Daniel Johnson Monkey/Sloth/Snorkel

[Gallivanting Souls]

Our family did the Monkey/Sloth Snorkeling through Daniel Johnson's Hangout. Good communication via both email and Facebook. Short walk outside of port. Our guide/driver was Janice. She was a quiet, older woman. Only complain about her was that she was too quiet. I could hear in the front seat, but those in the back seat were clueless to what she said. Our tour started out with a city tour. We stopped at a chocolate making business. We all bought some chocolate. Make sure and try the one with the chilies in it. Next we went to the Monkey Sloth Sanctuary where the entire family (our group of 7) got to hold the sloths. We then went into the cages with some monkey's. Make sure to listen to the instructions about items in your pockets or removing you glasses. I left my glasses outside in my bag. I am blind girl, but got by ok without my glasses. I just want you to know that those monkeys really are thieves. One hopped on my head and tried to steal my hair band. I caught it just in time! I passed on going in cages with the exotic birds since that is nothing new, but the rest of the family took advantaged and had a good time and was able to take some really colorful pictures. Finally, it was time for the snorkel part. My hubby conveniently didn't bring a swim suit. He said something about oh, I thought we were doing that another day. Maybe he is made from sugar, because I have a hard time getting him in the water. He could have rode on the boat any way, as I paid for him to do so, but he decided to stay back. We check out the equipment for the snorkel. My one son only tried on one flipper assuming that a 9 was a 9. Not so much. The snorkel part is my only gripe about this trip. We never got any instruction. They never even asked if anyone in our group had snorkeled before. So when we jumped into the water, only one person in our group had ever snorkeled before.  I gave it my all, but could not get my mask to keep the water out and with small waves going over my head and face I freaked out a bit.  Our guide was way a head with the rest of the group. Another guy from the boat came to see if I needed help. His answer was for me to go back to the boat and see if I could get a better fit on my mask. He eventually joined the rest of the group and it was me and my one son who also had not snorkeled and was having a panic attack. I finally bagged the snorkel equipment and decided that I would just put on the life jacket and bob in the water while the rest snorkeled. I did put my face in one time and saw the beauty below that looked like a fish tank. Another son who also had never snorkeled could not get his snorkel to work correctly just used the mask and held his breath. I feel like the tour operator could have gave us some sort of in-service in shallow water to make sure we knew what we were doing and that the equipment worked properly. I think if I wanted to snorkel, I would choose a different provider and not the one that Daniel Johnson's provide. I would not say to not use them. Possibly they were having an off day, just our experience (on the snorkel portion) that I would go elsewhere.

We paid $55 per person for those snorkeling and $40 for those riding along (all got to do the monkey/sloth encounter). There were 7 in our group. (our tour was December/2018 )

Edited December 28, 2018 by familyoutdoors

[storm1507]

Thanks for the info.   We are going in a few weeks.

How many different "guides" did you have?   Want to be prepared for tips.

[brookeq]

I am sorry the snorkel part didn't work out for you.  I have looked into this tour but can't get much info or pictures on the snorkel part.  I am trying to decide if we would rather just go to West Bay Beach again and snorkel on our own.

[Gallivanting Souls]

On ‎12‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 5:44 AM, storm1507 said:

Thanks for the info.   We are going in a few weeks.

How many different "guides" did you have?   Want to be prepared for tips.

I guess you would say three. Our driver, the guy at the monkey/sloth area, and then the snorkel guys.

[Gallivanting Souls]

On ‎12‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 5:43 PM, brookeq said:

I am sorry the snorkel part didn't work out for you.  I have looked into this tour but can't get much info or pictures on the snorkel part.  I am trying to decide if we would rather just go to West Bay Beach again and snorkel on our own.

If you have snorkeled before, this should work out fine then. Like I said before, only one member of our group had previously.  The area was beautiful and if you can snorkel, and if you have your own equipment, probably a great option! I am still waiting for one son to upload his pictures. He has a go pro and has been very busy since he got back.

[storm1507]

14 hours ago, familyoutdoors said:

I guess you would say three. Our driver, the guy at the monkey/sloth area, and then the snorkel guys.

Thanks for the pics and the response.

