Shared Bioluminescence kayak tour in Holbox
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Isla Holbox, Mexico
- 1 hour 45 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Marvel at the glistening water flowing from your paddle and around your boat on this overnight kayaking adventure. It's bioluminescence, a natural phenomenon caused by tiny creatures in the water. With a group of no more than 14 people and a guide to lead the way, you'll paddle under the stars in dark waters where you can swim and interact with bioluminescence.
- Kayak under a starry sky in search of bioluminescence
- Forge memories to last a lifetime at this spectacular natural phenomenon
- You can hydrate yourself with bottles of water during the warm evening
- The maximum number of travelers is 14, ensuring a safe and intimate experience
What's Included
- Kayak and equipment
- Mosquitos repellent
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Azul Tourquesa Holbox | Choza Pink | Tours & Kayakinghttps://maps.app.goo.gl/S5oTPyEi3P4ZvGZc7?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy, 77310 Holbox, Q.R., Mexico
In "Choza Pink" Almost in front of the letters of the whale shark dock and in front of the restaurant "Roots slowfood".
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
1
Holbox Island
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Near public transportation
- Infants must sit on laps
- Not recommended for travelers with back problems
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
- Most travelers can participate
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 14 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
Andre_M
David was a great guide. The sky was clear and good for celestial viewing. Nice workout, kayaking in the dark under the stars. Although, we were able to view some bioluminescent activity the was too cool for the optimal experience.
More activity in the warmer months we were informed.
Reviews
4.6
based on 85 reviews
Francesca_T, Jan 2026
Ricardo was a great tour guide: passionate, kind, funny, and knowledgeable. We truly enjoyed having him as tour guide for the experience. 5 out of 5 stars for him.
Reasons why we give 4 stars out of 5 overall are the following:
- pricing is absurd: 50 USD per person to essentially rent a shared kayak (i.e. 2 people per kayak) and a tour that lasted 1.30h with no other services included (i.e. no courtesy water or insect repellent whilst these are advertised as included services in the listing, no transportation to the tour location as this was just a walk to the beach). I’d say that this tour is worth 30 USD per person tops as you are basically paying for renting a kayak for a couple of hours and paying for the guide
- group sizing needs to be rethought. We were luckily only 4 people + Ricardo for the tour as a group of 10 people pulled out last minute. It would have been a mess to do this with 7 kayaks / 14 people.
Overall, good experience because of the small group size (although this was just luck) and because Ricardo was a really good, kind guide.
I just do not really appreciate when some services are advertised (insect repellent, water) and then not offered on the tour. To be fair, we didn’t ask cause we had our own but when i checked the listing again and read this, i got a bit annoyed. If you write something, stand by it.
Reason why I would not recommend this experience to a friend is the pricing, whilst I would strongly recommend Ricardo as a tour guide.
Daniel_P, Nov 2025
Fantastic experience with our guide David who was incredibly knowledgeable about both the sea life and the stars (the latter of which is greatly undersold!). Even though the conditions were only about 40%, the bioluminescence was still very prominent once you got away from the light of the town so don’t be put off if you can’t see it as soon as the sun sets
Theresa_M, Oct 2025
Did this on my birthday it was magical and fun. Loved it you kayak out far enough to see the sea light up.
Jennifer_C, Jul 2025
It was a wonderful! Worth the experience for sure. David was a great tour guide- learned a lot with him and he made the experience easy too.
Andre_M, May 2025
David was a great guide. The sky was clear and good for celestial viewing. Nice workout, kayaking in the dark under the stars. Although, we were able to view some bioluminescent activity the was too cool for the optimal experience.
More activity in the warmer months we were informed.
Christopher_P, Sep 2024
Definitely worth the experience. The bioluminescence was an incredible thing to see. It almost doesnt seem real. So many stars at night. Ricardo was our guide and he was the man, super knowledgeable.
Dee_E, Aug 2024
The guides were so enthusiastic!! Both about astronomy and the bioluminescence.
Note this experience involves walking along the main beach of Holbox, getting into a kayak, kayaking a very short distance along the beach and then getting out for a swim (relatively shallow). So it’s basically swimming on the main beach at night - but it’s beautiful!
