When you go to Vieques, you HAVE TO go to one of the bioluminiscent bays of the island. Don't be silly: don't leave the island without going there. It's a unique treat. There are only 12 in the world, 9 in Puerto Rico (the others are in India, Japan and Australia) and the 'best' one, the one which provides the best experience is here in Vieques. In Mosquito Bay. The name says it all - so don't forget your repellent! Blue Caribe in situated on the Malecon and gave us a great experience. For $35 per person you embark on to a two-hour journey with a couple of guides and between 10-15 others. You meet at 6:30pm, chit-chat while the guides load up the kayaks, drive to the bay and get busy. Don't wear anything fancy - you will get wet and you will want to swim in the bay anyway. My advice: swim suit. They will give you an elegant life jacket to complement it - it's the latest in fashion down there. Don't forget your camera! (Actually - don't take your camera unless it's seriously waterproof. Besides it's incredibly difficult to capture the entire show provided by Mother Nature. Relax and enjoy; the memories will stay with you forever) You don't need to be an expert in kayaking to enjoy this outing; no worries. It's a lot of fun and a nice way to get a little active after a day of farniente on the beach. After about 15 minutes you stop in the middle of the bay, listen to your guide and jump in the water. It's a magical experience. The water glows with each one of your movement thanks to its micro-organisms which produce the same protein than fireflies. Since it's a bay the water is really warm and saltier than the ocean. You just float there, moving like a maniac, laughing like a child until it's time to climb back into your kayaks and drive back to Esperanza. People were extremely friendly, helpful and accommodating. They had no problem taking care of a 79-year old grandma who accompanied her family but didn't want to swim with them. Highly recommended. read more

Worst experience EvER total rip off SCAM!! Avoid at all cost!!! If it was possible to give zero stars I would. This place definitely deserves it. First off there wasn't anyone in the office all day so we could confirm where the meeting place was. They showed up late and when "the tour" started we stopped at the store so the lady, Rebecca, could do her grocery shopping. Amir, our actual "guide" /driver asked my pregnant wife 3 times if she smoked! Long story short we got stuck in the mud down by the bio bay and other Companies told us that our guide wasn't even supposed to be in that area. We didn't even get on the water and when we asked for a refund, Rebecca said no way and was so rude. Do not use them! I would use a company like Abe's. read more

Night kayaking through the Mosquito Bay and mangroves was definitely one of the highlights of my PR trip. Because greeted my boyfriend and I at the entrance where you begin your trip to the bay. Don't be alarmed, the road to the bay was bumpy, but ultimately it's a part of the experience. Samir was our informative and welcoming guide. Samir is an excellent driver and should definitely be commended for his driving through the roads! Samir was kind enough to stop to the side and let us try fresh tamarindo! Becca and Samir both spoke English which may be comforting to others who don't understand Spanish. To sum it all up, this place rocks! Adds: Bring a smile, clothes you don't mind getting wet, and some ready arms! Do not wear bug repellent with deet; it will kill off the dinoflagellates. read more

We were in Vieques during the reduced Bio Bay Tours period - tours on the weekends only. We did, however, rent a kayak for the day from Blue Caribe. It was odd. I spoke with the manager on the phone & she quoted us $35/day for a double kayak. When we showed up the employee said "no, that's not the right price." When we explained that the manager had said this he agreed, but then went back & forth with himself, trying to decide if he wold give us the kayak. He eventually did. The reason I am giving BCK only 2 stars is for the kayaks themselves. NO back rests at all, and the seats are way too close together. DO NOT get a double kayak. It is impossible for 2 people to row, as you'll constantly be hitting paddles no matter how synchronized you are. Also, with no back rest, it's not easy to row! We took the kayak out to Cayo Real, which as some very good snorkeling! We saw so many different fish, coral, rays, etc. We spent hours there! read more

