A Day Away Kayak Tours — Local services in Oviedo

Omg what an experience!! Definitely worth the drive. The tour guides Ron and Josh were totally my kind of people, laid back, knowledgeable and just wanting to share something beautiful with the world. Good genuine people right here. They handled every aspect of this excursion professionally with a smile on. They earned every bit of the gratuity i offered. What a memorable evening!!! And yeah it really does look every bit like what you see on the TV. It was absolutely incredible!!! So I took the 830pm tour on a tue. We had roughly a dozen people all together. Most were doubled up in 2 person kayaks. The sunset was incredibly beautiful omg 😍. Absolutely 100% choose the clear kayak. It definitely adds to the experience let me tell you. We saw herons, some kinda glow jelly, oh man when you scare the fish under you and the dart away they leave blue streamers!!! It was sooo cool!!!. They have 1 seater and 2 seater kayaks. I was rolling stag so I grabbed the single. I feel there are pros and cons to each. As a single rider I didn't have to coordinate my paddling with a team mate so I was able to move faster than the rest of the group. Oo here's a good pointer. I notice the harder I paddled the more turbulence I'd create causing more of the biolluminescent plankton to glow which in turn made the glow brighter. With a parter i could see it be more weight in the boat causing more resistance. I'm sure if the two worked together they could overcome the drag and achieve an unforgettable experience. That being said you don't have to paddle hard to see the glow. It's everywhere. Faster just makes it better. Now if I weren't a single rider I could have got some better pictures. The second picture i added is just me moving my hand in the water at the beginning before we got to the good parts. It was more fun experiencing the moment to care about capturing it. If you want good photos You'll have to paddle while you partner takes pics. Have to keep moving for a good shot. Turn the ISO all the way up and adjust your shutter speed for best results. Android galaxy series has a "Pro" mode with these setting. Bring bug spray with you. The skeeters are at the launch area. Not on the water during the tour. But remember they will be there when you get back so bring some with ya to reapply on the way back in. I'm kinda new to kayaking and didn't realize how much water splashes off them paddles when I'm getting after it. It you wanna glow hard You're gonna get wet. No getting around it. Bring a towel and an extra set of clothes for a more comfortable drive back to the hotel. Ron thanks you so much for the hospitality. It was lovely and greatly appreciated. Josh thank you for teaching about this fascinating aquatic life and showing me how to harness the power of the underwater fire balls. Once I got it down it was pretty freaking cool. Yall will have to ask him bout that little diddy. I hope we cross paths again gentleman. I'm truely greatful for the experience. Thank you 😊 Oh oh wait one more thing. One girl brought fish food which I thought was a great idea. And Ron told me about skipping rocks out there. I didn't have any but I'll bet that would have been quite the visual effect. ...

My husband and I recently took our four children (ages 9, 11, 15, and 17) on the bioluminescence kayak tour with A Day Away Kayak tours. For background, we do own some kayaks, and thus have some kayaking experience, but usually take them out in the relatively calm waters of a local reservoir so we are in no way experts. It was a bit windy that night and our tour was slightly delayed while they made sure that conditions were safe. Our main guide, Aiden, was thorough in his safety explanations and the whole team (there were a total of 3 guides for 11 kayaks, 8 tandem and 3 singles) made sure that each person was adequately equipped with a properly fitting life jacket, and other safety gear such as a whistle. We were nervous as we went to the launch site at the water's edge as the water still looked quite choppy due to the wind. That night it was a somewhat intense paddle the relatively short distance to the bridge (and to calmer waters) in which we learned that tandem kayaks are more stable than singles (thankfully my family all had tandems). Through the small amount of chaos getting to the bridge, the tour guides made sure that everyone was accounted for and received any assistance that they needed. Once we were to the calmer waters we were able to see the bioluminescence! Our guide told us that it was showing up really well that night, which was a great reward for our crazy paddle. We also experienced the flying mullet fish as we paddled towards an even darker area. In the darker area, we were able to see the glow from fish darting under the water, which I thought was pretty neat! My kids were reminded of Moana seeing the darting, glowing trails from the fish around us. The paddle back through the choppy section was as adventurous as the way out and that night we did get quite wet from waves washing over the side of the kayak in that section, but we did remain upright and I was never fearful that we would capsize in the tandem kayak. As far as the kids, while we were on the tour, our 9 and 11 year olds were a little freaked out. The choppy section was not their friend. In the calm section, they were also nervous about the flying mullet. My 17 year-old, on the other hand, was hoping a flying mullet would jump into her kayak ha ha! If the wind hadn't been making the water so choppy in that short section in and out, I do think that my younger two kids would have been a whole lot less nervous. That said, once we got back on dry land and into the car, they said they thought that the tour was pretty cool overall. If you have younger kids, I would just consider their disposition and the weather conditions before taking them on this tour. I'm not sure how out of the ordinary those conditions were, but I'm sure there are plenty of nights when the water is much calmer. Overall, we enjoyed our experience seeing the bioluminescence, and appreciated the encouragement, information, and expertise of our guides, Aiden,...

What an unfortunate experience we had last night using A Day Away Kayak Tours. I signed up for a single kayak, as I was traveling alone, although kayaking with my club. At the last minute I decided to bring a friend, which was a good thing, because they decided to bring tandem kayaks instead of singles. So we started off on a bad foot, because so many of us in the club prefer to kayak in singles. We were told unless we specifically called them to make sure we would be in a single, they would double us up. Had I not come with a friend, there was no one to double up with and I am not sure what would have happened. Secondly, our guide was terrible. All 12 of us in the club were there well before our 7:30 start time. Our club leader was told by the office that if the group was there early, the guide would be happy to get us on the water early. However, our Guide, whose name was Island, decided that he would go and sit in his truck for 30 minutes when he arrived at 7 pm and then start asking for waivers and information at 7:30. Not only did we stand around from 7 pm until 7:30 while he sat in his truck, but during the next 30 minutes we missed the sunset and we were eaten alive by mosquitoes standing there waiting for him to do his paperwork. We didn't get on the water until dark, 30 minutes after we were supposed to hit the water. Thirdly, although I expected darkness on this kayak, I didn't expect to be told that there were manatees in the water that would surface and tip our boats in the dark and that we had to be very careful. He called it a manatee stampede. Seriously? We were also told to stay away from the shore line because 'animals' would like jump into our kayaks if we got too close. Now, honestly, how would you feel kayaking with this guide when he is making everyone feel like they will either tip over or be attacked. I know I am not the only one that was not happy using this outfitter and if I do the bioluminescence tour again, it will not be...