Terrible. Avoid this company. Avoid the bay in general until it's clear that the bioluminescence has fully recovered from what happened in November 2013, as the bay did not glow on our tour. If you must go out, bring a waterproof flashlight or lantern. You'll be the hero of your tour group.
Three of us, all with significant kayaking experience, went out for a tour with Eco Action on Dec. 23rd. The trip was miserable, disappointing, and downright dangerous. As others have said, you paddle through a narrow mangrove channel to reach the glowing lagoon. There are many tour companies operating in the bay, so at any given time, there are about 15-20 kayaks (per tour) going in and out of the channel. That's beyond the control of any one company, but it highlights the need for organization to minimize collisions and make sure that boats don't end up with the wrong tour.
Approximately two-thirds of our tour group had no kayaking experience whatsoever. Given the set-up of this tour (pitch-black, no flashlights, narrow conditions, tangled trees), it's downright irresponsible to take first-time kayakers. Even if your tour company tells you it's okay, please consider your own and your group's abilities before committing time and money to this. You don't need extensive experience, but this really shouldn't be your first time in a kayak or canoe.
The mangrove channel was a nightmare gauntlet. Collisions with other boats, both in our group and in other groups, were frequent, confusing, and traumatic. Both guides had tied a second kayak to their boats to tow out some tour members, so whenever a guide tried to stop to help a boat stuck in the trees, there was a second kayak whip-sawing around into the nearby kayaks.
Then there's the light issue. Guide boats have flashlights or lanterns, but they'll only turn them on for a few seconds at a time, usually after several boats have collided or wrecked into the trees. Otherwise, you get a glowstick on the front and back of your boat. The glowsticks fell off a few kayaks, leaving us unable to gauge how close we were to the boats around us. There's supposed to be a guide boat leading the tour, but at one point, we were either so far ahead or behind of that boat that we were plowing forward into total darkness - while another guide boat behind us shouted at us to go faster.
We were hit several times by other kayaks, and each of us was hit at least once in the head by paddles from other boats as they crashed into us. No one, least of all the guides, seemed to care.
The real disappointment came when we reached the lagoon. It's just not glowing. You can tell the guides are aware, since they make sure to mention that "it's seasonal" and that in the winter, tides wash some of the plankton out. That may be, but a simple online search shows that the bay went dark in November 2013. This won't stop Eco Action from charging you for the privilege of paddling briefly through the dark water before it's time to head back into the mangrove swamp for another round of bumper boats.
We were so disappointed in both the tour quality/organization and the darkness of the bay that we spoke to a guide as soon as we were back on shore. Sadly, we were met with more unprofessionalism. The guide told us that we were the first people to ever be disappointed by the bay (we weren't even the first people on our tour to be disappointed, let alone on Yelp/TripAdvisor). We were told it must have been hard for us since we didn't know how to kayak (we did). Finally, we were told that if we didn't like the darkness in the mangrove channel, we should have brought a flashlight with us - this despite the repeated warnings not to bring anything AT ALL into the boats.
We were charged double the posted rate on Eco Action's website (cash only!) for the privilege of being battered around and led to the biological equivalent of the emperor's new clothes. It's possible that the bay will recover fully and live up to the experiences of those who went pre-Nov 2013, but if/when that happens - please book a tour with a company that takes proper safety and organizational precautions, especially with less experienced boaters. read more