Jaime_K, Jan 2024
This was the hightlight of our trip to Holbox! A truly unique experience, leave your phone at home, wear aqua socks and something that is ok to get wet but also protect you from the elements.
Christopher_C, Jan 2024
Great experience! They picked us up at a convenient location near our hotel. Our guide Dali was very helpful and informative. Everything was very straightforward. I’m from Puerto Rico and have been to all 3 bioluminescent bays there and I must say I was pleasantly surprised by how great and beautiful this one in Holbox was! Both the water and the sand bank where they took us glow up (even our footsteps in the sand glow which I have never seen before!). Highly recommended!
SARAHMICHELLE_A, Nov 2023
Lovely experience - from beginning to end.
Daniela our guide was so nice and knowledgeable!
Kayaking under the stars was already a great experience plus the plankton.
Maria_M, Aug 2023
The tour is beautiful and the guides are exceptional. They make the experience unforgettable. Highly recommend it.
Bente_H, Jul 2023
Our guide was wonderful - friendly, knowledgable and enthusiastic. We kayaked out at night, were lucky to find the bioluminescence and swim among it. Highly recommended!
Alain_L, Jul 2023
Great expérience, nice staff, well manage by the Honduras women and her Team! Not has the pictures mention it, but cool to see the star effets in the water!
Rebecca_R, Jun 2023
This tour was AWESOME! We’ve never seen anything like this. Mimi and Diego were amazing, communicative hosts. Would highly recommend.
And an fyi, because we missed this in the instructions: wear a bathing suit so you can jump in the water!
Poppy_F, Apr 2023
The guide was friendly, informative, relaxed, and capable. It was an evening with not much bioluminescence, but we still were able to see at least two different kinds, and just floating around on the warm ocean at night under the stars was pretty magical!
LUIS_P, Feb 2023
One of the best experiences we had on the island! Definetely you need to try it if you like adventure, be prepared to get into the sea , complete darkness and the sky full of stars … mesmerizing!!!
Jack_L, Dec 2022
I recommend going on the appropriate season, ask them exactly the correct location and know they don’t provide ride back (3am in the morning) not easy to find
Christine, Nov 2022
Mimi and yuris were great bilingual guides. They made us feel very safe on the water. The activity is for beginners but being out in the open sea at night is intimidating but the waves were much calmer when we got further out
stephanie_d, Nov 2022
We had a great night with MiMi. she gave us a good knowledge on not only the bioluminescent experience but also on Isla Holbox history and other activities you can do!
Antonio_V, May 2022
You have to book this tour! We had planned to only see see the plankton during the bioluminescence tour, but boy were we in for a surprise. We got to see jellyfish that lit up the whole area around our kayaks. It was magical, even our tour guide mentioned that this was a rare instance of nature.
Kayla_O, May 2022
Mimi shared her appreciation for natural phenomenon like the bioluminescence and it was hard not to love it with her! The stars were unreal and the activity was well-organized. I appreciated that as our trip leader, she was able to adapt to challenges like inexperienced kayakers and someone who brought a professional photographer.
The experience went as follows: meet at the tour headquarters, take a golf cart taxi to the location, receive some info and kayaking training, receive life jackets, store personal items like phones in a box with the tour company, kayak for 30 min, swim, kayak back, then walk or find your own taxi (with your own money) to get back. We didn’t bring our phones because we didn’t know about the storage option, and weren’t really prepared for heading back from a location we hadn’t been in the dark, but figured it out!
My only other complaint would be the time spent waiting for other participants to arrive. We had a full group so it took some time. Bring bug spray!
Despina_F, May 2022
From the first to the last minute, my highlight in Holbox island!
From the pick up with the golf caddy and the ride together with Morgan the dog, to the attention we got while kayaking, the information shared and the bioluminescence itself (we were really lucky and got a 70% visibility that night), it was a great experience that we take home with us and can only recommend!
Shoutout to Mimi, because you could really feel her love for nature and marine life.
Shoutout to our driver (I hope Vero is the correct name), who then afterwards sent us an amazing list of extra tips for our journey onwards to Mexico city.
