Thriller Ocean Tours --- Just Back

[jowens]

I just returned from the 2/19 sailing on the Serenade. Prior to leaving I booked a tour with Thriller Ocean Tours based upon my research in this forum. It was the best move of the trip! We had the best day of our cruise!

 

 

Stephen Tryhane was our guide for the day. We went out on his boat (my family of 10 and 1 other person) and made 3 stops. At the first stop we snorkeled with sea turtles --- it was awesome as they came right up to you! On the second stop we snorkeled over 2 ship wrecks and fed fish bread from our hands. There were tons of fish to see (small fish). We had scuba dived in St. Lucia the previous day and there were more fish to see on this excursion than during our dive! Finally Stephen anchored the boat off from a beach and we swam ashore and spent 45 minutes enjoying the beautiful water and sand. My 10 family members ranged from 4 to 69 years in age and everyone loved it! Stephen is a class act and I would highly recommend his tour to anyone. During the trip he provided soda, beer and rum punch as well. All of this for $40 a person! The same thing through the cruise line was over $50 and was swamped with 30 plus people!

 

 

If you have any questions let me know. Here is his web link http://caribzones.com/thrilleradventuresbertram38.html

[Maddy]

I just returned from the 2/19 sailing on the Serenade. Prior to leaving I booked a tour with Thriller Ocean Tours based upon my research in this forum. It was the best move of the trip! We had the best day of our cruise!

 

 

 

Stephen Tryhane was our guide for the day. We went out on his boat (my family of 10 and 1 other person) and made 3 stops. At the first stop we snorkeled with sea turtles --- it was awesome as they came right up to you! On the second stop we snorkeled over 2 ship wrecks and fed fish bread from our hands. There were tons of fish to see (small fish). We had scuba dived in St. Lucia the previous day and there were more fish to see on this excursion than during our dive! Finally Stephen anchored the boat off from a beach and we swam ashore and spent 45 minutes enjoying the beautiful water and sand. My 10 family members ranged from 4 to 69 years in age and everyone loved it! Stephen is a class act and I would highly recommend his tour to anyone. During the trip he provided soda, beer and rum punch as well. All of this for $40 a person! The same thing through the cruise line was over $50 and was swamped with 30 plus people!

 

 

 

 

If you have any questions let me know. Here is his web link http://caribzones.com/thrilleradventuresbertram38.html

 

 

 

 

I am glad to hear you had a great time with Stephen. We also are booked with him on the 9th of March. I am so looking foreward to seeing the turtles. I am new to snorkeling, I hope I like it. I was reading here about the sanitary aspects. Some of the members have mentioned seeing the guides spraying the mouth peices with a sanitizer prior to use.. did you notice this on your tour? I sure wouldnt want the flu during my vacation!!

[michmike]

if you have a concern about the sanitary conditions of the snorkels on these types of excursion you can buy a decent snorkel for around $25 online at any number of sites or at a local dive shop before you leave home. I would recommend what they call a dry snorkel. Then use the mask and fins that the tour operator provides. If you're like us you will enjoy it enough that you'll likely go home and buy your own mask and fins for future trips.

 

That having been said, tons of folks go on these trips and use the gear provided w/o incident, but I've certainly seen enough posts on these boards about questionable sanitizing of gear that the investment would be well worth your peace of mind. Check the scuba and snorkel board here for info on online sources for gear.

[jowens]

Maddy,

 

To be honest I didn't pay attention to see if he sprayed the snorkels on the boat. However, the equipment look like it was in good shape. Most of the members of my family has their own masks and snorkels so we used his vests and fins. If you feel more comfortable pick up a cheap snorkel before the cruise.

 

John

[Dluke]

What was the name of the boat he used and how many would it hold? We booked with him for Mar 16 based on these boards.

Just received e-mail that he is delaying the tour by half an hour (returns at the same time) and can do this beacuse he will be using the faster speed boat Thrill Seeker. We booked with him to have a small group and leisurely trip. Speed boat sounds a little suspicious of being just like the ship excursion he is doing in the morning (that's why he wants to delay us). I have asked him for a reduction in price for the shorter tour. Bet that won"t happen.

Anyone else have this experience or info on his boats?

[jowens]

I believe that we were on Gunner II. It is not a speed boat. It had a cabin with kitchen area and sofa, a bathroom, and a small bedroom area where I changed. I did see his speed boat parked next to Gunner II. It looked real FAST! However the negative would be that it doesn't look like there is much shade on the boat. The day that we went it was hot and sunny and the Shade on Gunner II was nice.

 

When we went we had 11 people on the boat (10 in my group plus a French lady that had booked the tour). The boat probably could have held a few more. I think that Steve mentioned that one of his boats held 20 and the other 16.

[vbacht]

Jowens,

 

We would also like to do a tour with thriller, but would like to spend some time at the boatyard. Are they anywhere near each other.

 

thanks!!!!

[jowens]

I'm not a 100% sure where boatyard beach is. There is a beach that I saw from Steve's boat while snorkeling the 2 ship wrecks that may have been it. If it is then it is really close to Thriller. However I am not sure if this is the beach ---- can anyone else confirm? If not email Steve from his website and I'm sure that he will tell you how far it is from him.

 

 

Enjoy your trip ---- wish I was going back!

[Snoopy Too]

The Boat Yard Beach is actually the same beach that Thriller uses to do their beach stop after the Turtle & Shipwreck Snorkel.

After this stop they take you back to their dock, don't see why you couldn't get off there if you wanted to go to the Boat Yard.

Have fun.

[pittypat]

We used Stephen also on our tour in January 2005 and it was superb. We had one lady who was seasick but other than that it was a great trip. The turtles are not to be missed.

 

pittypat

[boomboom51]

I'm curious, were there beach chairs (lounges) available at the beach stop?

 

Thanks

[jowens]

At the beach we stopped at the boat anchored and we had to swim to the shore!! It was fun. Not that far of a swim and the water was maybe 10 feet deep and got shallow really fast. My family of 10 ranged from 4 years old to 69 years and everyone did the swim. There were not beach chairs. We sat on the beautiful sand and spent most of the time in the warm water.

[donnasue21]

Jowens how did you reach thriller ocean? I have tried the email linked to the website you have posted but no answer for about 5 days now and my time is getting near to leaving...I appreciate any help you can give me Donna