Wildlife Watersports — Attraction in Merritt Island

We have done the 2hr bioluminescence tour this monday August 6th and it was completely not what we expected.

In short: The big issue on this trip was communication and organisation. Besides that we did not see much wildlife on a tour of three hours which is supposed to be two hours. We got to see some flying fish but unfortunately the algae where barely visible. The rest was kayakking in the night on the lake. We also got to hear that we needed to book with 4 persons, otherwise the tour could nog go on. It seemed that we where with at least 18 boats. A couple of them where 2 person kayaks. The person on our trip with back problems could have stayed home. This group was already too big in my opinion.

About the organisation/comminucation of the trip: It rook at least half an hour to get all the 13 boats in the water and it took a guide a lot of effort to keep the waiting group together. The tour also took about three hours. On 11.07 we got out of the water, while we got into the water at 8.15. The two guides where kayakking and talking on the front of the group and therefore we needed to make a lot of stops. It is a better idea to place a guide in front and in the back of the group. We have counted our group a lot of times and not one time we seemed to be complete. This was because of people not paying attention. While waiting and counting we drifted back on the lake. During the tour we did not get explainations or info about the wildlife, which I really missed. The only things we heard were that we were going too fast, if everything was ok and if we were having fun. When back at the shack all the boats where out in a blink of an eye, but the guides were short on hands to handle the people at the different parts of the proces.

All in all it was dissapointing that the algae were not visible, but that's something that can happen. All the other factors above and the fact that we were kayakking across the lake without seeing anything or without a clear goal, make it that I think this tour was a...

Went to a bioluminescence event out here with rentals and events provided by this company. Was planned to be a 2 hour event starting at 830pm. Check-in was about the only smooth process with this place. They explained to our group that they never get more than 10 people for an event at a time.

There was over 40 at this event. They ran out of kayaks (we got there early so we were okay). They rented out a kayak to people and warned the couple they rented it to that it leaked. Half way through our trip, that kayak ended up essentially sinking and they were unable to continue their paddling and had to board other kayaks to finish the trip.

The crew running the event seemed extremely disorganized. We were supposed to leave at 830 but didn't end up going anywhere until 930 due to late arrivals. Our trip was cut shot by an hour because of that. I often heard the guides Ed and Cody contradicting each other in directions given to the kayakers. I heard Cody getting super frustrated at Ed vocally and it was super unprofessional. Ed's radio failed early in the event making it difficult for them to communicate with a large group. Cody ended up going back for another kayak that sunk where the person using it was towing the kayak via swimming. Had it not been for the glow sticks attached to the kayaks, that person would have been left behind in the water in pitch blackness. Despite Ed's red light on his hat, it was very difficult to identify who the guides were in the dark.

They openly admitted to us that they were not prepared for the turnout. They know how many reservations they get as I assume they keep track of how many people sign up for these events. If they see a large amount of people are interested in the event, they should either send out multiple groups or simply stop taking reservations when the number starts to get uncomfortably...

We went on the bioluminescent tour last night with Ed and Leslie. There were 14 kayaks in the group.

The whole operation seemed very disorganized. Aside from "grab a paddle and a live vest and head down to the beach" we did not get any directions or safety drill. We basically followed the people in front of us.

On the water, it was challenging at times to follow the guide who wears his light on the front of his hat. He was explaining the ecosystem of the Banana river well but none of it was heard from my friends in the back of the pack.

This was not my first time in a kayak and I could have been ok with it all. After all, it was tranquil and nice out there .... when there was no rain shower and lightning! On the way back however it had become pretty windy and the group was spread out.

Instead of waiting until the group got back together again and guide the group collectively back, Ed announced he would paddle ahead back to the dock so he could help kayakers out of the water. "When Leslie comes with the other kayaks, let her know that I'm on my way back." he said. Some kayaks followed him but a few were not able to keep the pace and fell back. "But there was one guide in the back still, right" you might think.

The group broke apart with some kayaks ending up paddling through the lagoon instead of along the sea wall. We had no idea really where we needed to go and just followed faint lights in the distance. I felt that this part of the trip was very disorganized and frankly irresponsible! If 14 kayaks was too much to handle we should have been split up in...