Must do this... just not when it's windy! - Don't go on a windy day! The snorkeling was amazing and Nick (the boat captain) showed us some amazing areas to see bunches of fish, we got to swim with the sharks and go and see Caye Caulker... BUT it was a very windy day and the boat trips both to where we were going and back from Caye Caulker were really not fun. We were constantly soaked with spray. This is my 7th time doing an excursion and it is usually beautiful and a fun boat trip so don't let me discourage you from doing it... just try to book it when it's not windy! Also, we left an item on the boat with a large amount of cash and credit cards and Nick had the integrity to get it to the owner who hand delivered it to us at our resort... these are definitely people you can trust!

Snorkeling was fantastic. - We saw so much in the lines of fish, coral, stingrays, and sharks. The clarity of the water and reef was a visual treat. The guide was good at pointing out interesting spots and the different types of fish as we were snorkeling (rather than just sitting on the boat, the guide snorkeled with us to ensure we saw/experienced more). As an added bonus we did also see dolphins. The guide slowed down the boat and let the dolphins play within our view. Neat to see.

Priceless family memories at a great value! - Booking this tour on Tripadvisor was easy because all the information we needed to know was explicitly listed in the About, What’s included, What to expect, Departure and return, and itinerary sections of the excursion. That’s not the case for all the TripAdvisor excursions from other companies so kudos to Ridge and Reef Adventures for listing all those details. It allowed us to know we could take the 7am ferry from our resort to the tour and have time for a little shopping in San Pedro before we took the 5pm ferry back to our resort afterwards. Once booked Ovel immediately messaged us in the TripAdvisor app which made me feel even more confident that we were all set to have a great day. When our resort’s ferry docked in San Pedro it was a quick and easy walk up the beach to meet Ovel. Since we had to leave our resort before their restaurant opened, my husband and two adult sons were hungry so we asked if we could grab breakfast to go before departing. Ovel not only said we could delay our departure a bit, he personally walked us over to a lovely coffee shop for bagel sandwiches to go. Once we walked back to the dock we were fitted with snorkel gear and met our guide for the day Nick. We confirmed we definitely wanted to go to Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Ray Alley and then any other snorkel spots he recommended. We had seen other tours from other companies which spent 3-4 hours on Caye Caulker so we let Nick know we did want to go to Caye Caulker but not for too long, so we’d possibly come back to the dock a bit early. Ovel and Nick confirmed the day’s adventures were totally up to us and that would not be a problem so off we went on our snorkeling adventure. Thanks to our captain Nick we were able to snorkel in several spots on the Mesoamerican Reef: Hol Chan Marine Reserve Conch Graveyard Shark Ray Alley Coral Gardens As a bonus, along the way we encountered another boat stopped and after conferring with the other captain Nick let us know there was a huge sea turtle there so he stopped our boat so we could snorkel there too. Thanks to Nick we saw: Sea turtles Manatee Sting Rays Nurse Sharks Barracudas Seahorses Tons of beautiful tropical fish We also fed the sharks, tarpon fish, and frigate birds. We were even able to touch the stingrays coming on the beach next to the seahorse habitat. Nick was a wealth of knowledge during the entire experience. Then Nick took us to Caye Caulker for a delicious Belizean lunch where we thoroughly enjoyed chatting with him during our meal. Once finished we checked the time and saw we had about one hour to explore the island’s shops before meeting Nick at the split to head back to San Pedro. With all the fun snorkeling adventures we ended up with the perfect amount of time to shop and explore the island and ended up using the entire tour’s time allotment. Came back with priceless memories for our family of four. Many thanks to both Nick and Ovel. We highly recommend this tour!

Swimming with the sharks - Great snorkeling experience! Clear water, beautiful fish and the guides are just wonderful! You can feed the sharks!

Great tour, including Shark Alley twice - Abraham and Cyle were fantastic guides/captains. They picked us up at our hotel (Ramon’s), had some suggestions of what we should do, and gave us a great tour. We had went to Hol Chan, went to Shark Alley twice, fed the tarpons, did some fishing, and ate lunch at Caye Caulker. Everything was very flexible including pick up time, what we did, and how long we stayed at each activity. I would STRONGLY recommend spending the little extra money to get this boat rather than going with a larger tour group.

Private snorkeling - This was hands down the best snorkeling trip we have ever done-rays, sharks, manatees and more! Great crew, fun time…..

Fantastic guided adventure - Phenomenal guides and excellent experience- would absolutely recommend . Great way to see the island and experience the natural wonders. Sharks, rays, sea horses and dolphins just to name a few.

Fun! - Fun day, our guide was very accommodating. Would recommend. The water was beautiful and we saw rays and sharks.

Unique customizable private day boat trip. - The crew of Abraham and Cyle were very nice and accommodating. Very open to customizing trip to meet out desires. They even were thoughtful enough to move our trip later to get better weather when others went out regardless of weather.

Not completely customizable - The snorkeling it self was amazing. Hol Chan you see so many different types of fish and swimming with the nurse sharks at shark ray alley was definitely something everyone should experience. As far as the custom tour, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to pay extra as you don’t customize anything. Your lunch is provided on Caye caulker at a sports bar; you can pay extra if you choose something from the menu. We assumed, after we ate we could leave, no that was not the case. We were told we needed to stay on the island for 2.5 hours to shop and explore. When we told the guide no thanks, he said stay at least a hour. Once, again we said no, we do not want to stay. This tour says we can opt out of Caye caulker if we like, but that doesn’t seem like it’s allowed. So we told them to just take us back to San Pedro at that point and even faked an illness since they clearly weren’t going to take us anywhere else. Also make sure you know the island of caye caulker. Our guides had left us after lunch and we became lost trying to find the boat. As far, as paying for the custom, don’t do it, unless you want the private experience. The snorkeling is amazing but there are many other options as far as excursion companies.