The best team and event ever, keep it up!
Kevin_B, Mar 2022
This activity was absolutely unreal. Kayaking in the middle of the night itself was amazing. The stars were the brightest I've ever seen them. The bioluminescence was craaaazy to see in person. Then swimming in the ocean at night has a unique feel to it. We also got to see the moon come up and it was just breathtaking. The team that took us was great. They were knowledgeable and super sweet. They shared great stories and knowledge and made us feel very comfortable and safe the whole time. Great souls. Loved this so much.
Response from Host, Apr 2022
Hola Kevin!!!!
We greatly appreciate your comment and experience, we hope to see you again in this paradise!
Enjoy the trip!
Daniel_S, Jan 2022
This experience was really great! It was very spiritual and meditative.
Professional and super friendly staff. The 1.45-2h lasting time was also perfect.
Being out on the ocean while it’s pitch dark, seeing all the stars, hearing the waves, totally silence, experiencing the bioluminence.. (which appearently now was about 60-70%) mind blown!
This is a must if visiting Holbox.
Erin_G, Jan 2022
Staff was responsive to inquiries on whats app, provided helpful hints to prepare for the excursion. We were with a group of 11. Paddle guide was knowledgeable and helpful. It was an interesting trip at night, paddling through the waves. Due to time of year and time of month, we got to see some of the biolumines which were very pretty.
Brandon_N, Jul 2021
We had a blast. Our guides were great and took care of everyone, making sure that they were comfortable and having a good time. And if you haven't seen bioluminescent water before, it can be life-changing. Find it and go to it.
snl14, Jun 2021
We were booked for Friday night. We were picked up and dropped off at the wrong location and was told to wait. The tour staff did not follow up with us at all. After waiting 20 minutes, we asked the person who we were dropped off with how much longer and she told us 20 more minutes. We decided to reschedule as everything closes at 11p. Our tour guide never followed up where we were even after requesting the reschedule and mentioning why.
Fast forward to this evening, we were told to be ready at 8:40p. After waiting more than 10 minutes we were told the driver was on the way. Another 10 minutes goes by, i was told the driver was waiting for us, there was no driver. My friend walked to the other side of the hotel and there was no driver. i called and they claimed they were calling the driver again: after waiting another 10 minutes, i called and they did not answer the phone. After waiting 45 minutes for a taxi, we cancelled. They still never returned my call, instead we wrote back claiming they called 5 drivers.
Best part, despite booking via viator. requested to send refund via PayPal.
Stay away. Lack of communication, disorganized and dishonest.
Response from Host, Jun 2021
I understand your annoyance and we accept responsibility, there are many things that you would not understand unless you lived on an island and experienced the situations that arise that are not in our hands such as the state of the streets and the taxis that operate on the island.
About Paypal I do not understand what the problem is, it is just one more form of payment. A thousand apologies for what happened.
PD. We are not dishonest.
Yosef_T, Jun 2021
The bioluminescence was not very bright and the guide didn’t really speak English so well, so I didn’t gain much from the tour. Also my gf was wearing the googles they provided and they slipped off by mistake and sank in the water. She tried so hard to look for them underwater but they still made us pay for them. Not terribly happy with this experience.
Response from Host, Jun 2021
Hello, Bioluminescence is a variant phenomenon, every night is different and it is something that we cannot control. Probably your guide did not speak 100% English but I think that if it was informative, I was present, finally, regarding what was lost, before the tour you signed a response about the equipment, your comment is totally unfair. Greetings
Joseph_H, Dec 2020
Excellent experience. The guys who led this tour were amazing and very helpful. The bioluminescence were bright and easy to see. All in all it was a great experience and one of our favorite memories from our trip to Holbox.
Gabriel_T, Feb 2025
Experiencia increíble, no solo la bioluminiscencia estar en el mar de noche con las estrellas y ver la luna salir desde el horizonte. Acostarse en el kayak y olvidarse, el guía lo hizo aún más increíble con su conocimiento
From $57.91
per personup to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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Shared Bioluminescence kayak tour in Holbox
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