Adventure and Snorkel with the Whale Shark From Playa del Carmen

We had a mixed experience with this tour. We had some difficulty with communication with the tour operator, but our hotel front desk was able to help us confirm pick up information last minute. There was a bit of a delay with the pick up, as well. The van was very comfortable and air conditioned which was great. I thought the breakfast at the port was a nice touch too. We were able to do several sessions of swimming with the whale sharks which was an incredible experience, and we did see a few flying fish on the way out. The attitude of one of the tour operators was a little rude and careless at some times, however. Cindy tossed around a few personal items that were in her way on the boat, not really caring for our personal property or asking someone to move it. The main problem probably came up once we got to a beach club area. We were told to get off the boat so they would prepare lunch, but the beach club water smelled so strongly of gasoline from all the boats that it wasn't a very pleasant swimming experience. And when we came back to the boat because I was starting to feel sunburned since we were also told to limit sunscreen use during the whale shark swimming and then were never given another opportunity to apply any afterwards, Cindy was visibly annoyed that we came back before being summoned. I tried asking a question about timing since we had a later engagement and her attitude was very dismissive and abrupt, like she was very surprised I might need to know basic information about the trip. During lunch, the crew were also drinking beer which was not offered to any of the customers. Admittedly there was limited information in the description of this tour, but from what was there, it was not clear that this supposedly half day tour would wind up being almost a full day tour getting us back to the hotel well after 5pm. I think the attitude of the staff could be altered to be a bit more respectful, less dismissive, and to be more specific about the itinerary of the tour and expected pick up and dropoff times. They did a wonderful job with the actual ecological part of the tour but could use some polish for the rest of the experience.