UTV rentals on your own

[kabbpres]

Hi We are wanting to rent a UTV on our own for 8 hours.  Has anyone done this? How is it getting thru the city with traffic etc?  It doesn't look too hard to navigate the island but any info would be great.  Thanks Steve

[momof4blessings]

We just did this. Rented thru Justin's because they were the only one that had 6 seaters available. It worked pretty well. We walked to a designated gas station near the port, and had to call to tell them we were there. They sent a car to pick us up and take us to their office at one of the hotels. We picked up the UTV and were given a phone in case of emergency. We used our own phones for GPS (actually, Justin showed me how to use 'offline maps' on google). Our itinerary consisted of going up to Boca Catalina to snorkel a little, then the California lighthouse, Alto Vista chapel, Gold Mill ruins, Natural Bridge, then over to Arikok National Park to go to the Natural Pool where we snorkeled again. 

 

Due to taking a little too long at places like the chapel, and a wrong turn on our way to the Natural Pool (I put the pool in the GPS instead of the Park entrance) we didn't have time to go to the Caves before we had to head back. Also, we didn't actually pick up the UTV until 10am and had to have it back by 5pm, so we really only had it 7 hours. 

 

It was really easy driving on the roads, although you can't go as fast as traffic so I wouldn't recommend it too much except to get to where you're going. And the offroading to the natural pool was....rough! I was praying we wouldn't blow a tire. (We didn't.) Also, we passed a number of homemade signs in front of people's houses 'yelling' at UTV renters for destroying the environment on their island. ? I'm not really sure why...I don't think we disturbed anything? All the off road driving we did was just rocky roads.

 

It was pretty fun! A little stressful at times (I think I'm not as adventurous as I used to be?) but a good experience!