back. This is NOT a beach and snorkeling tour. It's a boat tour with a 30 minute rushed beach visit. In addition, they wouldn't let us apply sunscreen even after we would no longer be in the ocean, so I ended up with a sunburn on my forehead and my lower thighs below my shorts line. And finally, we spent probably 20 minutes dealing with authorities, since our crew were getting fines for being too close to the rocks and some other infraction. All in all, not at all impressed by this tour at all. I wish we hadn't wasted $205CAD per person and several hours away from our resort for this tour. Don't book this is you're interested in an actual beach and snorkeling tour, because this isn't it. I would appreciate at least a partial refund for this tour, because it is definitely not as advertised and it was cut an hour short. I think this tour would have been worth about $80CAD per person, not $205.