boat hire in Cartagena · Fibraplus — Donzi (2023)

We were contacted the day before asking what 2 islands we wanted to visit. We said we wanted to visit Cholon Island and Playa Blanca. We were told that was perfect. The day of our trip, before we left we were told they would take us to another island they suggested for us to eat breakfast. We were told they other islands have scammers and it would be better for us to eat on this island. We were also told the island of Playa Blanca had choppy water the day before, but they would take us if they could. When we arrived to the island they suggested for eating which they took us to first, the island had nothing going on, not even any music playing. We were told by the staff thet we would have to pay $25,000 pesos to enter each, and an additional $125,000 pesos each minimum purchase. All of the food was very expensive and the menu was minimal. We decided to leave and go to Cholon instead. Cholon Island was vibrant and had everything and the food was reasonably priced and they had music and the option to jet ski and banana boat. Cholon also had massages, covered in water dining and vendors available. When we left Cholon Island and were heading to Playa Blanca the staff gave us life vest, which they had not offered until this point. The driver began to drive very fast over the large waves giving me the impression they were trying to discourage us from wanting to go to Playa Blanca. The water was beating us in the face very hard, all the while the co-captain had on snorkel goggles. When we arrived at Playa Blanca the water was calm and the captain pointed and said, that is Playa Blanca do you want to go there? I said yes, but instead of going closer to shore so the we could get off the boat they continued further down and tried to have us get off the boat in an area that looked like a deserted beach . It looked very scary. We asked to go to the other area, but they said we would have to get off the boat where we were and walk to land ,but the water was so deep we would have to swim and neither I nor my sister are swimmers. They said this was because they couldn't get closer because they had a two engine boat, meanwhile we are looking at several two engine boats that were a lot larger than ours pulling up to the shore. Might I also add they had unloaded us at Cholon Island in shallow water with no problem. They spoke on the phone with the owner for a while and he , (the owner asked me if we wanted to go back to Cartagena) I told him yes because at this point my husband was upset. The owner I spoke to on the phone asked if we wanted to visit another island which I can not recall and we declined. My husband has planned this trip for 5 years. He knew exactly what he wanted to do and what islands he wanted to visit. He had done his research and knew what each island offered which is why we chose to get a private boat, so we could spend our time on the islands we chose, so it was very disappointing not to be able to visit Playa Blanca. The owner warned us if scammers, but it seemed as though he was the scammer. I would not use them again.

I was really impressive with his courtesy, attentions, and follow up with any help request. Even after we docked the boat Ed Gomez