Policies Acadia Park Kayak Tours

All cancellations must be made by phone. Even if I do not answer the phone you may cancel by leaving a message. Cancelations by email are not valid because I may not check my email everyday.

Please let me know of any cancellation as soon as possible including a partial cancelation where you will have less people in your party than you originally reserved for.

I may offer you, at my discretion, the option of canceling or rescheduling a night tour if the sky is overcast the night of your tour.

I may offer you, at my discretion, the option of rescheduling a day tour if it is raining heavily.

For all other tours please understand that when a reservation is made that it is a commitment for me to hold a space for you. I can (and often do) turn away others from that particular date (or trip). If you decide to cancel, it can be difficult for me to book someone else on that trip, especially if cancellations are made close to the departure date.

For most tours if you cancel the trip with at least 48 hours of notification you will not be charged otherwise you will be charged at the full credit card rate unless you make other arrangements with me.

For private trips of longer than three and a half hours or for private groups larger than 12 people you must give 96 hours/4 days of notice in order to cancel without being charged.

Even if it is already past your cancelation deadline please call as soon as possible to let me know of any full or partial cancellations as a matter of courtesy to both me and the other people on the tour.

This is a standard business policy and it is more common to have cancelation policies that require more advanced notice.

Many other businesses even charge up front and do not offer refunds.

My policy is already very lenient and I regret that in order to successfully run a business I cannot make exceptions to the reservation and cancellation policy for any reason, including personal, family, or even medical emergencies.

Please do not ask for an exception if you cancel at anytime after the notification deadline.

We reserve the right to delay any trip for up to a half an hour for any reason and you should make your plans for after the trip accordingly.

The most common reason would be for weather.

We may cancel the trip if their is lighting in the area or high winds. We will notify you immediately if we decide to cancel a trip. If you do not hear form us you should assume the trip is still going out.

Trips are nor cancelled because of fog or because of rain.

If there is very heavy rain we may, at our discretion, offer you the chance to reschedule or cancel without charge.

Night time star tours that are scheduled for a night on which we determine the sky is overcast will be given the option to reschedule or cancel without charge.

We reserve the right to refuse participation to any person for any reason not specifically prohibited by law.

No person who is visibly under the influence of alcohol or drugs may participate and will still be charged the full price of the tour.

Any party that is more than 15 minutes late without giving notification by phone or more than 30 minutes late with notification may be refused participation and will still be charged the full price of the tour.

We may decide, depending on the conditions, to refuse participation in the tour for anyone who is dressed extremely inappropriately and that person will still be charged for the full price of the tour.

Any person who fails to bring with them medication that is potentially critical for their safety may be refused participation in the tour and they will still be charged for the full price of the tour.

Any person who refuses to sign the liability release form may be refused participation in the tour and they will still be charged for the full price of the tour.

Any person who refuses, on the medical information form, to give at a minimum their name, emergency contact information, and whether or not they take medication that is potentially critical for their safety and whether or not they have any such medication with them may be refused participation in the tour and they will still be charged for the full price of the tour.

The forms mentioned above are available for viewing and download at the forms page.

Any person who demonstrates an unwillingness to take directions and instruction from their guide may be refused participation in the tour and they will still be charged the full price of the tour.

We reserve the right to refuse participation in the tour If upon meeting someone we decide that based upon their physical or mental condition along with the conditions on the water that day it is unsafe for them to participate in the tour. In such a case that person will not be charged for the tour.

Because the two person kayaks are so much stabler and easier to handle than the single kayaks we only put inexperienced paddlers in two person kayaks.

We have single kayaks for experienced paddlers in good physical condition.

Experienced does not mean you have to be an expert but it does mean you have some experience paddling a single kayak on the ocean or alternatively are an accomplished whitewater kayaker.

We will need to speak with you to determine whether or not you can potentially be in a single and we reserve the right of your guide to determine on the day of your tour whether or not in his/her judgement you can paddle in a single.

There is an additional ten dollar charge for single kayaks.

When paying by credit card the tour will cost five more dollars per person and there will be a 20% gratuity added on top of that.

A percentage of each tours fee is donated to one of several different conservation organizations. Go to the 5% page to learn more about it.

As a general rule children must be eight years old or four feet seven inches tall to participate in one of the regular open group tours.

For a private tour made to be appropriate for their age children can be as young as six years old and there is no set height restriction.

As a general rule anyone under sixteen years of age must be in a kayak with someone sixteen or older in an open group tour.

For a private tour designed to be appropriate for their age two children under sixteen may be placed together in the same boat.

Please refer to the environment page for a description of these policies.

Please refer to the copyright and intellectual property policies page for a description of these policies.

No woman in her third trimester of pregnancy may participate in a tour.

Any pregnant women should first consult with their doctor before participating.

Open Groups

The open group tours are normally limited to six people or less.

We reserve the right to have up to eight people in any open group tour.

An example of a situation in which an open group tour would have more than six people would be when a previous trip had been cancelled due to weather conditions and people scheduled for that tour expressed a wish to reschedule but there were no open spaces available within the timeframe of their visit.

We do not actively offer or encourage the option of adding another person or persons to a group that already has six people scheduled for it but in some situations, for example when people visiting from far away who are unlikely to return to the area again have their tour cancelled and express a strong desire to reschedule for another tour, we will accommodate them by adding them to a group of six.

This happens very rarely and 99.something% of open group tours have six or less participants.

Private Groups

Private groups may be of any size. We will only take out twelve participants at a time for any one tour meaning that private groups larger than twelve will have to go go at at least two different times.

In our opinion having more than twelve people in any one group greatly decreases the quality of the experience and presents additional safety risk regardless of how many guides there are.

We reserve the right of our guides to end any tour at any time for any reason based on their judgement that it is prudent and or necessary.

The most common reason for a guide to end a tour early would be weather conditions.

For a tour that ended early we may, at our discretion, offer a discount on the tour, offer a coupon or gift certificate for a free tour/s in the future, offer a discount on a tour/s in the future, or offer no compensation.

We reserve the right of our guides to end any tour at any time for any reason based on their judgement that it is prudent and/or necessary.

If the guide, based on his/her judgement, must call for assistance during the trip due to a tour participant’s noncompliance with his/her instructions, or because a participant is judged by the guide to be under the influence of or in possession of drugs or alcohol, that participant is liable for paying any associated rescue and transportation cost.