Taking Personal Items on Tours

[msbeckyt]

hello everyone - i'm heading for my first trip in 3 weeks (YAY!!) and i was hoping someone can comment on the safety of your personal belongings when doing any island excursions. it looks like people are happy recently with their green zebra off roading experience, so i'm considering that but something i wonder about this and other ATV or buggy tours is how do you handle your personal belongings? for instance, if you are encouraged to have a camera with you for part of the tour, but the tour also goes to a beach, or the natural pool, what do you do with things like your camera, money etc?

thanks in advance!!

[Arubalisa]

When we took the ATV tour we brought one bag with a beach towel, camera, room key. Kini Kini had a bungee cord and basket/bracket on the back of the ATV to secure it. I did not go swimming at the Natural Pool so held on to the camera, but if I had gone, I am positive the guide would have held on to it and watched our belongings. As a side note, if you do decide to do ATV's, bring some very junky clothes and footwear. They will be filthy by the time you are finished. My tshirt literally went in the garbage afterwards, no amount of bleach got out all of the dirt.

[kthy66]

When we did the Green Zebra tour I brought a big beach bag with towels, cameras, money, handy wipes and some other odds & ends. Then just looped the handle around the seat or emergency brake to keep it secured. When we stopped at baby beach, the tour guide stayed with everyone's belongings while we swam.

[msbeckyt]

thank you both for the tips!

[Arubalisa]

This is from Andrea's gallery and will give you an idea of how dirty you will get doing anything "open air" on the windward side of the island.

[Andrea J.]

ahhh the rotten filthy clothes
we chose to "pitch" them instead of wash.
kevin was so mad that i wore his Annapolis Midshipman hat.
i ended up putting it in the dishwasher at lacabana and it came out beautifully.

be prepared for filth!!!

Originally Posted by Arubalisa

This is from Andrea's gallery and will give you an idea of how dirty you will get doing anything "open air" on the windward side of the island.

[Liz - Aruba Lover]

Here is what I did. I soaked a few hotel hand towels and washcloths and put them in gallon ziplock bags. Froze them overnight and put them in a soft-sided cooler in the morning when we left for the jeep tour. During the day the towels/cloths started to unfreeze. It felt wonderful to wipe off the filth on my face, neck, etc. with the cold cloths. Everyone on the jeep tour was tellng me that they wish they had thought of doing the same.

[sunnysmiles]

As kthy66 said, the guide with the Green Zebra stayed with our stuff at Baby Beach while we swam. He also stayed outside the cave to keep an eye on everything. Of course there I had my camera on me but everything else we left in the tomcar.
On the jeep tour we actually carried stuff with us because he would get out and walk around with us, and tell us about where we were at. At the natural pool he didn't swim so he could sit with our stuff though.