The day after the wedding, Wednesday, we had planned our excursion to snorkel and for the guys to go scuba diving. We got up really early Wednesday morning to head out. Here's some pics that Colt and I snapped on our walk over to everyone elses resort.
And the group before being picked up to begin our day
When we had booked, since none of the guys were certified to dive, the guy that we had booked with had reassured us that there would be time that morning before the dive where the guys would receive there little training session. Due to this, there was definitely no miscommunication on what we paid for, but after we were picked up, the company that was supposed to be taking us told us that they didn't have us down for scuba diving and that they had not received our money for scuba diving. They just had us all scheduled for snorkeling only. We had the guys number that we paid... and calls started being made immediately to figure out what the heck the issue was. In the meantime, we were being transported across the island by some guys that looked like mobsters. They took us to a gas station, where we sat FOREVER. Then we switched vehicles, and they took us to another stop right down the road from where there were cops standing outside their cars with assault rifles. Then they had us get out of our vehicle and switch yet again. We found out later that evidently there was a civilian shooting that day .. hence the reason for the cops being everywhere! To make a long story short, it took us about 4 hours to get to Catalina Island and to even get on a boat! The conversations with the guy that we had paid at the resort did not go well either... I think by him giving us a deal, he was short making payment and didn't follow through on his end. Needless to say, noone got to dive and everyone was a little mad to say the least.. not to mention, the whole transportation issue was a little shady and we were ready just to turn around and go back to the resort!!
Once we got on the boat, we got to snorkel in open water and the snorkeling there was not very good. Then they took us on to the beach to snorkel some more. It was a little better there. Colt snorkeled with one of the crew and was able to see a manta ray and an eel. We were then given a little time to just hang out on the beach and snorkel as we wanted.
Colt holding a starfish
Some snapshots of Colt and I on the beach
And one of our cramped bus rides on the way home.. where Colt made me sit on the inside because that's when we were told about the shootings going on...
The resort had also sent a little paparazzi guy with us that snapped pictures of us while on the excursion and here are some of the pics that he took on the trip.
Group pics
Dede and David
The boat ride to the beach
Girl pic
He took pics of each of the girls while sitting on the beach... here's my jump pic!
Snorkeling
Victoria and the starfish
And more group pics
It was a fun excursion. It just wasn't what we paid for and what we thought we were getting into. It also felt like we wasted a lot of time just sitting in cars. On our way home, we were on the phone again. We also talked to the resort when we got back and they got on the phone as well to determine what the issue was. We demanded a refund for what we had paid for scuba diving, as well as a refund for our excursion that was scheduled for the next day. We ended up deciding to cancel our deep sea fishing trip that we had booked with him for the next morning. That trip he had used one of his friends and it wasn't a normal trip they offered so we didn't trust it ... and we decided we would rather just spend our day on the beach and at the resort than chancing it. After multiple phone calls, the guy ended up saying he would have our money at the resort the next morning. Much to our surprise he ended up bringing it to David the next morning at the front lobby!!
Since the exursion and travel ended up being an all day ordeal, I think we ended up just grabbing dinner at the buffet before calling it a night!
