Cocoa Beach

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Bioluminescence Kayak Tour

Badge of ExcellenceCocoa Beach, USA

2 hours
Mobile ticket

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Overview

Discover the natural phenomenon of bioluminescence in the waters around Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a nighttime kayak tour just north of Cocoa Beach. As you paddle across a lagoon in the dark, watch for marine life like dolphins and marvel at the glow of tiny organisms known as dinoflagellate, which emit light that creates a mystical atmosphere on the water.

Go kayaking in the dark on a tour near Cocoa Beach
Learn about bioluminescence from a guide
Watch for fish and maybe even dolphins and manatees in the water
Flotation devices provided for your safety

What's Included

2 hour kayak tour
Professional guide
Kayak
Paddle
PFD

Gratuities

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Kelly Park East
2504-2526 N Banana River Dr, Merritt Island, FL 32952, USA
Kelly Park East

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
What to bring:
Clothes you don’t mind getting a little wet. Towel (left in car)
Water Shoes – sandals or Crocs that can be worn in the water
Bring an extra change of clothes just in case

Camera & Dry bag (optional) These are fairly useless to capture bioluminescence, but great for capturing people.
Bottled water, Snacks
Any special personal paddling gear if you like
You may bring a flashlight, though we will provide a safety light.
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 42 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Michael_K

Coral & Adien were two awsome Tour Guides!! They stayed by you and made sure you felt completely safe throughout the whole trip! Very Knowledgeable and caring people about the Enviorment and Animals that we try to protect in this River. We saw plenty of Comb Jellys! Held them and caught them with nets. As we ventured out in our Kayak we saw the BioLuminescent PhytoPlankton! I would highly recommend the see through Kayaks as you can see millions of them below you! Thanks again guys we truly had an awsome time!

Reviews

5.0

704 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-10 of 704 reviews

BioLuminescent Night Tour

Michael_K, Apr 2024

Great activity!

Melynda_B, Apr 2024

Wonderful tour! The info on the ad is a little misleading. There are 2 bioluminescent species and depending on the season you go only 1 will be active at night. In the summer the algae, and in the cooler winter the jellyfish. We saw the jellyfish, it was an amazing experience to see them light up when they are touched. (They are non venomous) There are also amazing views of the stars and being on the water is so peaceful. Our tour guide was eager to answer any questions and worked hard to make sure we could find the bioluminescent life.

Beautiful moonlight kayaking

Altobello_S, Apr 2024

It was a beautiful night and our guide, Chaz, was very interesting to listen to and very knowledgable. Having been on a tour once before, I was hoping to see more color. That piece was disappointing. Unfortunately, I only had my grandkids for this week or I would have booked at a later date. I will say, however, the comb jellies are pretty cool! We also had a manatee or two floating around us and that was exciting. I will absolutely do another tour--a great way to entertain friends and family.

Great time

Daryl_A, Mar 2024

Drew and Matt did a great job. We saw quite a few comb jellyfish . Also saw a few manatees. Kept the group together and engaged

Great!

James_W, Mar 2024

Great experience with Chaz from A Day Away. Definitely recommend. Even in winter. We had an amazing experience!

I am happy with ...

Audrius_K, Jan 2024

I am happy with excellent experience. I sow jellyfish, super cool lights.l around as swimming dolphins. Guide sow me one aligator, it was to me crasy to be so close aligator in night. Freedom is tourist guide with huge experience. She help and explane. Thank her for everything.

Awesome trip

Mandy_G, Jan 2024

Awesome trip. Guide was very knowledgeable. Beautiful trip on the river. We saw a dolphin on way back. Had a great time.

A experience that if you get the chance I definately would recommend to everyone!

JanWillem_t, Dec 2023

We enjoyed the whole experience, the jellyfish and the bioluminesence we saw to a level 3 due to the colder weather of december, presented to us by our super enthousiastic guide Chilly who kept us in suspense and had great humor (we still use his jokes), but made shure everyone was safe and kept us going. The kayaking in the dark is an experience by itself is a must have done. The whole setting with Cape Canaveral in the background makes it even more memorable.

An unforgettable experience!

Ellie_S, Nov 2023

Absolutely incredible night, our guide Chaz really made the whole experience. He clearly loves what he does and it shined through the entire evening! We saw birds, dolphins, gators, shooting stars, jellies and the gorgeous plankton we originally booked for, but the plankton wasn’t even the highlight of the trip. Chaz was spitting facts from every natural science you can think of, cracking jokes, and just being a delightful person even at 11pm on a national holiday! We would definitely do this again and we would ask for Chaz again! Proper sorted!

