Bioluminescent Bay Kayak Tour from San Juan: Nighttime Adventure in Mystical Mangroves

Embark on a thrilling bioluminescent bay kayak tour from San Juan. Discover the mystical mangroves and meet the glowing Pyrodinium Bahamense plankton up close. Learn about this unique ecosystem and how to protect it.

Duration: 5 hours, 30 minutes
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Laguna Grande - You will paddle your way for 30 minutes each way in a two-person kayak, through the mystical mangrove channels leading to the Natural Reserve at Laguna Grande. Once you arrive to the area of the lagoon where the bioluminescence can be best experienced, our guides will explain how this entire ecosystem works and will allow you to…
What's Included
  • Maximum weight to participate is 230 lbs (103 kg) per person
  • Quality kayaking gear and equipment (small size for children)
  • Commentary of the surrounding area and its flora and fauna
  • Kayaking orientation and instructions
  • Bottles of water
  • Complimentary pickup and drop-off in selected areas of San Juan (Old San Juan, Condado and Isla Verde…
What's Not Included
  • Gratuities
  • Pickup in: Dorado, Rio Grande, Fajardo, Humacao. Meeting point option available.
Additional Information

Embark on a fully-supervised nighttime journey into the bioluminescent bay via kayak. Navigate through the enchanting mangrove channels, a round trip of approximately 30 minutes, leading you into Laguna Grande.
Once inside, encounter the luminous dwellers, the Pyrodinium Bahamense, tiny plankton endowed with the ability to illuminate naturally when…

