TORTUGA BAY ECO HOSTEL

I wish I could give Tortuga Bay 5* - the place has lots of potential but was really lacking in some basic areas.
The pros:
-the owner was really friendly and tried to make us feel welcome.
-the room was basic but nicely designed
-you could see whales from the beach in the afternoon which was amazing
-the guides on the whale tour certainly knew what they were doing - we saw several whales and they exhibited patience for the sightings that lots of other guides didn’t seem to.

The cons:
-Airport transfer: a Tuktuk (sketchy in places but standard transport for the area) followed by a motorbike ride across two rickety bridges and the beach which had lots of logs and debris. We had to carry our luggage on the bike with us. It felt dangerous at points, dodging various logs and the tide coming in. This was not mentioned to us until our tuk tuk dropped us off by two motorbikes. This or a 45min walk along the beach is the only way to get to El Valle.
-Beach: is really dirty, lots of plastic bottles, rubbish and washed up logs. The owners of the hotel made an effort to clean the area directly in front of the hotel but the sea was still unpleasant to swim in.
-Room: you had to request the staff to have your water turned on to use the bathroom. This meant you could not wash your hands after using the loo at night. This was really inconvenient and seemed unnecessary - as though guests could not be trusted not to waste water despite having chosen to stay in an eco-hotel. Our toilet also only flushed sporadically.
-Food: awful. I have been to the depths of the Columbian jungle and had better food than this. They did not cater properly for dietary requirements. The dinner was very dry over-fried fish and rice two nights in. A row. The breakfast was eggs with a tortilla and some dry crackers. The dining room was dingey and felt sticky - such a shame when you have such a beautiful coastline.
-Whale tour: the boat seemed to be the only one without a sunshade. Any easy fix considering most guests will be spending the majority of the time under the blistering sun! The ride on the way back felt dangerous, crashing against the waves and the back of our seat fell off which made holding tight even harder. At lunch we were taken to Playa Blanca for yet more deeply fried dry fish and a beach for “swimming” that was almost unswimmable.
-Wi-Fi: didn’t work despite advertising that they had it. I’m all for not using my phone to switch-off etc, but we had some flights we needed to book urgently which could only be done by hotspotting from another guest.

The hotel is really missing out on an opportunity here. There are the bare bones of a wonderful eco-hotel but they are currently way off the mark. So disappointing.

Wenn du in der Choco Region Urlaub machst ist das Tortuga Bay dein Ort zum Einchecken. Die Unterkunft ist neu und für die Region toll ausgestattet. Die Hosts sind überaus freundlich wenn es um die Organisation von Touren geht (liebe Grüße an Elija und William). Auch wenn die Unterkunft etwas abgelegen ist, die Hosts organisieren gerne auf Anfrage ein Motorrad Shuttle über den Strand. Auch die Verpflegung war lecker. Es gab jeden Abend Fang frischen Fisch und leckeres Frühstück. Der Strand ist atemberaubend.

Excelente servicio al cliente por parte de Sebastián y su administración, siempre prestos a brindar solución y que las personas se sientan en casa. Un lugar muy hermoso. Gracias por todas las atenciones.

Excelente lugar para programar actividades relacionadas con el avistamiento de ballenas y liberación de tortugas

Unsere Unterkunft war wirklich traumhaft! Leider hatte man im Zimmer dauerhaft kein Wasser da es Probleme mit der Wasserpumpe gab (aufgrund Stromsparmaßnahmen) - man konnte sich jedoch jederzeit melden, und die Pumpe wurde eingeschaltet. Weiters gab es leider kein WLAN, da es wohl Probleme mit dem Empfang gab, was wahrscheinlich in El Valle des Öfteren vorkommt. Service war sehr zuvorkommend, immer höflich und nett!