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My name is Charles.

 

I started Cliff Sharker Turtle Tours in 2010. 

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My aim was to offer a more personal approach and alternative to the catamaran tours and just a much better snorkeling experience, I made my name by offering amazing underwater photos with the turtles and to include freediving instruction at no additional cost. Taking underwater photos was a passion. I was the first to do it. When I became the number one tour on Trip Advisor in Barbados, many of the top catamarans then started to offer underwater photos. At that time, I invited anyone to compare our photos with any of the other tours. There was no comparison. I no longer offer photos with the turtle as the other boats are starting earlier than before and there is just too much pressure on me to get photos before their snorkelers enter the water and rush after the turtles. This causes the turtles to become skittish. The opportunity to take photos is over very quickly. 

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I continue to try to differentiate myself from all of the other turtle tour boats.  I try to offer the sort of tour that no one else wants to offer.... either it requires too much effort, it is less feasible, or they just stick to what has worked for them. They have tried to copy.... but you cannot copy passion.  I am all in on my tours.....you feel it. I give you all that I got.

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When I first started my tours, the starting time for tours was around 10 AM. All the boats would start basically at the same time and arrive at the turtle site within minutes of each other. Ten boats would arrive within half an hour of each other. The turtles would become so unsettled as the boats would arrive as their snorkelers would enter the water. It still makes no sense to me. They all follow the same itinerary.

 

I was the first tour boat to offer turtle tours at 8 AM. At that time my partner told me that no one would be willing to get up so early to go snorkeling. I told her that if I could explain to people what sort of turtle experience they would get compared to what the other tours were offering, they would get up. I believed in this so much that not too long after we changed our starting time to 7 AM. It was so worth it.

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Things have changed now. The number of turtles are not what they used to be. There are so many boats starting earlier, not quite as early as we start, but they are on our heels. There are no longer ten turtles. There are about three on average. One hundred and fifty people in the water with two to three turtles is normal. Sometimes there could be only one turtle...too often.... none. Then you are given the mother nature excuse.... yeah right.

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I am the only operator that offers a money back guarantee on turtles. I am not talking about showing you turtles that are on the sand that only come up when they have to breathe. I am talking about turtles in your face.  I choose my times very carefully.

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Those of you who have done my tours in the past, did your tour on my artisanal speedboat. I now have a live aboard catamaran. My speedboat was run over by a drug runner who was testing out his own boat at high speed and lost control of his boat. His boat went over the starboard side of my boat and exited the port side of my boat . It went completely over my boat.... airborne.  Those who had the pleasure to witness it, who were enjoying a drink at Carib Beach Bar said that it was spectacular, something befitting a Hollywood movie. He scored a perfect landing. My boat was a write off. 

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I now operate a 9-meter 1979 Catalac catamaran built in Christ Church, England . I live on it with my dog, right next to the turtle and shipwreck site. My boat mooring is in the exact same area as the marine park where the shipwrecks and turtles are located.

 

Cliff Sharker, the name, comes from me living on the edge of an eighty-foot cliff, next door to the Crane Hotel where my girlfriend and I used to catch sharks out of my bedroom window. I had built retractable booms with pulleys to hoist them up the 80-foot cliff. Shark is eaten in the Caribbean. 

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So, I have given you a peak into the passion that I have in offering something different to all of the other tours. ​

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I look forward to showing you a great time.

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Kind Regards,

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Charles

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