If you look for Saona Island excursion, look no farther. Yes, you can find cheaper one, but this money was well spent. Melvin was a great, caring and knowledgeable guide and whole communication around booking, pickup etc. was great. There were only 10 people in our group, instead of being cramped on a booze boat with 100 other people, with music blaring all day long. Melvin gave us a little history lesson during drive to the port. And yes, this trip starts early, but trust me, you will be first guests on all these amazing beaches, without later crowd from booze boats. On this trip we made a few stops: in small fisherman village Mano Juan (with breakfast on the beach) and we were lucky enough to see baby turtles born in the sanctuary, absolutely priceless experience. Then we went to pristine El Toro Beach. Color of the water was mesmerizing, along with refreshing drink straight from coconut. Another stop was Palmera Beach, where we had small private section of the beach, with lounge chairs and delicious lunch. We took so many great photos there, it was truly paradise island. Then we went to shallow part of the Caribbean Sea, to see mangrove area and look for starfish. We saw sea turtles and tons of huge starfish and learned a lot about sea creatures. Last stop was snorkeling by Bayahibe with swarms of colorful reef fish around us (snorkeling gear is included with this trip). During the day Melvin took many of great photos of us and shared them. Thank you Melvin and your guys for such a great day.