Manatees/Sunset/Bioluminescence Tour

Overview

Experience everything the wildlife refuge has to offer with three distinct experiences packed into one three-hour tour! Launch your kayak in the daylight and surround yourself with Florida’s most-loved endangered species, West Indian Manatees! Sit back while the gentle giants roll, sniff, and nuzzle all around you. Dolphins are also active this time of day as they wrangle their dinner in the adjacent cove.

Next, head out to Bird Island, a federally protected rookery, to watch hundreds of birds soar in overhead. Ibis, herons, egrets, pelicans, cormorants, and roseate spoonbills and more all glide in their flocks to nest for the night. Be lulled into serenity by the gently rocking kayak as the sun descends for the night in the pinks, oranges, and reds of sunset.

Finally, the tour culminates in the season’s bioluminescent experience, whether it be summer bioluminescence, winter comb jelly bioluminescence, or a star-studded moonlit sky.

City: Cocoa Beach

Tue 24 Dec

Other dates

You can choose the date already on the booking website

Starting at $95.00

Make a reservation

Tue 24 Dec

Starting at $95.00

Make a reservation

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What's Included

Kayak

Professional guide

PFD

Paddle

2 hour kayak tour

Additional Info

Suitable for all physical fitness levels
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.

Cancellation Policy

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

Traveler Photos

Reviews (109)

civory3

Aug 2018

We did the Mondo Combo tour at 6:15 pm. It was amazing! I had been wanting to do this for the longest time and it did not disappoint! The night time portion was the best! Weather was great and and we got the full experience the tour offers. We were lucky and had a small group of only 6 people which was perfect. Our guide Bob was very friendly and knowledgeable, very relaxed and laid back. Will definitely do this again. Thanks Bob!

PLAY_HARD_FLORIDA

Aug 2018

Our A Day Away Kayak Tours guides, Brian and Alex, made this trip exciting, fun, educational, safe, and an experience of a lifetime! Our team meets many guides as we travel the state - we were impressed with both of our guides ability to put our team in the right locations to see diverse waterscape/landscape views and a ton of wildlife. Equally important to our team is how careful our guides are to not impact the natural resources while adventuring! It's apparent that the company makes this a priority as our guides were careful to steer us clear of disturbing the underwater fragile grasses and sleeping manatee nearby! Brian and Alex led our team, entertained it at times, and also allowed us just to sit back and soak up the milky way overhead and the glowing bioluminescence underneath. Overall, our team agreed this 'A Day Away' adventure made our Florida bucket list!!

Anonymous790

Aug 2018

First, our tour guides, Clayton and Cory Rose were excellent. Informed, friendly, kind, understanding, knowledgeable, and they both so clearly love what they do. Clayton was the sweep, making sure nobody was left behind. Cory Rose was our guide, and she was excellent in every way. We had a group of 12, 3 couples and one family, so 6 tandem kayaks. We did bump into each other a little here and there but really that's the nature of kayaking in some of the narrower canals with a group of people who don't really know how to kayak (us included). First we went down the canal a short ways to where the manatees hang out, and got to see their curious noses come up towards us and get used to seeing the ripples in the water. It was really only a hint of what was to come. From there we went through some narrower canals and learned about the mangroves and the birds and enjoyed the purely Florida nature. Next we went across to bird island where we watched a spectacular sunset and saw so very many birds flying in towards the island. It was phenomenal to see them and hear them in their own little world. Our guide got a helluva manatee car wash, meaning he came upon a sleeping manatee near bird island and accidentally woke him up. The manatee responded by splashing his tail 5 or 6 times around his kayak, soaking him. Our guide sat there calmly and waited for the manatee to swim away. I've never seen a manatee move so fast, and now have so much respect for the gentle giants. Our group was all in awe. From there we went around the island and very slowly made our way back to the launch site, and this is where we saw the bioluminescence. The video on their site is pretty accurate for how it looks, once your eyes adjust. When the guides first started pointing it out we thought this was a joke, it was so faint, but as the night got darker and the water turned black, it felt like we had superpowers. We put our hands in the water next to the kayak as we were going along and it literally looks like your hand is glowing, like you are radioactive. But the absolute coolest part of the bioluminescence kayaking was when there was a group of fish that started jumping out of the water. They glowed when they leaped, they glowed under the water and disappeared into the black water. That kind of natural phenomenon is not one a theme park can recreate, the fish just don't jump on command. They were wild, the water was wild, the glowing plankton was wild, and we were so lucky to have gotten to experience it all. Also, the beautiful night sky with the milky way and so many stars were visible too, it was an experience I'll probably remember for the rest of my life. Thanks guys!