Upachaya anyone?

[clackey]

We are looking for a snorkel tour in Roatan. Does anyone have input on the Upachaya Snorkel Tour?

 

TIA

[Cayoooga]

We are looking for a snorkel tour in Roatan. Does anyone have input on the Upachaya Snorkel Tour?

 

TIA

We did the Upachaya Tour in October 2009. One of the best snorkelling tours we have been on, and we have been all over the Caribbean. Barbara will take good care of you, and you will be amazed. You will not see any other tourists there, except those in your group. She will take up to 10 people. You'll snorkel a ship wreck in shallow water, which is amazing. Snorkel over a wall that drops over 250 feet, very cool.:D We have snorkelled many different areas of Roatan, West End, along the south shore, etc. I can't say enough, do yourself a treat, go for it!:DAAA+++

Highly recommended.

[clackey]

Muchas gracias, Cayoooga.

 

Tripadvisor had great reviews on the place.

 

The snorkeling in Roatan is so good we wanted to do something special. This will probably be the only tour that we will reserve. All other ports will be by the seat of our pants. ;)

[luke6t6]

Does Barbara have a web site? If so, can someone provide the link? Thanks, Luke

[mountainmare]

We have booked Upachaya for Feb 4 so I will report back. The website is http://www.upachaya.com you can look up your date to see how many people have booked.

I have been impressed by the prompt e-mail responses from Barbara, especially since we are sailing HAL into Mahogony Bay. She answered questions about the itinerary and pick up and was very helpful.

[clackey]

We have booked Upachaya for Feb 4 so I will report back. The website is www.upachaya.com you can look up your date to see how many people have booked.

I have been impressed by the prompt e-mail responses from Barbara, especially since we are sailing HAL into Mahogony Bay. She answered questions about the itinerary and pick up and was very helpful.

Glad to hear that you got it reserved. I tried and was too late. They were booked about 5 or 6 weeks ahead. Be sure and give us a review. I may go back in a year or two.;)

[adventuregrrl]

We're booked on Upachaya in early March and can't wait! The Trip Advisor reviews are really good, as are the ones posted on different threads here.

 

I would agree that Barbara's e-mails and instructions are very clear.

[slotaddict]

Looking very forward to it - email responses were very prompt from Barbara. I had even made a mistake in the date, she knew the date was wrong and made the correction. So far we are the only 2 on the tour - she has room for 8 more that day...

 

 

Looking forward to a wonderful experience.

[pghflyer]

Just wanted to give a positive review for this company. I had to cancel because I didn't make the ship and they were very professional and prompt in handling my situation. Definitely resolved to my satisfaction.

 

Also the overall communication and pre-cruise information was great. I plan on rebooking when I am able to make this itinerary.

[debster818]

looking for more trip detail. Also, I heard it is not safe to emplore Roatan on your own...true? Anyone know of more excursions other than snorkle.

[mountainmare]

We toured with Upachaya on Feb 4 sailing on the Ryndam (HAL).

We were supposed to dock at Mahogany Bay, but after two attempts the Captain moved us to Coxen Hole--luckily we were the only ship in port and this was no problem. On the info that Barbara sent me she said that if we were changed to Coxen Hole they would meet us outside the gate, which they did.

There were seven of us on the snorkel trip, we had a snorkel guide and an assistant on the boat.

The snorkeling is very good, at a location where we were the only people there. The most amazing part was going over the wall--I had never done this before and word cannot describe how beautiful it was. There were people of different skill levels in our group, including one person who had never snorkeled before. We all had a nice time.

The grounds at Upachaya are being developed in a very ecologically sensitive way and the care that is taken to preserve the surroundings is impressive.

One member of our group had prearranged for a massage. We did not see her later but Barbara introduced her to the massage therapist and they went off to the main building. Barbara would drive her back to the ship.

On our way back our driver asked if we wanted to go to the beach, some people had read about places to buy really nice wood carvings and we were driven to a shop that was away from the tourist area. I am normally not a shopper but in addtion to wonderful mahogany goods there was some very interesting local pottery. We enjoyed the stop.

What I liked about this day was that we were away from the tourist areas and felt that the vision that will be Upachaya gave us a feel for nature and unspoiled Roatan.

This is a very good shore tour--at no time did I feel uncomfortable or was concerned about getting back to the ship.

[mclaire57]

Mountainmare - I'm taking this excursion next week. Can you remember the name of the carvings/pottery place? I'd love to get something locally made if possible... Thanks.