 

[brookeq]

20 hours ago, familyoutdoors said:

If you have snorkeled before, this should work out fine then. Like I said before, only one member of our group had previously.  The area was beautiful and if you can snorkel, and if you have your own equipment, probably a great option! I am still waiting for one son to upload his pictures. He has a go pro and has been very busy since he got back.

Thanks.  i would love to see pictures if you get them and when you have time.  🙂

[gopackgo21]

We were there in April and our experience with the snorkeling was amazing! We were a group of 4 in ours late 20s. 2 of us had been snorkeling before and the other 2 had not. We first arrived at the sanctuary and played with the animals. After that it was a short walk to the dock where we snorkeled. Our boat was captained by Daniel, but we had about 10 people on board. Our group of 4 had one guide, Thomas, that was awesome! He explained the process of how to snorkel and made sure that we knew how to not kick up the sand. The other guide went a bit slower due to the physical limitations and age of the others on our boat. 

 

    The area we went to was very shallow, but the scenery was amazing! I attached some photos (We took videos so I had to screenshot. Ignore quality!). We saw a ton of fish, a few lobsters, a ray, and so much more. After the snorkeling, our driver took us to West Bay. We had Eunice, which is Daniel's aunt. She drove us across the island to a resort that Daniel recommended for us. We had some lunch and enjoyed the beach a bit. Eunice waited and we never once felt rushed. We were all exhausted by this point and asked to head back early. 

 

   We never once felt unsafe and it was one of the highlights of our trip. My husband and I are booked with them again for Feb. 

[KD Travel Adventures]

I highly recommend "Daniel Johnson's Monkey and Sloth Hangout" and also recommend booking directly through them via their Facebook page. It is one of my favorites all time excursions while on a cruise, and if we go back to Roatan I will book with them again.

Here is a video of the excursion we took (there are different packages/options), which included an island tour first, then the monkeys/sloths/macaws/etc., and then snorkeling at two different stops. The video includes all aspects of the excursion including the monkeys, sloths, macaws and snorkeling at both stops.

 

 

 

When I contacted them on Facebook, they gave us the different excursion package prices and details, and then I told him which one we wanted and they sent a confirmation and details about where to meet right outside the cruise terminal (about a 5 minute walk, but directions were perfect), via the Facebook messaging. Right at the beginning of the video is a picture of where you meet them outside of the cruise terminal. Everything was so easy and it was a great and fun experience. 

 

I cannot say I had the same experience with snorkeling as the first poster, because I thought it was great and that’s factoring in the poor weather as you can kind of see in the video. The first snorkeling spot was great for beginners (imo) because there were a lot of fish and even an eel, but there were plenty of non-coral areas where you could stand up. I’m a pretty good swimmer, but I thought the first stop would be helpful for a beginner to get the feel of snorkeling by standing up and just putting their face in the water and adjusting the mask as needed. The second snorkeling stop was right on the reef drop off so you did have to jump in the water and be able to adjust your mask while treading water. This second stop was not far from the first, but absolutely amazing.

 

(Suggestion for snorkeling beginners…go to the lowest part of the boat to enter the water wherever that is, put your mask on before you get in the water, make sure all of your hair is not around any part of the mask, and then as you slide into the water hold your hands over the mask so it doesn’t move as you get in. The boat operators should be able to give you some floating device if needed to lean on.)

[amc155]

For those that have done this, is there anywhere to lock up valuables while snorkeling?  I would like to take my good camera for the island tour and the time at the hang out, but not sure I want to take it on the snorkel boat.  

 

Thanks everyone for their reviews, we are really looking forward to this excursion!

[KD Travel Adventures]

8 hours ago, amc155 said:

For those that have done this, is there anywhere to lock up valuables while snorkeling?  I would like to take my good camera for the island tour and the time at the hang out, but not sure I want to take it on the snorkel boat.  

 

Thanks everyone for their reviews, we are really looking forward to this excursion!

I am not aware of a place to lock up valuables, but I'm sure if you contacted them they would be able to tell you. As I mentioned in a previous post, contact them directly through Facebook.  

[Gallivanting Souls]

We only had one stop. It was jump in and go. Like I mentioned before, there was no instruction and the water was choppy. I'm glad that others had a good time with the snorkel part. All, in all, it was worth the money, but I am still sad that I didn't get to enjoy snorkeling myself. I would have posted one of my son's photo's but it was just of the lobster and your picture was much clearer.