Virgin Kayak Tours — Local services in Saint Croix

This was quite a disappointment for my partner and me when we went. The tour was WAY too big and this meant that launching and docking took forever, few people could hear, the group moved very slowly, and we got to spend very little time in the bioluminescent bay. My read is that the company figured they could make more money by simply increasing the size of each group without making any other changes to scale up to an increased tour size. Here are the key elements to know about our experience:

The 8:45pm tour should probably not exist. We were on this tour and it was 9:30pm by the time my partner and I were in a boat on the water. It was around 9:50pm by the time the group got to bioluminescent bay and when our very large (20-25 people) group only caught 1 jellyfish among all of us, the tour guide mentioned that the jellyfish are usually done for the night by that time. Thus, it does not make any sense that there would be an 8:45pm tour. The bioluminescent bay was not very impressive. In the most active part, there was a cool glow and stream of sparkling specks that showed up behind the net when it was dragged in the water. It was not at all what I was expecting (nor my partner, who is from Puerto Rico and has actually seen bioluminescent bays before). Even setting aside the other negatives of our experience, I would not recommend this based on the bioluminescence on its own. The only time I might recommend it if everything else were improved would be if it's raining, since the guide said it lights up the whole bay as the raindrops strike the surface of the water. As mentioned earlier, the "8:45-10:45pm" tour consisted of the group getting on the water at 9:30pm because it was such a ridiculously large group (that we suspected was just a way to try to make more money because they had ordered additional boats and they had arrived recently). After peddling around for 10-15 minutes waiting for our turn, we were finally able to dock at 10:55pm... and there were still another 6-8 boats behind us waiting to finish. They had to prioritize those who were taking a taxi because it had been waiting at since 10:45pm and the tour guides said they had seen taxis leave before while folks were docking. Be aware that this is not traditional kayaking. They have Hobie kayaks that are entirely powered by foot pedals. I had never experienced this before and it was interesting, just not what we had expected. Also worth noting that if you aren't wearing water shoes or sandals that are kept on your feet and won't flop, you will be made to go barefoot and the pedals are a bit uncomfortable for bare feet. Because of the ridiculously large group size and the fact that there was only one tour guide (the other two employees were just bringing up the rear making sure no one wandered off or fell behind), only 20% of the group could hear anything that was being said throughout the experience. All of our boats kept bumping into each other because we were all trying to cluster together to hear what was being said and even then, most of the group could not hear the tour. The info was interesting and so this was a huge shame for those who...

We (me and husband) did the Bio Bay tour on Sunday September 28th, 2025. Since our trip to St Croix was during the off-season, we expected our group to be small, and it was, which made for a more intimate experience. Our tour guide was amazing, sharing lots of history and stories during our trip across Salt River Bay. The pedal kayaks were a different experience than what we are used to, but they were very easy to get accustomed to, and work a lot better than I expected to push the kayak through the water. The water was very calm for us, the temperature perfect, and while some were expecting more of a show from the bioluminescence, it was about what I expected but only because I had realistic expectations. However, that doesn't mean I was disapointed- I wasn't! It was still a very awesome experience, and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting St Croix for vacation. The ONLY downfall we experienced was a lot of mosquitos just after getting in the water and right before we got out. The water was just too still right around the mangrove trees, but out on the bay they weren't bad, and in the building they were burning incense which helped keep the mosquitoes to a minimum. I can't fault Virgin Kayak Tours for the mosquitos, since that's just a part of nature that you can only do so much about, so I'm mentioning it more as a forewarning for others so...

This is an absolute MUST DO experience. I highly recommend doing a bioluminescent tour if you are ever down in St Croix! And I highly recommend using Virgin Kayak Tours. They do not have the clear-bottom kayaks, but we didn’t think that mattered. We went with them for several reasons, but one reason was that their kayaks allow a larger weight limit, and they have single kayaks if you prefer as well so you don’t have to go in pairs. We had Jimmy and Chuck as our guides, and they were absolutely amazing. They were so friendly and gave us some really great history about the island that we hadn’t heard on any of the other tours we were on. The two of them were very easy-going and willing to answer all the questions we had about the tour, the island and any recommendations they had for us. The night that we did the bioluminescent tour they said was one of the best nights they have seen it. It was truly the most amazing thing we had ever seen – the water sparkles like glitter and it was so neat watching the fish underwater! I highly, highly recommend this and will absolutely do another tour the next time we are...