[mountainmare]

I never knew the name and there isn't any name on the bag or receipt. We just asked the driver.

Now I wish I bought one of the small vases or bowls made from just different colored wood, but the pottery is lovely--well I'll have to go back.

[slotaddict]

Ok, we just came back from the Norwegian Jewel and toured with Upachaya.

 

I wish we had as good a time as everyone else that booked there.

First it was not a good day, and in fact I was sure the tour was cancelled, it had poured rain in the morning.

 

we went outside the gate to meet the tour guide, there were eight of us. We had to stand on the sidewalk and wait for an hour..After an hour the entire group was getting a little restless - so the driver said it was time to go. We walked a bit to the van, boarded the van and took a not so scenice trip to Upachaya...

 

I thought the ride quite frankly was a little scary - before we passed the dump - there was a truck full of military gentlemen who jumped off the truck as the van arrived and walked down both sides of the van looking inside at the people oh yes they were carrying machine guns...

Apparantly a new mayor had been elected and this was his way of keeping the island safe. WE proceeded past the dump to Upachaya. As we disembarked the van my husband stepped in a large pile of dog poop.

We met Barbara, paid the balance on our trip and Barbara gave us a little tour of her property and explained her visions for the future..

We went on the boat out to snorkel - the skies were very cloudy and the water very rough and the current very strong. My husband and I surveryed the situation and decided that it would not be a good experience if snorkeled (our choice we have snorkeled many times and did not like the conditions) of course then it started to pour rain - the first mate on the boat was kind enough to give me a raincoat..

 

it was not the ideal situation - the snorkeling trip was cut a little short because of our hour wait for the elusive passenger that did not show (due to the weather is my guess) It was disappointing to say the least - as we stepped off our boat they were herding another group of snorkelers on. We were talking to Barbara and said she should charge the no show double, she smiled and said she wouldn;t be charging him - as she is not like that -

It was not a great day and believe me if I knew she didn;t charge the no shows, I would not have gone - I think she should have cancelled the snorkeling trip.

 

We went back to ship and found that many snorkeling trips that day were cancelled due to the rough waters...

it was a very disappointing day, from all of the great reviews I was so looking forward to this trip. We will vist Roatan again on the Norwegian Epic - will I book this trip again - probably not...

 

Also Barbara put snacks onboard the boat - she makes them and they are all natural - the hummus was excellent - the only thing I did not like was the cookies, however others seemed to enjoy them.

[slotaddict]

looking for more trip detail. Also, I heard it is not safe to emplore Roatan on your own...true? Anyone know of more excursions other than snorkle.

 

 

The part we were driven through when we were there I would not want to explore on my own..

 

My friend did a beach tour in Roatan - and said the beach was beautiful..

[adventuregrrl]

We were on Upachaya last week and had a great time! We really enjoyed the small snorkel trip and were joined by 6 others from our ship. Roatan was our favorite port of the entire trip.

 

The Mahogany Bay port is a bit inconvenient for independent tours. Carnival makes them pick up outside the gate (they drop off inside the gate on the return), so you have to walk up and down a hill to get to the Upachaya van. We did also wait for a no-show for awhile. The van was in nice shape and driving pass the dump was the only downside of the trip.

 

Barb met us on her property and we walked down to the dock to her boat where we met our snorkel guide Al. Al is a divemaster and was a fabulous guide. He took us to two spots and helped us navigate through the currents to see a beautiful reef. We were the only tour boat in sight and the snorkeling was good.

 

Between stops we had some really tasty food that Barb made and local beer. You can see our Upachaya pics at:

 

[debster818]

Beautiful pictures. We have not yet decided what to do on Roatan. This is one of our choices. We may just take a cab or bus to a beach. Anyone know if you can do that?

[adventuregrrl]

Beautiful pictures. We have not yet decided what to do on Roatan. This is one of our choices. We may just take a cab or bus to a beach. Anyone know if you can do that?

 

Thanks. We met some people on our cruise who took a cab and went to... I believe it was called West End Beach. They spoke highly of it and said the cab driver sat and waited for them.

 

After we went on the Upachaya tour, we just hung out at the Mahogany Beach which was nice enough for a few hours (despite the clouds). We kicked back in the complimentary beach chairs and had a tasty beverage.

 

[scsagh]

Thanks for sharing your pictures! What kind of camera were you using?