Booked a tour; told to be at their offices at 6pm. I left credit card details for half deposit with this 'outfit'. We arrived at 6pm on the dot. Business was completely shut. No other participants. Waited 10 mins. Still in the area for half an hour. No one showed up. Following day I see they have charged us not only the deposit of $40 but more than the agreed amount ($90 vs. $80) for the tour! Hope it is an honest mistake on their part and there will be no trouble refunding. Dispute it later with them on phone. At first they admit they were late but only by 5 minutes (not true). Later they claim they were there for an hour and finally as far as to say they were there from 5.30pm to 7pm. Completely impossible. And when pushed have trouble repeating the brazen lie. Now have to dispute with credit card. VERY, VERY bad business to deal with. read more

Bad experience last weekend. Tour started late, guides snapped at us, gave minimal instruction, led us across the entire bay fast, yelling at us (think really bad high school gym class, with Puerto Rican coaches). 10 minute group pause, where lead guide pointed out some stars/constellations in the sky. More brisk kayaking to other corner of bay, then we got yelled at to hurry up and paddle quickly all the way across the bay again, back to start. Throughout all this, if you were one of the rear stragglers, you got a torrential dosage of chatter/patter and exhortations from the rear guide, a seriously annoying character. Amount of time getting jostled and knocked around in a worn-out van on some of the bumpiest roads you'll ever encounter: 20 minutes. Amount of time paddling with exertion and getting yelled at: one hour. Amount of time basking in the phosphorescent wonder of the bay: 0 to 10 minutes depending on whether you ignored the yelling. The moon was out and was 3/4 full, so there was not much bio-luminescence to be enjoyed. And no swimming allowed. (All bio bay companies abide by this; in Aug 2011 a swimming bio-bay tour participant received an ankle bite from a confused juvenile shark.) Fair enough. But still, the guides could made some effort to provide a quality experience, using the beautiful night we had. For example, my partner (who'd done a bio bay tour before) pointed out to me that I could put my hand in the water, slowly swirl it around, and see some glowing in its wake; that was a nice moment. I hear that there are other bio bay touring companies on Vieques who provide a higher quality experience: they go only part-way across the bay and they encourage you to really savor the experience. One company offers clear (see-through) kayaks to enhance the experience; that company is more expensive than the others but might be well worth it. Bottom line: Pity we did not go with any other tour company, not this one. Learn from our mistake. This tour was our only bad experience in an otherwise wonderful 5 days on Vieques. read more

AVOID AT ALL COSTS! If I could have given it 0 stars I would. We signed up for the bio bay 'tour' with an available time of 12.30 am. We should have known better, finding out after that all reputable companies go between 6pm to 12am. After the tour 'guide' Rebecca arrived late, we travelled to the bay. To our dismay, we were only in the water 5 mins when the rangers arrived. They informed us that the company we signed up (blue caribe kayak) did NOT have a permit to take us into the water. This is a necessary caution that the island takes to protect the natural habitat of the biobay. We were NOT informed that blue caribe lacked a permit to operate tours in the biobayl, and were very disappointed. Most of us travelled to Vieques just to see experience the biobay, and unfortunate for us, we choose the wrong company. AVOID at all costs.. Don't spend a penny here for anything. read more

The Bio Bay is breathtaking, but I wish we'd chosen another company to take us there. It was New Years Eve and our driver was drunk -- not comforting given the very rough track to the Bay -- and the guided tour was recited by rote and uninformative. The trip left almost 30 minutes late, the vans are falling apart, and have rough and rickety wooden benches to sit on. I wish we'd managed to go with Vieques Island Adventures instead, but their tours were already full. read more

