We took the Kayak & Snorkel Eco Tour in the Mangrove Lagoon on Sunday September 13.  We had never snorkeled before, but that was no problem.  Our guide, Scott, did a terrific job to both instruct us on snorkeling and on the best spots in the lagoon. His knowledge of the ecology of this area was informative and very interesting.  The trip was a perfect mix of kayaking and snorkeling and was one of the highlights of our trip to St Thomas.

Friends and I took the kayak, hike, & snorkel trip last week!  Awesome!  Troy was knowledgeable and, most importantly, fun.  We even went over our time we were having so much fun!  Thanks for making our trip to St. Thomas even better. We'll recommend VI Ecotours to anyone going to St. Thomas.   Wendy J Arlington, VA

I just wanted to write to say "Thank you" to you and your team for making our experience memorable.  Nevermind that it rained most of the time, it was still awesome.  Liz and Michael made our experience a great one.  I'm not sure how you were notified that we were all a wedding group, but we appreciate you going the extra paddle and showing us your generosity!  We had a great experience and I just wanted to thank everyone for their hospitality!

Michelle  

Thank you again for making our "private" kayak and snorkel trip such a highlight of our honeymoon!  We laughed, we were constantly fascinated by your wealth of knowledge (aka seageek), and we saw a Spotted Eagle Ray; what more could we ask for?

All the best in St. Thomas,
heather and mike

Good morning, We are writing in reference to the eco tour we took on our visit to St.John, with Princess Cruises.   Our guide Alex Stagliano offerd us a very informative and relaxing hike , followed by a 45 minutes dip on Honeymoon Beach, which we must say, was most enjoyable.   Alex not only was very knowledgeable on the local and transplanted flora of the island, but also very friendly and humorous at times.   Keep up the good work  

Fab Mosconi, Shelley Solomon Montreal, Canada

Dear Eco Tours,

Just wanted to say thank you so much for making New Year's Day the best day of my vacation in the Eastern Caribbean.  You made my day on St. Thomas so wonderful that I'm trying to figure out how I can get back again soon.  I really appreciate the genuine warmth and effort you all put into making it a perfect day in one of the most pristine island sanctuary's I've had the pleasure to visit.    Your care and commitment to the habitat really show. Special thanks to Troy for mailing my forgotten bit of paper back to me in the states.

Warmest Regards from the Cold Northeast,

Jenny Alevato

Hello Jesse and "friends",  
This is from one of the two kayak novices who took the 9:30 am tour on 1/12/09.  We had a blast and wanted to thank you for taking good care of Linda and I.  We would recommend the Eco Tour to anyone going your way. Just to remind you, we kept going into the Mangrove trees and nearly laughing our butts off most of the time.  You stayed back with us to make sure we got "home" ok. Thanks for a great experience.   Judy
 

Hello Ecotours!
We had such fun and made wonderful memories on our tour with you all.  Thanks for enriching our vacation w/education and experience!  We had a great time and you all are terrific helping my parents have fun too!

Lynn 

 Eco Adventurers
I wanted to thank you so much for my opportunity to accompany one of our new employees on your kayak, hike and snorkel.  Our guide, Troy, was very knowledgeable and personable and quite entertaining. Thanks again - all of your staff were great!

Joan

Great Tour
We have just returned from our vacation and I wanted to let you know that we had a great time on out tour. The tour was very educational and the guide was awesome. We have never used a kayak before nor have we gone snorkeling so this was all very new to us. I had a bit of a problem with the snorkeling and the guides were very patient with me until I finally got the hang of it. There was no problem getting a taxi to a from the cruise ship. St. Thomas is a very beautiful island and we are so happy that we got to take your tour!

Sincerely,

Diane

Our Second Time on the Tour!
This was our second time on the Eco Adventure, and we loved it!! Troy is an awesome leader; he not only taught us things about our environment, but he amde it lots of fun too. THere is so much variety in the different activities. This year, the crab race was added and also the photographer. Great Photos!! We like to bring friends with us to St. Thomas, so if we come again next year, we plan to bring others to the Eco Adventure! Everyone should have fun while learning!!

Underwater Pics!
I was on one of your tours in April. It was great. Jesse was an awesome guide and your pictures were outstanding. The action shots of my friend and I, that I couldn't take myself, was worth the price of the CD. There is one picture whre I am underwater taking a picture of a fish and somehow you got below me and took a picture up at me. It's amazing, you can see the sky and everything in it. On the tour I took alot of underwater pics, but they are nowhere near as good as yours!

