Manatees/Sunset/Bioluminescence Kayak Tour

My grandmother and I have been wanting to do a bioluminescence kayaking tour for YEARS, but I could never get the timing quite right since I live in Oklahoma and only get to visit her in Florida occasionally. I finally bit the bullet and booked this trip for her birthday, and I am SO glad I did! First of all, kayaking is just plain fun. There’s something so cool about actually being out on the water, paddling through Florida’s natural environment instead of just looking at it from the shore. My grandmother is 74, so I let her ride up front in the “princess seat” while I did most of the work 😂 — but honestly, I didn’t even have to paddle as hard as I expected! The weather was absolutely perfect, and the bioluminescence was INCREDIBLE. We got to see the bioluminescent dinoflagellates (Pyrodinium bahamense) SO CLEARLY. Every paddle stroke made the water glitter and glow around our kayaks. I absolutely loved the “fire water” effect! We even got to see—and catch—a few bioluminescent comb jellies, which was SO cool. Michael was an awesome guide and gave us so many interesting specifics about the plankton, wildlife, and ecosystem. I’ll admit, some of the science went a little over my head 😂, but it was genuinely fascinating and made the experience so much more meaningful. I loved learning what we were actually seeing instead of just being taken out on the water. And the wildlife!! We saw dolphins in the dark, pretty sure we accidentally ran over a couple of sharks 😂, and got to see some shy manatees. There were SO many birds—ospreys, herons, pelicans, and even night herons! We didn’t come across any gators, which I was perfectly happy about. 😂 And somehow, we basically had the entire waterway to ourselves. There was nobody else on our tour, so it felt like we had a private experience out there, which was absolutely wonderful. There were some bugs, but honestly nothing terrible. We just used a little bug repellant and did fine. I would recommend bringing your own water and wearing long sleeves and pants just to be comfortable. But expect to get very wet! That’s just kayaking! What I especially loved about this experience is that it felt like REAL FLORIDA. We were out in nature, surrounded by wildlife, paddling through the Florida waterways and experiencing something you simply can’t replicate at a theme park. Don’t get me wrong—I love a good theme park, but if you’re visiting Florida, make time to get out and experience the Florida that exists beyond the parks. These are the kinds of experiences you actually remember. And I really loved supporting A Day Away Kayak Tours as a small, privately owned business. You can tell that this is something they genuinely care about, rather than just another big tourist operation trying to get people through the door. My grandmother had the BEST time, and getting to finally do something we’d talked about doing for years together made this such a special birthday memory. If you’re considering doing a bioluminescence tour, DO IT. Go kayaking. Get out on the water. See the “fire water.” Experience the wildlife. Experience the REAL Florida. And definitely give this small business some love while you’re at it. We had an absolutely fantastic time!

Cody was our guide and he was absolutely amazing! He was so knowledgeable and made us feel safe with our surroundings! I would highly recommend this to anyone!!

The first day we arrived and within 2 minutes of having our paddles handed out at the briefing, thunder rumbled. Our trip ended up cancelled due to inclement weather in the area as it needed to be 5 miles out before we could launch. The storm came in really quickly from a very beautiful hot sunny day with no clouds to suddenly dark clouds and thunder which just hung around the area not budging. We had the option of staying around which we did but gave up after 2 hours of waiting which was eating into our kayaking time. Our guide Dylan was great at keeping us informed and wasn't pushing us either way, it was our choice to call it. It's a shame we didn't get to go out with him. With our raincheck, the rebooking process was a quick call the next day to the office and we were booked for the following night. We were a family of four with two teens. We made our way to the launch site wondering if we'd get to go and if not we'd have to properly raincheck until next year but all was well and we got onto the water in good time.. This time our guide was Matthew with Anthony as our sweep. We've done kayaking previously in Brevard County on various water bodies, but this was the first time we had a sweep which was comforting to know.. also Anthony was very funny with some crazy anecdotes.. All round we had a great experience. We appreciated the small group as there was another operator in the area with loads of customers which seemed to dilute the experience plus they had a very shouty and crude guide.. Matthew cleverly kept us away from the big group so the experience felt like more of an adventure than a tourist hotspot. We saw dolphins, tons of manatees, the red eyes of a gator and best of all the biolouminiscene. We managed to get the moon as a Waning Cresent (the day before a new moon) so it was really dark.. perfect conditions for bioluminiscene.. . Matthew took is beyond the federal rookery and gave us a science lesson on the dinoflagellates, asking questions for all ages and answering a bombardment of questions by a young girl. As a marine zoologist by trade, the pitch of the science was great for all ages so it was nice for my boys to hear the science from someone other than me! The glow in the water was spectacular and something quite magical. The expedition gave us a good work out and when I say we got to see lots of wildlife, we did, but they only thing I didn't see were the mozzies and no see ums. I've always been immune to mosquitoes but this trip I was devoured by them, as were two others in our family, yet we'd all used different insect repellent with 50% Deet and had insect repellent bands on our arms and legs and long sleeves tops on which they managed to bite through. The remaining member of our family who happened to be at the front of my tandem kayak got one bite on his ear... They were obviously too busy eating me to bother with him! As we moved through the mangroves after sunset and then into open water we were under attack. As I say I've never been a favourite of mozzies even on previous mangrove encounters in kayaks but this clearly was their day to feast on me. It didn't spoil the trip as I was busy paddling out looking for wildlife or making the bioluminiscene glow. The only negative is I wished we'd been able to paddle out to the rookery before sunset and see as many birds as possible before it got dark. The distraction by Matthew, as mentioned earlier, was to keep us away from the big group of customers with the other operator and I appreciate every trip is different, but my only wish next time would be daylight hours at the federal rookery island. We can't thank the guides enough and recommend this trip as a great experience for all ages. We will go back and perhaps try a different tour but certainly glad we booked with A Day Away.

