Florida Bioluminescent Kayak & Paddle Board Adventure
Description
With A Paddle in Paradise, you’ll enjoy one of the most authentic and intimate bioluminescent kayak and paddle board tours in Florida. Unlike large outfitters that pack 25+ people into one group, we keep tours small—around 12 guests, with a 15-person max—offering a peaceful, personalized experience and better views of the glowing water. We are close to Cocoa Beach and Orlando. Each tour is locally guided by Nate, Jess or Jeff, giving you a laid-back, guest-first vibe where you're treated like a friend, not a number. Paddle under the stars through the Indian River Lagoon, one of the only places in the world where bioluminescent dinoflagellates and comb jellies light up the water.
Tour Options
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- For all amendments, please contact us directly before making any amendments to ensure availability for your selected time. in the event an amendment is made without contacting us directly, we may not be able to accomadate your change, and we will not have space for you to participate.
- It is the guests responsabilty to provide adaquite and up to date contact info in case changes or updates to your tour, if using an international number and we cannot get ahold of you with location changes or cancelations refunds will not be provided. We are not able to call internatinal numbers, updates will be sent via viator messege center. Updates on weather and potential location changes will be sent via the messenger app. Please be sure to check these messages the day of your tour.
- This event is rain or shine. As long as no thunder, Lightning, or heavy winds in the area and conditions are safe the tours will commence
- In the event of severe weather we may go on a 30 minute weather hold. After 30 minutes if it is safe to go out we will start the excursion if not a refund will be provided.
- this activity is a physical activity and requires people to paddle and operate their own water craft
- Your ticket will have instructions to our daily updates page with the most current lanch site and weather conditions
- This excursion requires a minimum number of travelers to operate. In the very rare event a minimum is not met you may be asked to move to a different launch time
- Our equipment has a max weight of 285lbs if you exceed this please contact us directly for acomadtions before booking
Reviews(192)
Fantastic! The guide was very knowledgeable and fun. My family had an amazing time. I would recommend this to anyone.
Travelled with family and the guides took great care of us and had a plan for everything. Weather wasnt cooperative but we were able to adjust to get a full experience.
This was one of our favorite experiences on vacation. They even provided mosquito spray as we waited on the banks. Their paddle boards are uniquely designed for optimal stability with option to stand or sit. The nets they provided in order to collect jellies was a thoughtful detail that enhanced the experience. The guides were knowledgeable, friendly and offered a lot of information about how to maximize the experience. I appreciated that they took quality photos during the experience and made them available at no cost within an hour of completing the trip. The viewing conditions (no moon) and warmer weather made for an exceptionally brilliant illumination. Our whole family, including teenagers, highly enjoyed this.
It was such a great tour! The guides were so wonderful and knowledgeable, sharing fun facts the whole way. The length of tour from sunset to dark was perfect and well worth the cost. Would definitely recommend and go again!
The weather was beautiful a little windy, but it was so fun to kayak at night time on boats that light up. We drove two hours just to do the excursion however it would’ve been nice to know that we were out of season for the bio luminescence so we did not get to see any. Our guide was terrific and we learned a lot about mangrove trees.
Thank you so much for joining us and for the kind words about your guide! We’re really glad you still enjoyed the nighttime paddle experience and learning about the lagoon ecosystem. You visited during one of our seasonal transition periods between winter comb jelly season and summer dinoflagellates season. During these times, conditions can vary significantly night to night depending on rainfall, temperature, salinity, and weather patterns. Sometimes nature simply doesn’t cooperate the way we hope, and we truly understand how disappointing that can be after making the drive. Because the lagoon is constantly shifting throughout the year and no two nights are ever exactly the same, we do our best to clearly outline these seasonal changes and set expectations within our Viator listing and on our website at www.apaddleinparadise.com . . . . We truly appreciate the feedback, and we’d absolutely love to have you back out during peak summer dinoflagellates season. We’d also be happy to offer you a return guest discount for another adventure on the water!
Jeff was very knowledgeable and friendly. He took some great pics and made us feel at ease. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot of bioluminescence tonight. It might be best to come in July or August.
Wow! Just wow! What an experience. We absolutely loved it. Nate was our guide, he was professional, safety conscious, confident, witty, hilariously funny, great fun and knowledgeable all rolled into one. His calm demeanour instantly made people comfortable. He was patient with everyone, very approachable and easy to talk to. I asked loads of stupid questions, and he took the time to answer them, very often providing more info than I thought I needed. That’s the unexpected side to this tour, Nate’s very obvious love and respect for nature. We did the bioluminescence jelly tour. The paddle boards are super stable, more stable than a kayak, but also less restrictive. Easy to use with no prior experience (I know this because we had no prior experience, and we found it easy). You feel like you are one with the water and the scenery around you. Bioluminescence wasn’t in season, it was jelly season, and that was made absolutely clear to us before we booked. Something else that was made clear was that safety is a priority and if Mother Nature decides we don’t go out, then we don’t go out. Thankfully that didn’t happen to us, it was a calm and peaceful night. The jellyfish were simply remarkable. A real treat, I still can’t believe I was out on a paddle board in the dead of night, feeling safe, in control and comfortable throughout. When the tour was over, I didn’t want to come back in. We’re definitely doing it again, and again and again. Can’t wait to come back to Orlando. Booking with a paddle in paradise will be the first thing I do. I can thoroughly recommend this! Give the parks a miss for a day or 2. Relax and chill in nature with Nate and a paddle in paradise, I can promise you, you’ll never regret it. Incidentally, I asked Nate about things to do with nature while we were in Orlando. The recommendations he gave were incredible, some paid, some absolutely free, and he can help you to achieve your nature experiences too. We did some other amazing other paddle board stuff with him too, but that’s another 5 star review for another time, but if you decide to book, ask him about it. I’m sure he’ll be happy to help.
Fun experience but we assumed based on the fact that it was advertised as bioluminescence that we would see then or the tour wouldn’t be happening if it wasn’t the time of year for it. So we were disappointed we saw no comb jellies
Thank you for joining us and for the feedback! We’re glad you still had a fun experience out on the water, though we completely understand the disappointment when bioluminescence activity isn’t as visible as hoped. Because the lagoon is a natural ecosystem, conditions can vary significantly throughout the year — especially during seasonal transition periods between winter comb jelly season and peak summer dinoflagellates season. While tours still run during these times due to favorable weather, wildlife activity, and the overall nighttime paddling experience, the type of bioluminescence you may see can shift night tonight dramatically and can sometimes be limited or absent depending on current environmental conditions outside of our control. We do our best to clearly outline these seasonal patterns and expectations within our Viator listing and on our website www.apaddleinparadise.com so guests can choose the experience and season that best fits what they’re hoping to see. We truly appreciate you coming out with us and would love the opportunity to have you back during peak summer bioluminescence season and would be happy to offer an additional discount for a future tour! You can always call or text for bio updates too!
We had a great experience with A Paddle in Paradise, which we booked through Viator. Jess was our tour guide and she was very knowledgeable and made the tour fun and exciting even though we did not get to see any of the comb jellies or the bioluminescent plankton. The kayaks were very comfortable and were even equipped with lights along the underside to help see in the later. My kids ages 13-18 also enjoyed the tour. Very doable for beginners!
It was so much fun for our entire family. We ranged from 11-43. We loved this experience! We loved Jeff as our guide. He was funny, knowledgeable, and very kind with all of us. Since we were a large family he took extra time with our kids helping them and explaining everything to us! Highly recommended experience! Best part is he took pictures for us of our family time together!
