Assateague Explorer Pony Watching Cruise & Kayaking — Local services in Chincoteague

I wrote this email to the company following our tour and received no response. While everyone who works for this company seems nice, my husband and I had a pretty bad experience and I feel it's necessary for people to know what they're getting themselves into. I'm hopeful this will prompt some positive adjustments for them in the future. I'm reaching out regarding the previous reservation from Saturday, August 19 2023 @ 5:15pm - 7:45pm. After speaking with my husband (who also participated on the tour), we felt it was necessary to ask for a partial refund. Here are several things seemed to have gone 'wrong' on our tour:

Our guide was late - [our guide] was a very nice guy, but we did not get into the water until nearly 6pm because he was running behind. My husband and I showed up at 4:45pm as instructed and saw him briefly. He shared that he has to run back and get some more gear. He did not return until after 5:15pm and, because of the unloading of the kayaks, singing waivers, instructions/directions, etc., we did not begin our tour until nearly 6:00pm.

Low tide - once we got out into the area where we should see the ponies, our guide kept emphasizing how he's almost never seen a tide this low and that this was going to make it difficult to see. He said this several times throughout the tour, especially when everyone kept getting stuck in their kayaks (which happened often). It was frustrating because low tide is certainly something you can predict. I would have expected that this would have been the reason for cancellation of the tour.

No ponies - we saw zero ponies on the tour. [Our guide] said that out of about 100 tours, there was only maybe 7 of those tours where he didn't see a single horse. He said that several times, which was frustrating. He also said that it's possible one of the reasons we couldn't see them was because of the low tide and we were not able to go back as far. At one point, he mentioned a lack of time, too, which was doubly frustrating considering he was late.

Inexperienced kayakers - while I don't expect everyone to be thoroughly comfortable with kayaking, I did expect there to be some emphasis on skill level when booking or some more direction on how to steer/stop your kayak before we took off. Because there were very inexperienced kayakers in close quarters because of the low tide, my husband and I were bumped into several times. Currently, I have a bruise on my arm from getting rammed into by another kayaker. This also often held us up when people got stuck.

No paddle grips - the type of paddles used definitely require paddle grips. Both my husband and I have pretty significant blisters from the paddles.

I was personally very excited for this experience and I'm sorry to even have to write this email, but felt it was necessary. I did not want to immediately just leave a public review without touching base first in the hopes that you would compensate us for the experience and make adjustments for your...

Update: I was able to connect with Captain Mark via phone and clarify I was not the “Karen” he was referring to, nor did my email (which the business never responded to) mention anything about blackmail or even a discount, just “Please know that in the future, should I return to Chincoteague, I will be patronizing other businesses who charge less money for a better experience.” Captain Mark did not acknowledge the concerns I raised on the call about the experience OUR boat had, instead telling me about positive feedback he'd received from other customers on different days in bigger boats with different captains, which does not change the details in my review or justify what happened.

Original: I was on a $495 Per person “up close” experience on the hundredth anniversary of the pony swim.The below photos showed the marine police needing to board the boat to deal with the confrontation that the captain initiated, as well as how far our boat was from the ponies compared to the other boats.

We woke up at 3 AM for a sunrise takeoff on a boat that, despite what was advertised, did not have a bathroom or any shade cover in 95° weather for the next six hours. Not only was our captain Shane confrontational with another boater, necessitating a police response, he was incredibly dismissive of the concerns of the people on the boat who were unable to see the horses. As the boats began to arrive, we sat for at least 20 to 30 minutes, as we watched other companys boats pass around us and claim spots in the prime viewing area. As the group was questioning why we were not moving, the captain ignored our questions and made no apparent attempt to seek direction, other than his fellow guide, looking out with binoculars saying “ I don’t see what they’re doing/I don’t know where the other boats are.” no one made any attempt to call anyone for instructions. The captain snapped at guests at least three times.Even once we finally moved, we were so far away from where the ponies were swimming and angled in such a bad direction that the majority of us could not even see. The guides told us to stand on the bow of the boat, which was impossible for some of the guests, most of whom were older women Including some with mobility issues. Again, The captain made no effort to turn the boat. I was fortunate enough to have binoculars, but there was no possible way that people could have had the viewing experience that they paid a LOT of money to secure in what we hoped would be a once in a lifetime experience. The lack of compassion was disgusting. If considering this company, please use someone else who will value your...

Review on Kayaking only - The management is great, but the kayak trip itself was not good. My wife and I scheduled a kayak tour to see the ponies, and we were not able to make the date we had scheduled and the management was kind enough to let us reschedule.

However, the kayak tour itself was turbulent and anticlimactic. The guide, Tom, was great when it comes to offering stories about the horses and birds in the area, but he was not helpful with the actual kayaking. He seemed like a nice guy, but he has trouble hearing and maybe he has done this for too long. The website advertises that even if you have little to no experience, it will be fine. Please be aware that you get 2 or 3 tips on kayaking and that is it. You're kind of on your own after that. Tom was near us, but did not offer any guidance as to where to go or tips on handling the kayak even though he has 40 years of experience doing it. We decided to go for the tandem kayak, and we had so much trouble steering the thing with the waves going against us. A warning would have been helpful. We told Tom this was our first time using a kayak. Tom sees that we are struggling, but offered no advise. We asked for help, but he couldn't hear us. It was kind of a mess. Once we made it to the meander that takes you to where the horses roam, we did not see any horses. The horses were too far away. It is understandable that sometimes, you don't see the horses. They're wild animals.. makes sense. But, Tom said if we had come in while the tide was higher, they we would have been able to go further and see horses. If that is the case, why offer tours when the tide is not high?? My wife and I just tried to enjoy being out in nature and enjoy kayaking and that was it. If it is your first time, please consider using a single kayak, might be easier to handle.

Maybe the cruise is a better option, but kayaking was very turbulent with no...