The information on the website is EXTREMELY misleading. A group of us went last night and unfortunately, had an unpleasant surprise that this is out of season with bioluminescence at a "1". Aka the guide will scoop up a couple jellys for you to look at in a jar. At first I thought I missed some sort of fine print but the other two groups with us said the same thing...they felt misled. The steep $75 (not including tip) is not a fair price tag for this experience. You're night kayaking, and that's it. Please be more up front on your website. Also, consider changing your price in the off season. Erin was super nice and passionate about the environment. Not her fault the company sets them up for failure.
Response from Host
Feb 2022
Hi Ashley, as explained on the phone 5 mins ago, the seasons are well identified on the website. These "jellies" as you put it, are in fact bioluminescent comb jellyfish. This is our cooler weather bioluminescence tour for the cooler months in Florida. We will see the comb jelly-fish light up neon teal as we disturb them. Then we will catch them and pass them around for the guests and the little ones to view and see the optical illusion that they present for us as we explain why they're called comb jelly-fish. We even provide a video or 2 of this on the page you booked on. If this isn't your cup of tea we respect that, but please do not insinuate that we are intentionally misleading our patrons. Please do your due diligence and read the page of the activity you're booking, Instead of blindly assuming all bioluminescence is the same. As for price, we feel that the price is competitive with the other tour companies that you had the option to book this type tour with. As the bioluminescent tours can only been seen in East coast of Florida, these tours are very popular and therefore command a higher price range that that of a dolphin or manatee tour. We suggest reading all the material we provide for any tour and also consider watching the videos of the tour that you may possibly reserve as these are provided for all toir activities. This will prevent any surprises when you arrive.
Also our "guides" are not set up for failure. Aerin is a master naturalist and has earned that distinction thru educational courses . We pay for the these classes so the guests get an actual education aside from just visual stimulation. This also comes in handy as we cannot predict nature, and even in the middle of peak season may have a dark night and can not provide the "glow". It is our job to provide an experience. In fact just look at review right beneath this one as a case in point of why we train our guides as we do.
As you will also find on our website we do not guarantee nature, no one can. We hope this reply has put some of your concerns to rest.
Thanks for paddling out with us!