Review of Salt & Pepper Tours! Excellent!!!

[rebeljohn]

We visited Paul David at the Salt & Pepper/Lost Paradise resort on Good Friday, April 9th. I e-mailed him about two weeks prior to our April 2nd sailing, and received confirmation from him. We had four in our group, three going snorkeling, and one just wanted the beach.

When we arrived at the dock in Roatan, a cab driver had a sign with my name displayed. The driver took the four of us to the Salt & Pepper location in West Bay. Upon arrival, Paul introduced himself and found a place for us to stow our things. We paid the agreed price of $50 per person for the snorkeling, and $30 for the one that preferred to stay on the beach. He asked when we wanted to eat, and made arrangements for the boat to pick us up to go snorkeling. Paul showed us around the place. There were beach chairs, a changing area with bathroom, and fresh water showers. We walked around the area until the boat came to pick us up. The boat took just the four of us out into the Blue Channel for snorkeling. We were the only ones there! The weather that day was absolutely perfect, and visibility was superb! We saw a lot of fish, and the coral formations were fantastic. It was our best snorkeling ever. After a little over an hour, the larger boats and divers showed up, and it was time to head back to Paul’s place where an EXCELLENT lobster lunch awaited us. It was nicely prepared, and tasted as good as it looked. It was like dining on the ship! After lunch, I headed back to the water for more snorkeling, while the other three in our party talked with Paul and let their food settle. The snorkeling from shore was great! In fact, you don’t need to take a boat, you can swim to the channel from shore. I snorkeled around one of the sea walls, and found plenty of fish, lots of spiny lobster, and an octopus that came out of a hole in the wall long enough for me to take a picture. (Actually I poked at him with my snorkel to get him to cooperate). By the time I finished, (time FLEW by), it was time to get back in the taxi to catch the ship. Our total time there was about 5 hours. The only thing preventing us from staying longer was the ship had to leave.



We found Paul to be a GREAT host, and I would highly recommend his place. We all agreed it was the best stop we had on the ship. His website is at:

[url="http://www.roatansaltnpepper.com/"]http://www.roatansaltnpepper.com/[/url]

and his e-mail address can be found there.



We talked to other shipmates that night, and many wished they had gone with us. The ship’s tours were crowded, and some of the other excursions on Roatan didn’t meet expectations. We look forward to visiting Salt & Pepper in the future! Thanks, Paul, for a wonderful day in Paradise!

REBELJOHN
Constitution '89 Meridian '90
Norway '91 Celebration '93
Zenith 11/01 Sensation 5/02
Century 11/02 Atlantica 03/03
Zaandam 11/03 Horizon 4/04

[kelsea823]

Hi,

Wow, you are getting me excited! I think we are going to go w/ Salt and Pepper next Wed. April 21st.

I emailed him and he said that he would have someone on the dock w/ a sign w/ my name on it! Sound familiar?? lol

I emailed him back to see if I needed to make a deposit or anything, but I haven't heard anything back yet. Did you pay a deposit? What ship were you on? We are coming in on Carnival Paradise, from 7 am to 3 pm. Does he cater to what ever you need to do to meet the different ship schedules etc.? One more thing, do you know if ship time is local time??

Thanks for your help [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Kelly

[rebeljohn]

Kelly........I paid Paul David when I arrived at the resort. He knows when the ships come in. We were on the Horizon. You will have a wonderful time! Just look for the driver with your name. We had one person tell us before we got to our driver that Salt & Pepper had gone out of business and he would be glad to arrange our day.
Have a safe trip........John

REBELJOHN
Constitution '89 Meridian '90
Norway '91 Celebration '93
Zenith 11/01 Sensation 5/02
Century 11/02 Atlantica 03/03
Zaandam 11/03 Horizon 4/04

[vickintx]

snorkeling for the shore question? how far did you have to swim in order to see the fishes? how deep was it? do they have fins for you to rent on the tour?

[randolph]

One question Rebeljohn,
did you and Bob have a
cigar after lunch?

[okiehorselover]

We did this as well on this boards recommendation. Just a couple of things we were disappointed in...for one thing, the website listed this as a "fish feeding frenzy" as part of the excursion with bottle water and power snacks provided. All we did was snorkle with old, dirty equipment (not cleaned or sanitized between groups). I would highly recommend taking your own mask and tube. No fish were fed and even though the reef was super cool, fish weren't that abundant. The small boat (barely room for eight) was hard for me to get out of. You just had to fall out of the boat and since I wear contacts, I prefer not to "jump" in. No water was available on the boat and my mouth got super dry using the snorkling tube. The lunch was AWESOME and everything else was great.