To start with this is the first time I've ever felt compelled to write a review on trip advisor, it was just that incredible. We booked the tour the day before we went and were really lucky it was just our family on the tour. We were nervous driving the 90mins to the launch site from our villa as there was a large storm, we met the tour guide at the launch site and there was still lightening close by, but rather than just cancelling he gave us some time to see if it would pass and it did. Our tour Guide was Ashton who was enthusiastic and very knowledgeable. He was also super patient with our novice group and with both our teenagers asking constant questions. We launched in the rain which was actually very fun. Our guide pointed out so much wildlife and gave such amazing commentary on what we were seeing and making sure we didnt miss anything. The tour was very respectful of the wildlife and was timed very well. We were never rushed. The sunset was incredible and blew us away, bird island was beautiful and we saw manatees, crabs, mullets, shrimp, tarpon and so many species of birds. Then when it got dark the Bioluminescence was incredible and our photos will never do it justice! I will remember this trip forever and it has been my most favourite thing we've done while in Florida and we've been talking about it all day today My only regret is that I assumed the tour guide would have an app or QR code to tip at the end and they don't, definitely something they should look in to as we did not have cash in our car. The instructions to follow to the launch site were really clear and it was easy to find. Cost wise this trip is very reasonable and when we return to Florida this will be top of my list of things to book. Q

We had an absolutely AMAZING experience on our eco kayak tour on the Mosquito River in Titusville! 🌿🦋🌊 Our guide, Ricky, was fantastic! He was knowledgeable, friendly, and made the entire 3-hour adventure so much fun. We saw SO much wildlife—dolphins, alligators, horseshoe crabs, stingrays, tons of manatees, and more birds than I could possibly name! 🐬🐊🐢🦅 But the real magic happened after dark! ✨ The bioluminescence in the water was absolutely breathtaking. Watching the water light up around our kayaks was an experience I will never forget. We even got to see comb jellies and blue crabs! This tour was so much more than just kayaking—it was an incredible opportunity to experience Florida’s natural beauty up close, and Ricky made it even more memorable. If you’re anywhere near Titusville, DO THIS TOUR! You won’t regret it. We would absolutely do it again! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I did the tour with Zoe, Logan, and James. They were the absolute best, very kind and knowledgeable and made sure to keep our party safe and entertained. Zoe would catch fish and let us handle them. The bioluminescence was also wonderful the location had very shallow water and it was really quite warm despite visiting at night. We saw dolphins and swarms of fish. Logan even pointed out shooting stars. This tour makes for a great experience with family or friends and would highly recommend as it is absolutely worth the money.

This was an amazing experience led by Zoe the tour guide alongside James and Logan. The kayaking was very fun to do with friends, and the bioluminescence was incredible. The starry night was also beautiful to gaze at. It is well worth the price. Zoe was a great tour guide and was very knowledgeable, and in the entire experience I felt safe and secure in their hands. If you go, make sure to bring a change of clothes as you will get wet after.

Zoe, James, and Logan were great guides, super friendly and informative. All of us had an amazing time and it was such a beautiful experience! Highly recommended!

I truly wish I could rate this experience 10 stars. Our group of 8 was in the AMAZING and capable hands of tour guides Zoe, Logan and James, who not only exercised incredible amounts of patience with our clumsy selves, but also made this such a once in a lifetime fun learning experience. Along the way we saw dolphins, schools of jumping fish, a manta ray, and we got to check out two fish that jumped into our boats! I even spoke to Zoe about a birthday in the group, and she was immediately in on it and spoke to everyone else to surprise sing out in the ocean while we were watching the stars! She also had us stop at different places to teach us about what we were seeing in our surroundings. The guides were also quite flexible with us, both before and after going in the water. They offered to store our belongings on land, shared bug spray, and always encouraged we have fun out in the water, of course with consideration of the safety conversion we had before! The price is well worth it for 2 hours, and prepare for your clothing to get drenched! Thank you!

Fantastic tour with Ashton (tour guide) last night! The manatees and dolphins were putting on a show last night and the bioluminescence was stunning. The paddling was pretty easy and well worth it. If you like birds, then this is also the tour for you. If you are thinking about it, just go! It is well worth it.