Blue Planet Kayak Tours

My husband and I have done several different guides kayak trips worldwide - but all during daylight hours. This trip provided a great opportunity to safely explore a waterway " after hours." Chad, while focused on safety, showed us the mangrove ecosystem at dusk and after dark. We were also to see marine creatures that are impossible to see during the day, such as bioluminescent algae and worms - very cool!

My husband and I were visiting the Keys for the first time and I had read about this tour on Trip Advisor .... We highy recommend this activity. The guide was informative and found things in the mangrove for us all to see and touch if we wanted .... ( except no touching those jellyfish ! ) it was a beautiful sunny not to windy day ... we took the afternoon tour and they picked us up at our Hotel ( Hilton ) .... we will do this again next time we are in the Keys !

This was a nice way to get out on the water and paddle around. You get some information on birds in the area and a few aquatic animals. It was more paddle time to get to the mangrove stands than I expected. Tour employees were nice and helpful. I would wear a swimsuit because the water coming off the paddle will soak your pants. The water is plenty warm and it was January when we went. I would probably just rent kayaks and explore on my own next time, but it was worth doing once.

Guy that met us for the ride to the kayaks never introduced himself nor did anyone else with Blue Planet. Our group had two groups of three that had serious issues handling their kayaks, so we took at least 30 minutes to actually begin our tour, then we had to paddle like hell. We spent MAYBE 5-10% of our time in the mangroves. Don't know if this is typical or we were trying to make up for lost time. Our guide was patient with the ones that were having trouble and showed us some really neat sea creatures. When we got back to the dock, no one said they hoped we enjoyed it, sorry for the problems, hope we come back. Nothing. After we left, we got a good laugh at how obsurdly dyfunctional the whole thing was.

It was fun to have guide pull up life forms with a net and show them to you! It was relaxing. As we got better going thru the mangroves we kept going through narrower ones. Our paddle disconnected to make it an oar. Only concern is that you could not always hear the guide unless your kayak was close or you faced in the same direction as the guide. I would definitely do it again. Recommend going on a warm day. Plan to get wet. It was great to get picked up from our hotel as we did not have a car. It was a small group. I think there were 8 kayaks or so. Guide was knowledgable and could field questions easily.

My husband and I took the Boca Chica excursion. He was a bit hesitant but really ended up enjoying it. Katie, our guide, was outstanding. She was extremely well informed about the habitat we went through and was very enthusiastic about sharing her knowledge. This tour was not the slightest bit taxing and is appropriate for anyone--no experience was necessary. I highly recommend this tour to anyone considering it, and again, Katie was an excellent guide.

My husband and I joined another couple in a 2 hour kayak tour of the Mangrove waterways off Key West. Our tour guide was friendly, helpful and very knowledgeable.

Pat was our guide, he was awesome. Saw and touched wildlife that would not have been possible without him. Fantastic scenery. Transportation to and from site was a plus.

My wife and I took the morning Kayak trip through the Mangroves on October 19th. James was our guide and the trip was awesome. James is very knowledgeable and showed us all kinds of marine life and explained the eco system in great detail which was fascinating. We highly reccommend this trip for anyone.

Our tour was all it was advertised to be. We paddled at a leisurely pace through beautiful scenery. Our guide, Katie, pointed out wildlife and provided interesting facts about the marine environment. Soaring birds; stingrays; the red eyes of shrimp; starfish; and much more. The sunset was spectacular. The entire evening was serene and memorable.

James, our guide, provided a wonderful experience and uncovered variety of marine life which was could only be best appreciated at night.

In our group of 4, only one had kayaked before. Really no experience needed, although you have to be willing to make an effort and be open to a little safe adventure. You will use arm, back, and shoulder muscles so you may be a little sore the next day. Well worth the effort! We reserved two tandem kayaks so we had a better chance of staying together. This worked out really well. Maneuvering is easy to master. The kayaks are stable. It is very neat to be out in the mangrove swamps at night, skimming along on top of the water. (you are provided little headlamps). We saw crabs, sea cucumber, octopus, lobster, shrimp, horseshoe crab, fighting conch, and stingrays, as well as hundreds of birds at Bird Island. The wildlife moves quickly so you have to make an effort to stay close to Sarah, the guide. She is very knowledgeable about the eco-system.

If you like nature you will love this tour. Our guide, Sara(h) was great at spotting critters for us to view and handle if it was safe for the critter and ourselves. Some of the critters we experienced was a huge horseshoe crab, spiny lobsters, the biggest hermit crab I have ever seen, a fighting conch, a queen conch, a sea cucumber, crabs in the mangrove trees, and the best was the octopus! I am sure there was more but I can't remember them all. As soon as it was dark enough we donned headlamps to see by. The water was amazingly clear. Just be sure you are fit enough to handle a long kayak tour.

Highly suggested.

My husband and I went in a tandem kayak. We lucked out to be in a group of only four for the tour. Our guide tried very hard to locate numerous species animal and plant in the open channel and the mangroves. Since we were all first time sea kayakers, his instructions and watchful eyes really helped to take care of any misgivings we may have been feeling. It was a wonderful experience and I would do it again with Blue Planet Kayak.