Pequeno Grupo: Saona Island Full Day Tour

This excursion was the absolute highlight of our trip! We would highly recommend this trip to anyone wanting to see Saona Island. The early wake up call was totally worth it to have the beach to ourselves before all of the large groups arrive. We loved all of the details included in this trip and enjoyed Melvin's excitement in sharing the history of the Dominican Republic. Melvin and his crew thought of everything, including many group photos, saving us beach chairs on the beach, a family style lunch on the beach, drinks, going to a baby turtle sanctuary, learning about the mangroves and seeing more starfish that we could have imagined. All of the stops were thoughtful and gave us a wonderful sampling of Saona Island. Great day!

Thanks to Mr Melvin's insider knowledge and the early start, we had the island just to our small group, very peaceful and beautiful experience. The buffet lunch on the beach was on white table cloth, very nice, unexpected touch. We left right when the large herds of tourists flooded the shore. The powerboat ride was quite bumpy, so if you are seasick, make some preparations in advance.

There were quite a few rocks when getting off the boat and making our way onto the island, so a heads-up to wear water shoes would have been very helpful. That being said, all of the stops were absolutely worth seeing and learning about! We especially loved the hands-on experience with the starfish and the snorkeling. The guides were very pleasant, knowledgeable, and helpful throughout the excursion. Overall, it was a fun and memorable experience!

Waking up early pays off. You get to enjoy the island before it gets crowded. Everyone is very friendly and nice!

What an incredible excursion! A huge shout out to Melvin (tour guide) and his staff. We had the most incredible day. Pick up was prompt at 6am and we arrived back safely at our hotel at 4:30pm. It was so worth the early pick up, as we were able to enjoy a few hours on the stunning Saona Island beach before hundreds of tourists arrived around midday. The excursion was only 12 of us on a speed boat, which made the experience a whole lot better. We couldn’t have asked for a better day. We had the opportunity to visit the local turtle sanctuary (even saw some hatch), see the only part where people live on the island, before heading to the main beach for a few hours and lunch, then visiting the mangrove (seeing the sea turtles) and having the opportunity to swim with star fish. I could not recommend this excursion enough!

I want to be fair about our experience. Melvin, who is also the General Manager of the company, gave us a very good first impression. He was energetic, knowledgeable and enthusiastic when talking about the Dominican Republic. He also told us about the company's support for a local school, which we thought was a great cause. I can understand why many guests have enjoyed his tours. Unfortunately, our experience ended very differently. Our family was a group of seven. Within a few minutes of leaving the port, the speedboat hit very bumpy waves. My child became frightened and was about to cry. While we were still trying to calm him down, Melvin immediately offered to take us back to the port. In front of six other guests, he clearly said we would receive a full refund, money was not important and our child's safety was more important. We agreed to leave immediately. Our child's safety was always our priority. We would have left even if we had been told that only a partial refund was available. We also understood that having a frightened and potentially crying child on a small group tour could affect the experience of the other guests. At the time, we genuinely appreciated Melvin's response and thought it showed professionalism. The following day, I contacted him and thanked him again for putting his clients' safety first. I received no response. The next day, Viator/TripAdvisor refunded only about 28% of what we had paid. When I contacted Melvin again, he explained that because our family had taken seven spaces on a small group tour, the company had already committed costs for our transportation, boat and other arrangements. He later made it clear that a full refund, or even half, was not possible. I understand the financial side. We chose to leave, and I don't expect the company to take an unreasonable loss because our family could not continue the tour. However, those costs and our seven person booking already existed when the full refund was offered. None of those limitations were mentioned when we were asked to leave. Instead, we were clearly told in front of the other guests that we would receive a full refund and that money was not important. After further communication, Melvin offered an additional refund equivalent to one person. I appreciate that and mention it because I want this review to reflect the complete outcome. My disappointment is not that we had to leave, and it is not about the amount of the refund. We would have left regardless because our child came first. My disappointment is that what was clearly promised when we were asked to leave was very different from what happened afterward. Melvin made a great first impression as a knowledgeable and enthusiastic guide. Unfortunately, as the person running the company, the follow through did not match that impression.

This excursion was all worth it! Melvin and his team were all incredible, very friendly and knowledgeable. Our first stop was in Mano Juan were we got see the community that lives there, along with the turtle sanctuary and learned a lot. Afterwards we headed to Abanico beach and we were the first ones on the island so we had it all to ourselves! They served us food and it was delicious! Afterwards we headed to see turtles, starfish, and go snorkeling. It was an amazing adventure filled with a lot of learning, beautiful views, and excellent service! 10/10 !

Wonderful trip which i and family (wife and two teenage girls 13&16) would recommend. Melvin and crew are great and trip is perfectly timed to show you the most possible and avoid the crowds. Melvin is knowledgeable and a nice guy and while keeping our group of twenty continually happy also found the time to help others not in our party. Highlight of the trip for us were the starfish snorkeling!! Be warned though it is a long day....and bring water shoes as beach can be rocky

Amazing experience from start to finish with Melvin and his team, learning about the locals of saona island and seeing some of the amazing sights and even getting to the island before it becomes busy, gave me the best place to propose to my partner Thought it was excellent just having a small group felt like everyone got the full benefit Would 100% recommend booking, reasonably priced

We made the trip to Saona Island. We visited the island and its turtle sanctuary, we saw a bunch of starfish, sea turtles, and snorkeled. On our way in our guide gave us a history lesson about the Dominican Republic (and Haiti). The trip was a perfect combination of history, culture, people and nature. Our tour guide, captain, and ship’s mate were all very friendly and welcoming. The price was very reasonable and well worth the money. It was a full day trip with plenty of food and drinks, well worth every minute and never felt rushed. We were a group of six ranging from 8 to 50+ and we all enjoyed it.