Location
Laguna Grande
Las Cabezas de San Juan Nature Reserve
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
3.8
(436 Ratings)
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Patitay2k
Jul 15, 2025
Incredible adventure! Kayaking through a maze of trees with the moonlight being the only guide - Incredible adventure! We paddled through a maze of trees—some hosting termite colonies 🐜—as the evening deepened and moonlight became our only guide. You start the tour paddling downstream on the way back is a little harder because you are rowing against the current. The tour guides are knowledgeable are personable and ready to assist. The depth of the water in the lagoon is only 4-5' and you will be given a safety vest. I didn't find the tour 'dangerous' or 'scary'. The tour guides came up with clever workarounds to help us catch a glimpse of the bioluminescence, despite the brightness of the moon. Beautiful. There is a massive number of mosquitos we used repellent, and we got bitten anyway but the adventure is worth it. As you walk towards the kayaks you will immediately notice the hydrogen sulfide smell is bad right on the shore but as you kayak away the smell stays behind. The reason for the smell is the decaying seaweed. We recommend this tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Alanna_r
Jul 11, 2025
Tour guides are excellent! - Is the bioluminescence in the room with us?? Lol the bio bay’s luminescence left much to be desired, but the guides, Manolo & EJ (DJ? Sorry if I misspelled your names gentlemen!) were e x c e l l e n t. So professional, kind, patient, and helpful! I went with my 14 yr old daughter, and it was her first time kayaking, and boyyy did we struggle 😅 She isn’t athletically inclined and had a hard time, so EJ was kind enough to be our Uber lol, he hitched us gave us a tow.. Overall, I’ve done it, but it wasn’t much of a spectacle to go again. And to our guides’ credit, they were very honest in voicing the mixture of sargassum (seaweed) and our moon phase (literally almost a full moon 🤦🏽‍♀️) as adding to the difficulty in clarity of the bioluminescence. Despite that, they came prepared with tarps to help increase visualization, which certainly helped. Transportation picked us up and dropped us off directly at our hotel, and our driver, Jason, was also very kind and made the process seamless. Truly it’s the bio bay’s fault and none of
Review provided by Viator
Esteffani_m
Jul 8, 2025
Fun experience - Really cool experience. Didn’t know what I was getting myself into. Our tour guides made everything fun and comfortable.
Review provided by Viator
Amber_d
Jul 1, 2025
We really enjoyed the... - We really enjoyed the experience. The bus driver and the tour guides were friendly and full of energy and enthusiasm. Definitely got my exercise in...it was a great way to do it.
Review provided by Viator
Jhonna_s
Jul 5, 2025
Cool but heavily commercialized - It’s a neat experience and we’re glad to have shared it with our kids. But we kayaked to the bay 10 years ago and it was much more magical then. Today, it is heavily commercialized. There were many tours going on at the same time, including 2 motorized boats that passed us. Some of the guides lit bright lights, too, and between that and the heavy traffic, it really wasn’t so magical. The guides were energetic, but didn’t take much time to teach newbies how to properly paddle. It felt rushed, but I was glad the guides at least had tarps to help make the bay darker around us to better see the plankton. It’s worth seeing, but definitely expect a long drive to it and a lot of people!
Review provided by Viator
Hamlin2
Jul 21, 2025
Fun experience - We started our experience off by being picked up on an air conditioned bus. The driver was nice and right on time. It was an hour plus bumpy drive to and from the place where we kayaked from. When we got there we left everything we didn’t want to get wet on the bus. We got a life jacket and an orientation about how to kayak and then we waded out to the kayaks. The kayaking to the bay was really pretty and enjoyable. We got to the bay in time to see a beautiful sunset. The bioluminescence was there if you completely covered the kayak with a tarp and then moved your hand thru the water but it was a bit disappointing. Definitely not the tours fault - They said the Sargassum is killing the aquatic life that causes the bioluminescence. This would have been nice to know before we went. The kayaking back to our starting point was a challenge in the dark, but overall a fun experience. Also just FYI- there was a little store there to buy snacks, get a clear plastic phone holder lanyard before you go to keep your phone safe, bring your own toilet paper, and be warned the store front area for the kayak company has a sulfur smell.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
84laurelc
Jun 19, 2025
Ok, but not great. - I am glad I went, but I was not expecting a 5 hour experience. Lack of communication before the outing made me worry that nobody would show up to pick us up. Be prepared to not see any bioluminescence unless you’re under a tarp and be prepared for boats coming down a narrow pathway when you are trying to maneuver a kayak for the first time if you are not familiar with kayaks. You will also be in the pitch black and have no idea if you’re going the right way. If you are an adventurer and you’d like surprises then this is the trip for you.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Roopa_a
Jun 13, 2025
It’s just a night... - It’s just a night kayaking but not bioluminescence kayaking. They should mention as night kayaking while reserving tickets.
Review provided by Viator
Joseph_g
Jul 6, 2025
Yikes - Do not go. Read the other 1 star reviews. Not worth the time or money. Good for a laugh but yikes!!!
Review provided by Viator
Daniella_m
Jun 29, 2025
Skip this one ! - This may be my first 1 star review. I had read reviews prior to booking this but didn’t appreciate the extent of the issues. Biggest concerns were lack of transparency w timeline and safety. We booked a 6:30pm pick up time. I did not realize we would not be in a kayak until 9:30pm and back by 12:40am. The lack of lighting while trying to navigate the narrow channels through mangrove trees and so many other kayakers going in both directions was total chaos. One person in our group got a bloody nose from being hit w someone’s paddle in a narrow space. Many others got scraped/bruised from branches. I’m all for adventure but this was unsafe. A single glowstick fastened to the kayak was used as both a light source and identification of the kayak. Occasionally when the current was crazy and there were massive pile of kayaks stuck in the trees, the guide would turn on a flash light. My 9 year old daughter was so scared of being hit by other kayaks and trees that she sobbed for most of this. This tour was extremely disorganized and poorly described on viator. Of note, none of the other people in our group were happy with this. Lastly, once we got to the area for bioluminescence viewing, we were told that it’s barely existent currently and maybe we could see some sparkles in the water… ughhhh. I definitely wouldn’t bother with this tour. Apparently other sites on the island have much better bioluminescence so try elsewhere.
Review provided by Viator
From $110
up to 15 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).