Great Photography
The Guides were informative and interesting. The photographer did a great job covering the entire group while we were out there and we are really enjoying the bonus DVD of wildlife and fish and coral!

Diverse Tour
A perfect way to see unspoiled land and water with knowledgeable guides. Also a great way to get excersize in an enjoyable informative setting!

Rainy day turned out to be wonderful
We went on the kayak hike and snorkel tour a few weeks ago and had a blast! When we arrived in St. Thomas on the ship it looked cloudy and rainy and we were hesitant to go on our excursion, but we were welcomed by the enthusiastic staff and quickly forgot our previous disappointments. The day began to clear up as we got our life jackets and headed out on the kayaks and the hike was sunny and terrific, not too hard at all and also very informative! It did start raining again as we headed to the beach for our snorkel equipment, but this did not matter at all, as we were just planning to go jump in the water for snorkeling anyway!!! Overall it was such a wonderful experience.

:)

Jane and Thomas

Perfect Day
February 6, 2008

This tour was by far the best part of our cruise, and we keep reffering to this as "the perfect day." Friendly staff, a fun activity, a good blend of education and fun... it's all perfect! You rock!

Hermit Crab Race
I was shocked at how much fun the hermit crab race was! As a highly educated adult, I sort of expected that to be a silly thing which would appeal only to kids. Instead, it was more liek one of the best Pixar movies- good for kids, no doubt, but suprisingly fun for an adult, especially for a minor sidebar to a trip with more obvious, well- advertised attractions.

Tour Highlights
Highlights were paddling through the mangroves, seeing the results of the hurricanes (stranded boat and sunken boat), seeing conch shells, octopus and schools of fish in the mangroves while snorkeling. Guide was very informative about the area. Guide gave us excellent snorkeling instruction and time to gain confidence and practice before setting out. Thank you for a great tour!

 Fun trip
We had the time of our lives!! The guides were so friendly and helpful. We really think we got our moneys worth and then some!!!  I don't think you can improve. Everyone was informative and very helpful. The whole thing was the best part of our holiday!!!

Loved it!
Everything was perfect. My group had Troy on St. Thomas and he and everyone else (Jill and Mike) were amazing. They were very knowledgeable and definitely showed us a fun time too.

Getting Married...
The tour was excellent! We will be back in July to get married and will be bringing 35-45 people and would love to recommend our guests to take the tour with you all! Do you all offer group discounts if so what are the prices? I will be providing an activity insert into my wedding invitation and would love to put information on you all!

:)

Great Excursion!
Thank you so much! We did recommend this tour to our cruise director. We had taken a similar excursion in Grand Turk and were not pleased. This was wonderful and we hope to be back. Thanks for the CD's- most useful was the one of the 300 best shots!

:) Thanks

Great eco tour
The way that your group and the guide especially promote the care and protection of the eco system is truly wonderful. The abundance of information given combined with the amazing scenery above and below the water, made this experience truly memorable.

Thank you!!
Dear Troy,

Thank you so much for the wonderful day we spent with you and your team in the Mangrove Preserves kayaking, hiking and snorkeling on December 13. We arrived with our groups from the Carnival Triumph and your team welcomed us and informed us about all the wonderful things abour St. Thomas and the ecosystem there. We loved the blowhole and got great photos of the water splashing thru the rocks. We loved the little snail races. That was funny.

The kayaking was strenuous with the rocky water but we still manged to get to the beach landing without yelling at each other. LOL.

You have a wonderful company and a great team. We will recommend your company to our friends who travel to St. Thomas.

Thanks again for a great, memorable day in St. Thomas.

Sincerely, Leslie Zdroy

The BEST Tour on St. Thomas
December 13, 2007

Wow! My wife and I had an absolutely terrific time on the kayaking tour last week. The kayaking was fun and refreshing as well as educational. The tour guides were very friendly and informative. We will definitely bring the kids next year. It is a perfect tour for all ages. The snorkeling was beautiful and the environment was different from the reef snorkeling that we had done off of the beaches. There were tons of baby fish and lobster and even an octopus. Overall it was the best tour that we did during our 7 day trip to the islands.

Definitely give this one two thumbs up

David

Thank You
To the VI Eco-tours staff,

Thank you for treating me to a great morning of kayaking. Marcus and Liz made a great team - both knowledgeable and fun. Clearly the enthusiasm of tour agents will translate to our hotel guests this season.