 

I had wanted to go on the Upachaya snorkel, but the rest of the family had too many other things they wanted to do more. Maybe next time. :D

[BURNSMN]

We were on Upachaya last week and had a great time! We really enjoyed the small snorkel trip and were joined by 6 others from our ship. Roatan was our favorite port of the entire trip.

 

The Mahogany Bay port is a bit inconvenient for independent tours. Carnival makes them pick up outside the gate (they drop off inside the gate on the return), so you have to walk up and down a hill to get to the Upachaya van. We did also wait for a no-show for awhile. The van was in nice shape and driving pass the dump was the only downside of the trip.

 

Barb met us on her property and we walked down to the dock to her boat where we met our snorkel guide Al. Al is a divemaster and was a fabulous guide. He took us to two spots and helped us navigate through the currents to see a beautiful reef. We were the only tour boat in sight and the snorkeling was good.

 

Between stops we had some really tasty food that Barb made and local beer. You can see our Upachaya pics at:

 

We will be going on this tour in a couple of weeks. Just curious, did everyone tip Al? If you did, approximately how much? Thanks.

[estoyer]

We have booked Upachaya for Feb 4 so I will report back. The website is www.upachaya.com you can look up your date to see how many people have booked.

I have been impressed by the prompt e-mail responses from Barbara, especially since we are sailing HAL into Mahogony Bay. She answered questions about the itinerary and pick up and was very helpful.

 

Fantastic! How was your snorkeling did you do the reef and wreck? What ship did you arrive on?? Any problems going and back to the ship?? How was the food? Any advice would be tons of help. Thank You

 

Happy Sailing

Earl

[adventuregrrl]

Thanks for sharing your pictures! What kind of camera were you using?

 

 

These pics were taken with two different waterproof cameras. Our primary camera is an Olympus Stylus Tough 8000 which we love. (The underwater Hawaii pics linked below were with our first/old Olympus waterproof camera.)

 

We were also using a much cheaper waterproof camera (FujiFilm Z33WP)that we picked up from Amazon for $125 before this trip because we ended up going to different excursions in Belize. To be honest, I can't tell the difference in the underwater quality between these two cameras. Both are waterproof to 30 feet.

 

 

We will be going on this tour in a couple of weeks. Just curious, did everyone tip Al? If you did, approximately how much? Thanks.

 

Tipping is completely a matter of personal preference. I think everyone did tip him. We gave him $20 for the two of us, because he really went of his way to show us things (and took the picture of the octopus and the lionfish).

[Gomek11]

If you are trying to book a snorkel tour in Roatan, and are on a cruise, do NOT book a trip with Upachaya Snorkel Tour. The reason I am writing this is so that no one else has the same problem I did. I love snorkeling, and missed a much-anticipated snorkel trip in Roatan because these guys left me, through no fault of my own.

Our ship (Norwegian Jewel) was delayed about an hour getting into port, and they LEFT without our group, even after I made a $100 deposit to reserve the trip.

I was on the FIRST tender to Roatan off the Jewel, arrived at the appointed destination point, and there was no representative there. I asked around everywhere, and after about an hour, eventually one of the other drivers told me where the Upachaya bus driver lived. I went to his house, and he got the owner, Barbara Wastert on the phone, who said we were supposed to leave at 8:30 and I wasn't there, so they left without me. (my tender arrived at 9:30 when they were long gone).

The problem I have with this is that these people market to cruise ship customers, but either they don't have a clue about how cruise ship operators or they just don't care. They say they monitor the cruise ship schedules, however, there were only two cruise ships at the port that day, and it would have been quite easy to see that the Jewel was late in anchoring and getting its tenders to shore that day.

Ms. Wastert did offer a semi- apology for leaving us (she was mainly blaming us for our ship being late), however, it was too late for my family to book another snorkeling excursion in Roatan. Since I was wandering around Roatan with one preteen and two teenage girls, I did not want to risk just getting into a car and going somewhere with anyone. That is why I did the research in advance on which company to book through.

This company may have a great tour. I wouldn't know that because they left us. If you have complete control over your schedule, maybe you can take the risk on booking with these people. But, if you are on a cruise ship stop, and don't have control of exactly when the ship tenders or docks, do NOT use these people!

These people are not reliable. There are a lot of other choices in Roatan. I talked to other people on our ship that had good experiences. I would look elsewhere.

[erinmarie424]

Did they refund your deposit?

[Roatan1]

Another poster that has never contributed that decides to post for the first time with a negative thing. I think we all realize these one post wonders are to be taken with a grain of salt. There are three sides to every story. Side one, Side two and then the factual information