My wife has meetings on Cozumel for a week this spring. I'll be going along - so I'll have about 6 days to explore the area. I'd like some advice on kayaking in that area. I'll be looking for a few good days trips. As I have limited coastal paddling experience (sorry, I'm a somewhat land-locked Midwesterner) it would seem that just renting a boat and heading out would be foolish at best. So this means some sort of tour operation. The questions then are: 1) Any suggestions on specific tour operators in that area? 2) Any suggestions on particular paddling routes or areas? 3) When looking at tour operators, how should I evaluate them in terms of safety? What are the minimums that I should expect in terms of equipment (strobes on PFDs, VHF radio for leader?, paddlefloats or other rescue equip, etc etc), planning, etc? I tend to be fairly anal about safety. I've done some other coastal day tours where as participants we were shown how to get in the boat, put on a PFD, and a basic stroke - beyond that, most in the group were clueless - for most it was their first time in a kayak. If something would have happened to our tour guide, most in the group would have been at a complete loss as to what to do next. A contingency plan was never duiscussed in any fashion. When I listen to stories of disaster trips even with experienced paddlers involved - I always think of these day-tour groups and what could have happened - and what my role might have been in the situation. Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions, Keith *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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