With good wishes for the holidays

Kari

This was the best excursion I have ever been on. I highly recommend it!

Baby Octopus
We got to see a baby octopus living in the lagoon! Our tour guide spotted an octopus den and we all got to snorkel by it and catch a glimpse of the baby octopus hiding in his den. It was an amazing experience.

Very fun!
We have gone on many "excursions" and wanted you to know that our trip on Saturday was one of the best! Liz was professional, obviously knowledgeable, friendly and made our day really fantastic. She was a real joy and is quite an asset to your company. We will definitely be back the next time we are in St. Thomas.

When we left I picked up several of your advertisement cards to bring home to our travel agent so she can recommend your service to other travelers. We will fully recommend you to our friends travelling to St. Thomas and St. John.

Thank you for such a special day.

Dawn Iaconis and Vern Rubick
Colorado Springs, CO

Highly Recommended!
My husband and I did the kayaking/snorkeling excursion w/ VI EcoTours in Sept 06 and LOVED it!!! The guides were some of the best we've ever encountered while cruising. Our group was transported to their outdoor facility near the bay. We started out kayaking through the mangroves...the space was actually wide open...plenty of room. The water was generally about
3-6 feet deep in many places so you could see the incredible aquatic plant life on the bottom. (Nothing like you've seen here at home!) We eventually landed on a beach on the backside of the bay and snorkeled there in the lagoon (??). We saw some incredible animal life...a spotted eagle sting ray (huge!), many colorful fish, sea cucumbers, starfish, etc. (We got to hold the sea cucumbers.) After that, we got out and hiked a very short distance on land and learned about some of the local plant life (some of the trees are poisonous, be careful) and ecology of the area. We eventually ended up on the back side of the island by the ocean and took pictures near the surf.
There were all kinds of incredible rock formations, sea urchins, and shells.
(The entire island seems to be made up of broken conch shells.) After that, we retraced our steps and kayaked back to our starting point. The company had a photographer in addition to the guide who took pics the entire time.
We purchased his CD of pics at the end of the day.
Overall, if you're looking for a semi-active, educational, and refreshing tour, definitely check this out! We are in our late 20's/early 30's and were moderately active at the time. It wasn't exhausting at all...just enough to get your blood pumping without wearing you out. I am constantly looking for more of these types of tours at ports...they seem so rare! You won't be disappointed

Fun and informative
My first ever snorkeling experience was in St Thomas at the mangrove lagoon. The tour was run by Virgin Islands Ecotours and they have supplied me all the photos shown in my St Thomas album. You can check out their website at www.viecotours.com The tour starts with kayaking through the lagoon, a hike out to the open sea and then snorkeling in the protected lagoon. Heading out into the water and coming across the great variety of fish was a blast. Although we saw large fish including grunts and a humongous filefish, the most fun were the small damsels, butterflies and silver sides near shore. The silver sides were my favorite part â€" thousands and thousands of small silver slices engulfing my view completely. They surrounded my arms and face and only moved enough to avoid actual contact with my arms. Itâ€^TMs quite an experience for an aquarium enthusiast, used to having fish hide from you, to find that reef fish fearlessly accept you as just another part of the reef. I was the last one out of the water.

Beautiful area
I took a trip to the Caribbean to see the world and escape the Canadian winter. It was an unexpected pleasure to realize how special it is to see tropical fish in their natural setting.

Amazing tour
I did the kayak, hike & snorkel on the 21st August. I had the most awesome time and found Troy and the other guides to be excellent. Troy especially made it educational but fun. I came to St. Thomas on a cruise ship, Carnival Liberty, and the St Thomas stop was definitely the best of all 5 ports that we stopped at. With the eco tour kayak, hike & snorkel the best of any day trips that I did and the St Thomas people I encountered some of the loveliest that I met. I'd certainly love to come back to St Thomas one day!

Thanks so much to helping create a memorable holiday for me! I wrote my feedback to Carnival that your tour was the most worthwhile and fun of all the day trips.

Cheers & all the best.

Linda (kiwi chick/new Zealander)

Eco-tour Staff,

Samantha and I would like to thank you for a great adventure/excursion when we were with you on 6/8/07. Samantha and I felt it was by far the best excursion we took the entire vacation. We will definitely recommend your tour to others we speak to. Thank you again and we look forward to getting the chance to tour with all of you again.

