I created this page to contribute

Durign our guided tour to Holyhead island, we were so inexperienced in the conditions that we needed the guide. The guide we went there with was a disaster seen from safety and arrangement perspective. But in a way it was good, it made me realise a lot of things you want from a guide, and should require from a guide. We had not done that, so I collected this list of what I thought were missing, to be used as a future checklist:

• The hotel had not been booked in time, so the promised rooms did not exist. We had paid many months in advance. There had been a description of the possible acomodations we could select between. We did incorrectly assume the guide would book accomodations.
• The kayaks had not been booked in time, so the promised kayaks did not exist. We had checked and gotten written assurance on what kayaks we would have available. We did incorrectly assume the guide would book kayaks.
• There was no safety equipment like floating devices or pumps in any kayak, and only one tow line in all kayaks combined. This although we had explicitly asked the guide if we needed to bring such things ourselves. We did incorrectly assume the guide when saying we did not need to bring it, would arrange safety equipment.
• The trip was described as for beginners and intermediate alike. Luckily we were all from a group knowing each other well, and fairly good paddlers. We did incorrectly assume the guide being right when stating that beginners could have done the trip.
• The trip was given including food during daytime. But there was neither a good place to buy decent food during lunch time, nor to store ingredients for food in the quarters we had received. What could be eaten was youghurt and sandwiches we prepared ourselves. Even if beign somewhere where sausages or hamburgers were served out of movable wagons, such replacement for sandwiches had to be paid by ourselves. We did incorrectly assume the guide would arrange lunch.
• Breakfasts were included in the price. For the rest of the nights we stayed at a hotel were also breakfasts were included in the hotel. This first morning, that was not the case. The guide failed to pick up the cost, but announced he would repay it. We did incorrectly assume the guide would arrange the repay.
• The trip including a guide was believed to thus also include some kind of lessons or theory. Such theory was provided first the third day, when another guide, really good, joined the group. We did incorrectly assume the guide would be teaching combned with the paddling.
• We asked about what to wear. The guide adviced us not to bring any wetsuits or dry suits. Other groups we saw with guide were frequently using dry suits.Some kind of better water protection would have been recommended. We did incorrectly assume the guide would give good advice on clothing.
• The trip ended without an evaluation. The guide was the owner of the company he worked at, so there was no one feeling the need to make an external quality follow up. The company did incorrectly assume the guide would act accordingly.