Turks & Caicos Explorer, Dominican Republic

The weather was not good, the boat stateroom was okay, the food was okay, the humpback whales were amazing and awe-inspiring!  We had some very close in-water encounters as well as a lot of surface activity!  We are still moved by the experience.  There were a few first time snorkelers (I mean really) and some older folks.  It is not the same as scuba diving.  The water was extremely rough, at times it was hard to get back on the small boat from the water (and up to the large boat from the skiffs), and there was some hard swimming.  They did have "noodles" but no snorkeling vests.  The dive team person in the water was there to keep us back a safe distance from the whales, not to assist people in the water (although one crew member was extremely helpful getting a first-timer to the whale spot).  We thought there should have been one less guest on the boat and one crew member in the water helping the people up the ladder - especially in rough seas.  We think we were extremely lucky however for our whale experience and heard from repeat guests that this was their best trip as there was usually more "see nothing" time.  Of course, the company can do neither about the weather or the experience although they really did spend long days on the water trying to find the whales.

​Sharon & Klaus- February 2016