Out of this world experience

Greg_C, Nov 2023

The bioluminescence night tour is a must! I don't have any pictures because, well, it was dark. I loved our tour guide and would absolutely do it again!

Our smiles were glowing, even if the water wasn't. Highly Recommend!

Jayme_L, Oct 2023

There were some road closure issues and getting there proved to be a challenge. They worked with us and allowed us to take the later tour and it was SO INCREDIBLY WORTH IT! We were too late in the year to see the bioluminescence, sadly, but Ross and Haley did not disappoint. They collected "jelly combs" for us to see, so we were not completely without any glow-magic, and we caught a glimpse of a manatee, as well. Add that to the beautiful almost-full moon, clear sky and brilliant shooting my son and I both saw at the same time, it has been the best part of our trip, so far. Thank you, Ross and Haley for an amazing evening on the water!

Fun and different!

Vickie_D, Oct 2023

Unfortunately. the season for bioluminescence is near the end. Drew and Matt certainly tried their hardest to give us the best experience but the time of the year didn't help. Nonetheless, we saw some mullets, comb jellies, and a great sunset. It was cool kayaking in the dark with lights from Canaveral in the far distance.

Misleading title and pictures, but okay for a nighttime kayak experience

Cheryl_T, Oct 2023

Event was very disorganized at the start. Pictures and title of event were misleading. Bioluminescence consisted of plankton. Guide never explained up front what her plan was for where we would be kayaking. Also thought we were going to be on single kayaks since we did not sign up for tandem. Guide was nice but not very professional and most her sentences consisted of “like”, “um”, and “you know”. We lucked out to see a launch. Without that, not sure I would recommend trip.

Our tour guide, Chili was...

Kayla_R, Oct 2023

Our tour guide, Chili was awesome! He made everyone feel super safe and we had a lot of fun. We saw so much wildlife and the bioluminescence was great on this night! The only thing that would have made the tour even better would have been if it was 18+.

Respect your fellow travelers, please!

Jamie_R, Sep 2023

First, the good part - Chili and our other guides were great, and handled a tough situation well. We saw some pretty good bioluminescence despite being later in the season. Also saw night herons and osprey, and Chili kept scanning for anything else to point out. I do want to come back for peak bioluminescence and would happily rebook this trip. Not so great but not the tour company's fault - I booked the 9:45pm departure and half of the group was seriously late, had minimal kayak experience, and I don't think they were totally sober. This meant that we had to adjust our route, time on the water was shortened, and the guides had to be focused on wrangling that group. Please think of your fellow travelers! Other notes - the location is pretty far from town, so get gas or snacks or whatever beforehand, and the road takes some concentration. I didn't see much wildlife on the drive, but it's out there. Ample parking and Porta Potties available at the launch site; bring Avon skin so soft or essential oil spray for the no-see-ums. I had DEET spray and didn't get bitten, but Chili recommended the Avon spray and I'll add that to my dry bag next time.

Great experience!

Natalie_R, Sep 2023

The sky was so clear. We got to see starlink and shooting stars. Plus the bioluminescence did not disappoint!

Don't do it!

Linda_J, Sep 2023

It was awful. There were tipi many boats... people kept running into each other. Chili didn't know much about the biology of what was going on. He went to fast so we couldn't hear him.. it was too expensive for what it was. I'm sorry we wasted out time and money. He lied is in the rocks! It was dangerous and no fun!

Kayaking at night, under the stars

jeff_S, Sep 2023

,, seeing the glow from the fish and manatees .Kayaking at night, under the stars.Kayaking at night, under the stars.

Amazing magical experience

Tessica_P, Sep 2023

We loved this experience. So magical to experience the water lighting up every time something touches it. Our guides were great, informative and most of all had our safety every step of the way. 3 guides one in front "Chili", one roughly in the middle and the 3rd always making sure no one was left behind. 10/10...Once in a lifetime experience. A few tips, bring bug spray!!! some sort of ?sandflea? ate me alive until I was able to get into kayak. Bring a go pro or something other than your phone to try and capture images of this phenomenon so you can be in the moment. They did have some single kayaks just FYI. Also if I get to do this again I will upgrade to a clear kayak to see everything even better.

That was a incredible...

Hedynamar_C, Sep 2023

That was a incredible experience. We could see the bioluminescense very well. It was beautiful. And the staff was amazing with us.

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