A 2 star outfit providing a 5 star experience We went on two tours with Blue Caribe over New Year's 2014 - one kayak / snorkel trip to Cayo Afuera, and the Biobay tour. Overall, we had a fantastic time, but this was more in spite of than because of Blue Caribe. We'd recommend that you go with a more reputable company if you're able - Black Beard in Isabela II seemed very organized and well run when we saw their tours at the Biobay - but don't let Blue Caribe's marginal reputation stop you from going to the Biobay if they're your only option. We don't recommend the Cayo Afuera tour. Biobay Tour: Pros: Overall, this experience is not to be missed. We went during a new moon, got to kayak for over an hour (much longer than the more organized tours!) and the bay itself is spectacular. Because our tour was less organized, we got to spend more time experiencing the bay in a less structured way, which was actually pretty cool. We didn't have any issues with bugs. Cons: Transportation fell through 30 minutes after our tour's "start time," as did back-up transport. To their credit, Blue Caribe found someone who could drive us, but he was a friend with a regularly sized jeep, so the 14 of us had to drive there in shifts. On our way home, we put down the back seats and all sat together in the trunk. Our tour guide was very nice but seemed to know almost nothing about the microbiology of the bay and only really knew a couple of buzzwords. It's almost a miracle that none of the kayaks got left behind somewhere. Most tour groups had two guides, each with a light, and numbered their kayaks so that they could count off and make sure everyone was there. Each kayak also had a glowstick or some other light. Our 14 person group only had the one tour guide, who "left his light back at Blue Caribe," so we were just a big group of people paddling around in the dark. Cayo Afuera Snorkeling: Overall, we strongly recommend just renting kayaks and snorkel masks and doing this on your own, rather than as a guided tour. Pros: The equipment was good except that the snorkels sink and they charge you exorbitantly if you lose any equipment. It's a nice kayaking trip to the caye if you have any kayaking experience. Cons: Our tour guide was really drunk. He was drinking in front of us while we were waiting at Blue Caribe for the other people in our tour to arrive, and we could smell it on his breadth. He got progressively more inebriated as the tour went on. The other people in our group had no kayaking or snorkeling experience, and he did really help them figure out how to get from one place to another. However, we were disappointed that during our "tour" he literally didn't give us any information about the fish and coral that we were seeing. We could have had a better experience if we'd just rented the equipment, and it wouldn't have been an hour late. Overall notes if you go with Blue Caribe: The price that they quote you is based on cash. They won't tell you this, but there is a $5 surcharge per person if you pay by credit card. So even though they explicitly tell you not to bring any valuables or cash with you, plan on bringing cash. Don't plan on your tour running on time. Both of ours were about an hour late leaving and over an hour late getting back. read more

We were in Vieques for Christmas week so a lot of the tour companies were sold out and we booked with Blue Caribe. After reading the reviews on here and TripAdvisor we were very nervous but the woman who ran our hotel told us not to worry, that it was a reputable company that had been around for many years and she was right, we ended up having a great time! There were 14 of us on the tour, 6 of whom were from my family. It was set for 8:30 PM and we left just about on-time after a quick briefing and a chance to stow our car keys in the office. The van was just fine - actually in better shape than most cars I saw on the road - and the road was really more full of mud than extremely bumpy. Our kayaks, paddles, life preservers, and glow sticks all worked perfectly. Our tour guide Gene was really wonderful - just about the perfect guide. He was polite (both to us as well as other cars and tour companies), his English was great, he knew a lot of information about the bay and the protozoan that creates the luminescence, he was patient, had a sense of humor, and finally he clearly loved the nature he was showing us. We had checked the moon schedule before booking the trip so we knew we should have good viewing and it was absolutely spectacular - like nothing I have seen before! My favorite part was seeing the glowing fish swimming under the water, although having the glowing water drip down my arm was pretty amazing too. Overall I have the feeling that the other reviews here are skewed towards people who had bad experiences which is why I felt I should write this. Don't be afraid to go with Blue Caribe - they are a great company to use to tour the bio bay. read more