Dan

Very fun tour!
It was great for my children to discover the wonders and natural beauty of St. Thomas' mangroves. We had a wonderful time.

Greetings to All,

On behalf my husband, Emile and kids, EJ and Christian, we just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU!! We had our very own personal tour guide in Marques on Saturday June 30, 2007 at 9am.
Marques you did a FABULOUS JOB!!!!! And the pictures were PHENOMENAL!!!!! You were so engaging for the kids and we all learned a lot from you. It was so nice that you added that extra personal attention since it was just the 4 of us.
We would definitely recommend this tour for anyone who is interested in learning about the Mangroves but also on a more global scale what we can all do to encouraging others to join the fight to preserve our ecological systems which seem to be dwindling too rapidly.
We will DEFINITELY be back.

Take care and keep up the wonderful work!!!

Erika L. Whyte
PNC Clearing
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone:(215)749-6919
Fax:(215)749-3999

I recommend Virgin Islands Ecotours to anyone that wants a fun, adventurous activity. On our cruise last year we went kayaking with a different company and this tour was MUCH better. The guides did a great job teaching us about the ecology and history of the mangroves and kept us very entertained with jokes and their knowledge of the Caribbean wildlife. We bought the photo CD from our tour and got a great picture by the blowhole. We will definitely be back next year to go kayaking again!

We almost didn't go on the tour because it was raining, but we decided to go and had a great time! This was the perfect activity for a cloudy day. The water was very warm and we saw a spotted eagle ray! I recommend this tour to anyone visiting St Thomas.

This was a wonderful tour! We saw lots of different fish and a Caribbean lobster hiding underneath a rock. The water was cool and refreshing - I wanted to float around all day! Its great to see a company provide an excursion that is both environmentally friendly and fun.

Our kayak tour was quite memorable and educational. I love the pictures that the photographer took. We got a beautiful family portrait by the blowhole! The snorkeling was good and the views were incredible.

We had a great time on the tour. All the guides were very friendly and knew everything about the lagoon. I loved the hermit crab race and my husband enjoyed seeing the spotted eagle ray while snorkeling. It was a trip I will never forget!

Thank you for the photo CD
Thank you so much for mailing me a new photo CD when I accidently left it on our cruise ship! I received the new CD today and all the pictures are fine. Our experience on that day was very enjoyable and you came through again by standing behind your photo CD guarantee, I really appreciate that. I would recommend your excursion to anyone. Thank you, and happy kayaking.

Larry O'Neil
Puget Sound Energy
Corrosion Technician
Tacoma Office (TAC-LL)

Thank you
I had a wonderful time on the eco tour! It was my first time snorkeling and I loved it! The guides were really helpful and informative. They knew all the names of the different fish and coral that we saw. I also loved the photo CD from the tour. I got great pictures of my family by the beautiful rock formations and of us paddling through the lagoon. I recommend it to everyone that visits the Virgin Islands!

My wife and I had a great time on the tour at St. John. Our guide was great and we learned some very interesting facts about the environment and the Caneel Bay resort. I would definitely recommend this tour to anyone visiting the Virgin Islands. My only regret was that I wish we could have had time to go on the St. Thomas tour too!!

Beautiful Scenic Views
We had a wonderful time on the Kayak and Snorkel tour while we were staying on St. Thomas. We loved the photo CD from the tour and all the beautiful tropical fish we saw. The tour guides were very knowledgeable and fun. Excellent tour

Great Excursion
Our lead guide was a lot of fun and the pirate hunt for the kids was a blast. Snorkeling was great and we saw two spotted eagle rays! It was a well organized and scenic tour. I was very impressed.

Excellent Tour
This tour was fun and educational! It's great to have a tour that acknowlegdges that the environment is important. We had a wonderful time kayaking through the beautiful mangroves.

Thank you!
We had a great time on our Kayak and Snorkel Adventure. There were only six people on the tour so it was very intimate and the guide answered all our questions about the mangrove ecology. I loved paddling through the channels of the mangrove lagoon and we saw a spotted eagle ray swimming beneath us. The snorkeling was great and we even saw Barry the Barracuda! Overall, it was a wonderful excursion. Thank you!

Thanks for a Great Day!
Dear Sean and Dave,

I just wanted to write to thank you again for the great time we had on the kayak/hike/snorkel adventure we went on with you last week. We returned home to an icy mess and frigid weather, but we have wonderful memories of our first visit to St. Thomas. And lots of pictures to remind us. We're so glad we purchased the CD of the pictures that Dave took with our group, and the additional disk with all the great photos. It was especially nice not to have to hassle with our own camera that day, and just enjoy the experience.

