The drive is LONG left at about 7:15am Once we got to Key West the tour guide walked everyone to their scheduled excursions, which was nice. The wind made snorkeling rough and didn’t see much but that wasn’t the fault of anyone, if the weather was better I’m positive we would have seen more things. The captain and crew were great. Definitely would go snorkeling or boat rides with them again!! I highly recommend this! After snorkeling we had time to eat lunch and not very much time to shop. We got back to Miami about 9pm.

I was so excited about this trip, it was I and my partner 1st time to Key West and snorkeling. We did not have a great experience with this company. 1st the bus ride. The bus host was not sensitive to human needs. It was a lot of elders on the bus. I and my partner are nurses. On the way, half way, we stopped at McDonald’s for 20 min. for a bathroom break and food for a charter bus top and bottom level full to max of people. 20 mins. I and my mate went to the bathroom, along with having already had food packed and bought more. When we arrived, my mate had to use the restroom again. I let the host know, he didn’t care, it was 12:05 when we arrived. He said we had to get to the snorkeling spot by 1pm. He had no patience to wait on my mate to use the restroom. The host left. I was not leaving my fiancé. It don’t take men long to urinate. I waited on my fiancé, me and him caught up eventually. We made it to the snorkeling post at 12:20, the host had the pull to skip the line and get our tickets. On top of all this the host accent was very strong, we could barely understand him. On the way back, struggling to listen with his deep accent. Now mind you, my fiancé is from Africa with an accent and couldn’t understand more than me! Hmm. The host said we will stop for a bathroom brake. This was supposed to be a four hour drive. That turned into a 5hr 30 min. Drive because of the fires. That was not on the highway. We could see them. But we drove right pass them. People drove slow to watch the fire which was the problem. But I don’t understand why we couldn’t take a bathroom break and stretch our legs. The driver never stopped to relieve the bus, all the elders were frustrated, some of the young with senses, got up to check on the elders. We had to hold our urine for up to six hours. I’m sure some of the elders had briefs on. Bc I’m in the health care field. I know how bladders work. You can get a UTI and kidney problems from holding your urine for so long and not drinking enough fluids. The expression on elders face, had me upside down. These host and drivers was not sensitive to human needs. No emotional intelligence. I questioned if the used the restroom? Worse experience of my life. I will not go back to key west on a charter bus, I will drive. Stressful bus ride. More than driving myself. The city was beautiful. No one will ever get such a privilege to drive me again from this company. I pray my bladder is ok. I had to get off the bus on another stop, bc I couldn’t take holding my urine any longer. As for the Snorkeling. When it came time to snorkel, thank God, it was in clear English, the instructions for 1st timers, which was me and my mate, was how to put on equipment, and breath through the mouth piece. How to get the water out, if it gets in. I really wanted to see the coral and reefs and marine life. My mate seen how, the staff was treating 1st timers, which was only 4 of us people of color out of 60-100 people. The teaching for us was, stay away from 1st timers. As a joke. It wasn’t a joke to us. 1 of the 1st timers did not get in at all, she changed her mind. Also, my mate didn’t get in either, bc he seen how 1st timers was being treated. Also, all 4 of us was people of color. All these Caucasian people was walking around the boat with flippers. I was standing by the stairs putting on my flippers, to go down the stairs into water. I also, didn’t want to block the stair way of others. I was the only one a staff got on about the flippers. The staff wasn’t really fond of color people. I’m not just talking about blacks. The other were India brown skins. I’m biracial. With the little education I had on snorkeling, I got into the water, the wave knocked the wind out of me, then I was fighting to breath and lost my flipper tooth. Bc I got into with the snorkeling gear on. I felt like I should have got into 1st without it on, then put it on. So, I was fighting to breath. I can swim. So, I calmed myself. Took off the mask gear. Swim my way back to the stairs of the boat working with the waves. One female staff, guided me back to the stairs. Thankfully. I was not worried about drowning. I wish I had better teaching of getting in the water with the gear on. I practiced how to breathe before I got in. I will go snorkeling again, but it will not be with such a large group of people. It will be with a personal instructor who has heart to teach well. Maybe, I will join a large group when I feel I have the hang of things. This experience was not great for a first timer snorkeler. Get personal private lessons 1st. They said, you have to know how to swim to snorkel when given instructions. I read through reviews and noticed someone saying their friend didn’t know how to swim. You do, bc the water if aggressive. It’s not a pool of still water. This was my experience, feel I wasted time and money.