My wife, some friend and I just came home from our third trip to Vieques, We love the island and plan on going back again in the future. One of the couples traveling with us wanted to visit Bioluminescent bay; it is a real wonder and should be experienced at least once. We decided to book a tour with "Blue Caribe Kayaks" located in Esperanza, " IT WAS THE BIGGEST MISTAKE WE EVER MADE WHILE TRAVELING". The tour was to start at six pm, our group of six and another couple from Canada arrived at five thirty, no one was in the office yet, at six fifteen the receptionist arrived, took our money {cash is preferred $40 cash per person or $45 with a credit card} we all paid cash and put our personal belonging in the office for safe keeping and waited for the vehicle and guides to arrive. A call was made several times by the receptionist about the van, at seven thirty it arrived and we load from back to front. The last couple to get in leaned back on the seat and it flipped back on our legs [it wasn't connected to the floor] there were windows missing in the side doors and the back, no door handle on the side door {a shoe lace tied to the mechanism to open the door from the inside}, a homemade exhaust system run up the side, and no interior lights. The guide started it up and off we went, as we held the seat in front of us from falling back we noticed the van filling up with exhaust fumes and it was barely running, miss firing and billowing smoke, it was too late to turn back because we were now on the unmaintained road to the bay. We arrived at the staging area where several other tour companies were getting there people on kayaks, all the other vehicles were newer, in good shape and the guides were wearing clothes that identified their company. As we were handed life vests I noticed all the other companies kayaks had flashing L.E.D. lights on the back in order to identify their group as they crossed bay {there is no moon and it is pitch black} our kayaks looked run down even in the dark and had no L.E.D. markers so I asked how we were going to be able to stay together on the water and Juan {one of our guides} clipped a green light to his hat and off we went. We stopped on the opposite side of the bay where Juan tried to explain how the bio system worked and why the organisms glowed in the water; he wasn't able to answer some of the questions asked because he didn't know the words in English, we started to head back. Our kayak was sluggish so my wife and I fell behind the group then I noticed the kayak was sinking, we swamped and ended up in the water. My wife got on one of the guides kayaks and the other guide got on the swamped two man kayak and I was still in the water. I had pulled a muscle trying to paddle a boat full of water so I asked if they could get a new kayak for me and tow me the last quarter mile with a rope, no rope, no safety gear, no backup plan so I held on to the back of Juan's kayak, kicked and he paddled. Juan ran out of steam pulling me so a second kayak was brought out I got on but was still unable to paddle. The couple from Canada got in front of me, handed me an ore and his wife pulled us in. When we got to shore I thanked them and found my wife, she had been stung by a jelly fish and was in some pain and had lost one of her Teva sandals in the mud walking in the last few yards, with no first aid kit we were told that I should "pee on her leg". The van ride back was worse than the trip out; it stalled several times and almost didn't start again and popped out of gear two or three times the smoke screen was horrendous. Back at the office the couple from Canada and me explained all the problems we encountered and asked to speak to the owner, the girl refused to give us the owners name and would not give us our money back, she said to come back at ten am and the owner would be there. The next day Blue Caribe Kayaks never opened, we went by three times. STAY AWAY FROM "BLUE CARIBE KAYAKS" they are not certified, unsafe, and dangerous. read more

STAY AWAY FROM BLUE CARIBE. This shop is run by second rate scam artist. The owner of the shop was late showing up. The van we rode in to take us to the bay was literally falling apart. When we finally made it to the bay our tour guide who spoke minimal english did not have the key to unlock the kayaks. He was wandering around talking to the other guides trying to figure out what to do for about 30 minutes. One member of our party was fluent in Spanish which is the only reason we knew what was going on. After 45 minutes of him wandering around we told him it was too late and we wanted to go back. He said ok and called his boss. We could hear her screaming at him through the phone, he said he couldn't take us back and handed the phone to me. The owner of the shop proceeded to scream at me through the phone. The rest of the story is long but.... long story short after an hour and half we finally made it back to the shop...Even though they did not deliver on their end of the deal the owner was extremely hostile and gave us a string of lies as to why she could not refund our money. STAY AWAY from this business! read more