Harvest Caye excursions: manatee's and tubing

[mitsugirly]

We've been here a few times and just took advantage of hanging out at the beach or pool. We want something different this time. 

 

I'm not really wanting to take a ferry somewhere and do things on our own this time and started looking at NCL's ship sponsored excursions. A few have peaked my interest.  

 

Has anyone done the river tubing? We've done river tubing in Belize (from Belize City when we used to dock there) and had a great time both times. This looks like a more relaxed, floating river tubing and no caves. Just a relaxing day. If you've been, let me know your experience. 

 

The other thing is the boat ride to see manatee's. (Placencia Lagoon Wildlife & Mangrove). I think it would be a relaxing time out on the boat and possibly seeing the manatees in their natural habitat. I realize there's never a guarantee, but is it worth the trip? Have you seen manatee's if you went? What was your experience?

[mitsugirly]

No one has taken the Lagoon boat ride to see the manatees here? Or even the Monkey River Eco Tour?

[AKR2011]

2 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

No one has taken the Lagoon boat ride to see the manatees here? Or even the Monkey River Eco Tour?

Hey Kim! We did the Monkey River Eco Tour a couple years ago. It's in my review at post #41 here: 

 

[mitsugirly]

8 hours ago, AKR2011 said:

Hey Kim! We did the Monkey River Eco Tour a couple years ago. It's in my review at post #41 here: 

 

Awesome! Thanks for that! It sounded like you had a good time. Sakari is wanting to do this to see the howler monkeys. (We've only seen them...well one...in the zoo in Aruba and he's very talkative). Seeing them out in the wild has got her excited. I really hope they are out when we go.  However, I really want to see the manatees. I wonder if there's time to fit both excursions in?

[AKR2011]

11 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

Awesome! Thanks for that! It sounded like you had a good time. Sakari is wanting to do this to see the howler monkeys. (We've only seen them...well one...in the zoo in Aruba and he's very talkative). Seeing them out in the wild has got her excited. I really hope they are out when we go.  However, I really want to see the manatees. I wonder if there's time to fit both excursions in?

The howler monkeys were amazing! I remember having a couple hours left to walk around the port after. You could look at the times and see if both are possible. 

[mitsugirly]

On 3/31/2023 at 7:49 PM, AKR2011 said:

The howler monkeys were amazing! I remember having a couple hours left to walk around the port after. You could look at the times and see if both are possible. 

 

I really hope we get to see them. I know nothing is promised but from all the reviews I've read, it looks like they are always out and there in the area. This will be so cool. Hopefully we can fit in the manatees. I might just book the Monkey River and then once on board talk to the consultant and see what they think about time-wise and adding another. Fingers crossed it works. 🤞

[sdmike]

Hey stranger! It's been YEARS! We'll be in visiting in August on the Escape and trying to figure out what to do in Belize. I think we're stuck with whatever NCL offers (as you know we usually go off the page in ports), but looking forward to hearing how this trip goes

[mitsugirly]

On 5/14/2023 at 6:12 PM, sdmike said:

Hey stranger! It's been YEARS! We'll be in visiting in August on the Escape and trying to figure out what to do in Belize. I think we're stuck with whatever NCL offers (as you know we usually go off the page in ports), but looking forward to hearing how this trip goes

 

Hey Mike! I hope everything is going well. We weren't too pleased with the Monkey Eco River Tour. It was an "ok" time but not enough time spent at the Monkey Island, which is what we went for. I think the price of the tour is what made it not worth it to us. If we ever return, we'll try the manatee excursion next time. HERE is my review on our day there if you are interested. 

[misterjohnny]

I know this is long after the original poster, but maybe this will help someone in the future.

We took the Placencia lagoon manatee and mangrove tour on Harvest Caye. Big letdown. First, the boat was too crowded. 35 people, cheek to cheek. We were in the back by the engine and could never hear the guide. He had a microphone and speaker, but the speaker was around his neck and he was in the front.

It is hit or miss if you see manatees. They stay more in the channel so they don't go into the shallows. We saw one manatee very briefly. Saw a lot of iguanas.

 

We asked the guide about seeing more manatees and he recommended April/May during breeding season when they congregate together more.

We saw people on the Stand up pedal boards and they were able to get in the shallows and get closer to the manatees. The big boat with two big props just can't get that close (for good reason) and the manatees don't like the noise of the engines.

 

Would not do again, would try the Stand Up boards if I came in breeding season. If you can't do those, then this is an option but only during breeding season.

[In_Seeno_Man]

On 3/16/2023 at 6:10 AM, mitsugirly said:

We've been here a few times and just took advantage of hanging out at the beach or pool. We want something different this time. 

 

I'm not really wanting to take a ferry somewhere and do things on our own this time and started looking at NCL's ship sponsored excursions. A few have peaked my interest.  

 

Has anyone done the river tubing? We've done river tubing in Belize (from Belize City when we used to dock there) and had a great time both times. This looks like a more relaxed, floating river tubing and no caves. Just a relaxing day. If you've been, let me know your experience. 

 

The other thing is the boat ride to see manatee's. (Placencia Lagoon Wildlife & Mangrove). I think it would be a relaxing time out on the boat and possibly seeing the manatees in their natural habitat. I realize there's never a guarantee, but is it worth the trip? Have you seen manatee's if you went? What was your experience?

 

[In_Seeno_Man]

Did you end out taking the rainforest tubing excursion? We are considering it but reviews are hard to find.

[mitsugirly]

1 hour ago, In_Seeno_Man said:

Did you end out taking the rainforest tubing excursion? We are considering it but reviews are hard to find.

 

No, we ended up doing the monkey river tour

[YVRteacher]

We did the NCL manatee boat ride and saw zero manatees. It was a waste of time and money.

[mitsugirly]

9 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

We did the NCL manatee boat ride and saw zero manatees. It was a waste of time and money.

 

Aww, I hate to hear that. I guess you can never be guaranteed to see any type of wildlife when on any tour, but it still sucks to pay the money and not see anything. 😞