We spent days searching for this permit! Well worth the wait! We headed out early again this morning, and headed southeast in the atoll. We came across this rather large lodge that is being built. Apparently it has been in the works for years, and is relatively, pretty massive. It is sad to see such a large hotel being built in such a beautiful, pristine place. Dion showed us where they had drudged the sand, and more or less took out a huge chunk of the reef in front of the lodge. He said the fishing used to be great right in that area, the flats were a perfect place to find bone fish and permit, among a wealth of other wildlife. Now, there is a pristine white beach and a deep, blue hole where they had dug it all out. Sad to see this happening, and really made me appreciate the relatively little impact Turneffe Flats has on the ecosystem. We searched for hours for a permit, chasing the occasional glimpse of one or two, until I finally fell asleep on the boat. We then got out and wandered along the flats. Evan and Dion fishing, me just wandering, exploring and looking at the cool ecosystem beneath my feet. After a couple dips in the water and few nice bonefish for Evan, we headed back into the lagoon. On our way, Dion spotted a huge manatee below us, in the deep blue water. We watched it swim around below us before heading back into the lagoon. We came across a couple schools of permit, and spend a few hours chasing them, trying to get in front. It was incredibly still, no wind, and hot. The chase was pretty exciting and Evan had a lot of great shots on the fish. I was getting pretty good at spotting the nervous water, indicating fish swimming just below the surface. Then in an an instant, Evan had a fish on! It swam hundreds of feet away from us, then back, then away, then back, and after twenty minutes or so, the fish tired out and Evan won the battle. We had come a long way for this moment, and I was happy to be there to witness it! Evan could not have been happier! To top off the day, on our way back to the lodge, we spotted a family, including a baby, of dolphins! Evan and I hopped in the kayaks and spent the last few moments of sunlight kayaking with the dolphins. What an amazing day! Could not have been better.
The holiday of a lifetime. The company is Alaksa-owned and thhat makes a big difference to the experineces you get i.e. meet genuine First Nations tribes people. The amount of wildlife was beyond my expectation, and seeing everything on sucha small, intimate boat made it even more spoecial and unique.
Liz O
1 day ago
Adventure Life covered all the details in planning our trip to Ireland. Any questions we had were answered immediately. Any trip glitches, which always happen when traveling, were resolved immediately. There were no worries, just fun!
Kathleen Weller
1 day ago
It was an outstanding, up-close, educational vacation of nature, culture, history, animals and geology! It was everything they promised! Binoculars were plentiful on the boat, but I'm glad I brought my own. Food was excellent. Rooms had black-out shades. Pack/wear multiple layers of clothing (I carried a small backpack when off the ship). Crew were delightful and very accommodating! Remember to jump FEET FIRST first when taking the optional polar plunge! Spend as much time outdoors as you are able and ENJOY!!!
Janet Dutton
6 days ago
Excellent travel advice and service
This is my second experience working with Adventure Life. I’m sold. Jess Heuermann is an experienced traveler and provides a lot of useful information when planning a trip. These are the questions I like to ask at the outset - What’s it like to go here, there, what would you suggest, what do people report, can we add any additional side trips? Jess took the time to answer my questions and seek additional information to share with me. Petchie Colina is outstanding in helping with travel logistics and final preparations. Adventure Life has excellent guides and offers private guides and small group adventures. We enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the guides and drivers to learn more about their countries, cultures and histories. A highlight was having the guides pick local restaurants where we could share meals together. Highly recommend.
Claire Cordon
1 week ago
Our six-day tour in Iceland went smoothly with one exception. We had asked for two rooms each night. Somehow we were booked with one room with three beds. It could not be fixed at the first hotel in Reykjavik because the hotel was fully booked. Once informed of the problem, however, Adventure Life rebooked for two rooms for the remainder of the trip. As an 85-year-old traveler, I appreciated that one could participate at different physical levels at many of the stops. Iceland is a great place to visit but on the expensive side.