Aventuras Tropicales Golfo Dulce

The wife and I did a sunset and bioluminescence kayak tour last week. We ended up moving it a few times because of rain, but found a good day. After seeing the bioluminescence in person and the wow, I would do it the rain tomorrow. It was crazy cool, and Alberto was an amazing guide. He knew so much about the area and the nature in that area. We talked for hours and it was amazing conversation. We learned so much more than I was expecting. And bioluminescence is epic. He said they can see it year round, and even when it rains the whole surface lights up. We couldn’t get it to pick up on camera, so you will have to go see it for yourself 😄

Highly enjoyed our tour with Alberto. We did the sunset and bioluminescence tour. Alberto was clearly very knowledgeable about the local area and wildlife. Would recommend this tour to people staying in the area. Note it’s a short walk 8min from Hilton Hotel - convenient to get to.

We did the bioluminescence tour with this company. The tour was ok. The guides were nice. We did learn a bit about the mangroves. We were on the water at sunset. We could see rain over the land on one side of the bay but it didn't seem to be advancing. The fresh pineapple and coconut was nice. When it came time to see the bioluminescence, they handed us pillowcase-sized cloths and had us swish it through the water, which resulted in capturing a few glowing specks. Neat, but nothing like the hype and pictures. As we were in the water doing this, it started to rain, and become windy, with stronger waves and lightning. The guides gathered us in and said we had to get back. There was a clear counting off of each boat. We were unable to get every boat into the water, so back on land the guide emphasized that we needed to go now together, or he would go back and was unsure what the timing would be for the rest of us. He and a few folk did go back and one guide stayed with us. They were able to send a tour boat to pick us up. As we went back of course the weather passed and it was calm enough we could have kayaked. In the end were were all safe. Some areas for improvement: Start with introducing yourselves, a safety demo, how to get in and out of the boat (on shore and in deeper water), how to kayak efficiently in a double kayak. Talk about leaving the beach where there are waves breaking and how to get past that (talk about it now, in the daylight, when nobody is nervous). Take a few minutes to discuss bioluminescence and set expectations (as in, that in rainy weather it may be more dispersed and less visible.) Set expectations for weather and what will happen in said weather. Rain is pretty common, but what is the plan for lightning? At what point is a tour kept on shore? If it is too choppy for safe kayaking, what is the plan? Train the guides in giving tours. Most of our time was kind of hanging out. At the beginning we stopped and circled up for a talk about mangroves. The only other time the whole group was addressed was while demonstrating how to open a coconut. Otherwise the guides just chatted with whoever was closest to them. While we are hanging on the beach, waiting for dark, discuss bioluminescence.