Tropic Water Sports — Local services in Florida

We had an interesting visit to Tropic. I was going back and forth between 3 and 4 stars, but went with 3 stars because ultimately we had a good time but dealing with the staff was troublesome.

Note: they are on the oceanside, so the seas out past about 1/4 get choppy, especially by the 2 islands you can't go near.

First they charge more if you pay by CC, the explanation was that Square charges them, so they charge $10 more per hour if paying by card. No worries, we got cash.

Our day started with a 3pm appointment of 2 jet skis. We arrived early to fill out the paperwork early at around 2:45. Cheech kind of looked flustered and went to talk to Chong and I overheard him say they had a party out and would not be able to get us out until 3:40, came back and send they would not be able to get us out until 3:30pm even though I heard 3:40pm. There was no attempt to make us whole or happy until we pressed. We asked if they would give us discount, the answer was no. We asked if we could have more time out, after a bit of back and forth Cheech agreed to give us an extra half hour per ski.

We went down the street to Shell World, walked around for a bit and came back around 3:30. At 3:40pm Chong called me to come fill out the paperwork. Went up, they were already helping another customer, waited a few minutes and finally was able to fill out the waivers via their tablet. After all was said and done, I wanted to make sure we had our extra time and he looked at me confused, apparently Cheech did not convey the message. He went back on their word and said he could give us maybe 15-20 minutes but this is highly irregular, but since Cheech said he would do it, he would honor his word.

We finally get ready to go, get the skis loaded up and at around 4pm Chech hops on a ski and leads us out to the Buoy to orientate us. He then let us again know we had an hour and to be back at 5pm, to which we questioned him about his original agreement to which he ho hummed and said fine, but that they normally have to get the skis in by 5pm.

We went out, had some fun, did our thing for 1:15 minutes and came in. It was pretty choppy past about 1/4 mile. Both our skis had a tendency to pull left. Wasn't terrible as we are both Novice jet ski riders, but somewhat annoying to say the least.

When we came in and parked, my wife said something and Chong had a smirk and was like yeah one of them is broken. Gee thanks for telling us.

Overall we had fun, but did not experience the customer service that so many others have written...

Reasons for the 2 stars are below. First, we rented a jet ski on 2/24/24. The girl at the counter was super nice, treated us well and explained everything we needed to know.

The review:

There is really not a lot to do or explore around that particular area of Key Largo (read: there is nothing you can do except run around in wide circles off the shallow areas). This gets boring really fast so do not go for one hour... I have a lot of experience with watercraft, am a licensed boat captain, and I can tell you that you need some experience in order to navigate out of their docks through a narrow channel. When out at sea, you also need to keep an eye out on small buoys marking the shallow areas, or you run the risk of driving the jet ski into sand. That may cause an accident, or simply a costly repair if it sucks up some coral or rocks into the engine. Pay attention to your surroundings and note exactly where you have to be to go back to the docks, as they are not visible from the area where you will be navigating within.

I would encourage the owners to go back to the guided tours with someone that knows the area, and can take people to a snorkelling site, or to more places of interest. The way it is now, this attraction doesn't offer much to an experienced sailor, and is too complicated / boring for an uninitiated one.

• Adding as a reply to the owner's comments: *

1. I did not say that I was, or anyone else was, entitled to go out of the zone just because we are experienced. I said the safe zone is small (I didn't see it being "miles long") and there is nothing to do except race around. You can't stop at a beach, an island, or anywhere. Half an hour is plenty.

2. Any review I write has stars based on how I enjoyed it, the service, quality, etc. They are not based only on service. Like in a restaurant - the service might be wonderful and the food terrible - would you give the place 5 stars? That is why I wanted to say the service was great. The equipment is great as well, as you said.

3. I meant this as a constructive review. It was mentioned in the website, I think, that you did guided snorkeling tours - something the girl explained that is not offered anymore. I think this would be a nice offering to bring back.

4. After researching a lot of companies, I disagree that you are the only one that offers self guided tours (if you can call piloting your jet ski around a delimited area a "tour"). I think most of the companies let you ride on your own in their own areas, so I don't understand...

Awesome experience all around!! Highly recommended! Outstanding service, great prices, excellent/new equipment, perfect area and space to ride! 🥰

I reserved 2 jet skis to surprise my son for his 16th birthday. 🎉🎁 Booking online was very user-friendly, simple and clear. Not to mention, they are kind enough to offer a discount for military professionals and/or Florida residents. 😉🤑

Our appointment day came and, do to a work emergency, we were going to arrive late to our appointment. 😣 I called their office to explain our situation and immediately (and very kindly) they offered for us to come the next day if it would be easier. 🙏🏻 They were quick to be kind and that is, unfortunately, rare these days. 💎✅

Sure enough, we arrived to our appointment and Hakeem (an employee) was ready for us with a tablet to complete our waivers. 👍🏻 He walked us over to get our life jackets fitted and give us a tutorial on how to use the jet skis. He was extremely nice, patient and accommodating since it was our first time riding jet skis. 😁 We got on our skis, Hakeem led the way slowly through the no wake zone and then we were free to have fun. 😍

My son rode with me and my husband went solo. Our hour went by super fast since we were having such a BLAST!! We truly had an incredible experience and hope to be back soon. Thanks...