Thank you again for a wonderful day.

Louise & Dave Conover

Great Falls, Virginia

Easy Kayak and Fun Snorkel
This is an amazing tour! We saw spotted eagle rays swimming under our kayak as we paddled through the mangrove lagoon. There was a beautiful great blue heron hunting for fish in the shallow water and we saw lots of pelicans sitting in the trees. Snorkeling was lots of fun and we saw Barry the Barracuda! This was a great tour and I would recommend it to everyone!

We found out about the Kayak, Hike, and Snorkel Adventure of Cas Cay on a couple of different internet sites, all of which highly recommended the tour. They were right! The tour was excellent and was a good mix of hiking, snorkeling, and kayaking. It was worth every penny! Anyone visiting St. Thomas should definitely go on this eco-tour.

Thank you for a fun morning!
Thank you to everyone at Virgin Islands Ecotours for the amazing kayaking experience. I never expected the diverse and prolific wildlife that we encountered. From the kayaks we watched Brown Pelicans diving into the crystal clear lagoon water, gorging themesleves on the large schools of fish that grow up in the lagoon. Our guide pointed out a large dark shape that turned out to be a large Baracuda! In the water, we swam with schools of brightly colored reef fish that were still juvenile size. So cute! An unforgetable experience in all, and the best part was the three years of marital bliss our guide told us we earned for not getting into any fights while kayaking! Thanks to everyone at VI Ecotours for providing such a fun and educational excursion.

Our favorite excursion on our cruise!
This was our favorite activity during our entire cruise! The guides at Virgin Island Ecotours are excellent! They teach you a variety of things about the ecology and economy of St. Thomas and will have you laughing throughout the whole tour. We loved the hermit crab race! My son enjoyed finding his own hermit crab and was thrilled to come in second in the race. The guides pointed out and named the fish we saw while snorkeling and we even got to see an eagle ray. I would recommend this tour to everyone. Thank you to all the staff at Virgin Island Ecotours!

Thanks for the great tour!
We just did a Kayak/Hike/Snorkel tour with Troy last week and absolutely loved it. We were so happy to be able to buy the photo CD too!

I wrote a large review of the entire cruise on our blog, but there is a good 3-4 pages that focuses on our experiences with the eco tour, feel free to check it out at:

http://www.farleyfamily.net/articles/first_cruise/

From Admiralty Dive Center, St. Thomas

I just wanted to extend my sincere gratitude for the wonderful experience you and your staff gave us last week. My son said it was the highlight of his visit here. Troy was awesome!I am happy to recommend your services to any and all visitors we have come through the dive shop.

Again, thank you!

Respectfully,

Laura Hausch

Admiralty Dive Center

St. Thomas, USVI

340-777-9802 or Toll Free: 888-900-3483

Amazing trip!
I just wanted to comment on how much I enjoyed the eco tour. The staff was awesome-very friendly and informative and the tour was just as enjoyable. I learned alot about the cas cay ecosystem and the staff was more than happy to answer any questions I had. The snorkeling was my favorite part of the tour-I had never been and I had a great time. St. Thomas was my favorite island out of all we visited on our cruise and this excursion was a big reason why. It was an experience I'll never forget!!

Your Ecotour was the BEST of our snorkeling trips because of your knowledge and enthusiasm. Thanks again for the great morning!

The guides should be commended on their knowledge of the area and their infectious energy levels. Great job!

Great Tour
This kayaking tour was our favorite part of our cruise! The length was perfect, the activities were incredible, and the staff is irreplaceable! Our entire family had fun on this tour and will definitely be coming back next year! Thanks for such a fun morning!!

Best thing to do on St Thomas
My friend and I were on your Kayak and Snorkeling tour a few weeks ago, which was arranged through Princess Cruises. We had the best time ever, it definitely beats shopping! Your guides were so informative, not once did we feel uncomfortable about our lack of knowledge or our inexperience.Thanks again for a great trip and hope "Barry the barricuda" is well!!

Fun and Educational
Snorkeling the small wreck was so fun! Barry the barracuda thrilled everyone! We loved how the guides showed us how to eat wild sea purslane. Great survival tips! The sea purslane was salty and refreshing. It tasted like green beans and olives. Thanks!