Our friends who did the Discover Scuba also had some equipment problems. They only got to scuba for 30 minutes and so they were a bit disappointed.

[newmexicoNita]

Based on all we have heard for years now and SandP we have decided to use them when we go to Roatan in November. It was a toss up between this and Victor's trip; this seems to have won for all 6 of us. Hope we have a good time. I do think we will take our own equiptment. I am leary about using any equiptment furnished through any resort.

NMNita

[rebeljohn]

NMNita....You should enjoy the trip. We are returning to Roatan the end of November, and will probably book with him again.

[Bobnjoyce]

We were there last week and it was wonderful. We were met at the pier by Pasqualli, holding a Salt and Pepper sign. It was a pleasant drive to the West End, where Paul (owner and super-host) greeted us arrival, offered welcome drinks (a great local beer for me, cold Diet Coke for the wife) and showed us around his new place.

Paul has recently moved Salt and Pepper to the best beach on the island, the private and beautiful Tabyana beach. Long, uncrowded with sugar-white sand, it reminded us of Megan's Bay in St.Thomas. Chairs, hammacks and lanais were new, clean and very available. S&P is located about 1/3 down the beach, with the slightly-more commercial portion towards the other end.

We were treated wonderfully. The lobster lunch was five-star. There was as much or as little as we wanted to do available on the beach (polite vendors, music, beach toy rentals, local snacks, etc.

If you have questions, please feel to ask. I check in periodically, so it may take a few days for me to respond.

[akutner]

So was your price also 50.00? and what exactly did it include. Our excursion on the NCL for next week "Hike and beach tour" was either booked or canceled. We need to find something to do. thanks, Art

[email="Art.kutner@choa.org"]Art.kutner@choa.org[/email]

[Bobnjoyce]

Art,
Our price was $30 USD for transportation to and from the pier, the use of the facilities (beach, chairs, hammocks, etc.), a great lobster lunch (on the private veranda overlooking the beach) and some great hospiatlity. The Ship's price (NCL Sea) was $50. We saw many shipmates that were on the ship's excursion arrive (down the beach) an hour later and leave earlier. There was a pleaseant, open-air bar connected to S&P.

We also did another private tour, Reggies, in Belize that was fantastic, personalized and very individual. I'll post on the board sometime this week as I have a chance. This was our seventh cruise and we've learned about the extra attention, better prices and persoanalized attention we get by booking recommended private tours.

More question, ask, but I may not be on for a couple days (the "real world of home, work, grad school, etc has now returned).

[mnsawyer]

So even if you want to snorkel off the beach, it would be $50? We don't have our own equipment. Also, are there places for shade - umbrellas, papalyas, etc.? Thanks for the information!

[like2cruise]

We did this tour a year ago and are planning on going again in March. If you do not want to go to the Blue Channel per boat and just want snorkel gear to go on your own off the beach, Paul David will most likely charge you $30.00 for the beach and lunch and an additional $10.00 to rent the snorkel gear for the day! They are good about e-mailing back regarding any questions you have!

[HurricaneCruisers]

Just arrived back from our trip and we did Salt/Pepper on our own as the Norweigen Line doesn't book with them. Shame on Norweigen. This was probably the most enjoyable excursion that we had. We met at the dock by Paul, driven to his NEW location at Foster's beach. This is a larger location and just down the beach from the crowded Tabayana beach. We had our own snorkle equipment so we were allowed to do what we wanted when we wanted. Very relaxed day and the snorkling was by far the best we have done anywhere ( being from Florida that's saying something) . Paul was the most gracious host who was there when you wanted something but didn't bother you otherwise. Lunch as everyone has said is out of this world. Say hi to Yo and Alex is probably the best driver we had on any excursion. We can't say enough positive about Paul and his NEW operation - only that the Norweigen Line should get in there soon and start offering his service as an excursion.

[mnsawyer]

That's great to hear about Salt and Pepper...did you have any problems with "bugs" - did you use bug spray?? The driver picked you right up at the pier and took you back at the end of the day? Was there a place to store your things while you were snorkeling or was it not a concern? What were the times? Many people there when the cruise ships are in town?

Thanks!