We Went to See the Glowing Bioluminescent Waters In Florida
Alpha Omega Family Adventures was hosted by BK Adventures, Florida. This does not affect the opinions shared. All opinions are our own.
As a celebration of myself turning 40 this year, I wanted to take a special family trip for memories to ease the pain of turning 40. In our Gather Round Ocean Unit Studies this year, we learned all about the unique phenomenon of bioluminescent beaches. At first, I thought the only, or most consistent, place to see these bioluminescent waters was in the Maldives. I just knew that if that was true, I wouldn’t be able to see these beautiful waters for a very long time, if ever. A trip to the Maldives is added to my bucket list now! After talking with friends, I learned that Mosquito Bay, Puerto Rico is known for it’s beautiful blue bioluminescence. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to fit a trip to Puerto Rico in our budget this year. We finally learned from some friends that Florida also has a bioluminescent area on the Indian River near Titusville and Cape Canaveral, so we started planning our adventure.
Most bioluminescent tours are done on kayaks. I truly think a tour on a clear kayak would be absolutely breathtaking! Knowing we have young boys who couldn’t handle paddling the kayaks on their own for any length of time, we began looking at alternatives. This led us to BK Adventures near Titusville, Florida on Merritt Island. After researching, we discovered they offered an amazing family raft tour which I knew was perfect for my family with young boys.
BK Adventures set us up on a family raft tour with a guide that was so knowledgeable about everything we encountered on this tour. He was able to show up the Millet fish that jump out of the water. We learned that when it is completely dark outside and a flashlight is shone in the water, tons of these fish start jumping. The boys thought this was so fun to watch! We found what appeared to be a neat seashell. Turns out, this shell was occupied by a hermit crab!
One thing I didn’t factor into taking this raft trip, is that it was only our family and the guide on the raft. Considering it is the guests who do the paddling, it left most of the paddling to Andy and me. Aiden and Anson helped a little, and Aaron and Adler tried helping. At the beginning of the tour we were rafting into the winds coming off the ocean, so we had to paddle extra hard to get our raft to the islands we were going towards!
To get to the dock that the raft leaves from, you get to drive on Merritt Island for a while. Then, you turn down this little dirt road which seems to go nowhere. Once you arrive, BK Adventures sets you up with your life jacket which has all the essentials needed for these tours, gives you an oar, and finally explains the rules and how the tour will go. Then, you wait for the sun to completely set, leaving us in the dark. Going on a bioluminescent tour is best during a new moon so the sky is darker. While I thought it would be completely dark, it actually wasn’t! There were so many more stars than I am used to seeing that lit the sky!
Dirt road to the dock 
All ready to head out 
The raft
Once in the raft and on the way towards the islands, the guide told us to look down when we paddled. Each push of the oar in the water, you could see blue sparks. We learned that these are caused by Comb Jellies. These Comb Jellies are NOT jellyfish. The bigger the Comb Jelly, the bigger the spark! Our guide caught one of these neat creatures for us to see and touch! They are not dangerous, no stinging. Aiden even got a turn with the net to try and catch his own Comb Jelly! He caught a few, but they were pretty small compared to the one the guide caught. By far, these were my favorite part of the whole tour! I thought I was excited to see the Dinoflagellates, but these Comb Jellies far exceeded my expectations!
These lines on the Comb Jelly is what creates the glowing sparks 
The Comb Jelly felt like wet slime 
Hermit crab friend
Finally, it was dark enough for the Dinoflagellates to be bright enough for us to see! Once again, with each push of our oar, we could see the water glow (and spark still with the Comb Jellies)! I learned something very interesting about these glowing organisms though! They are different colors based on the color of their surroundings. While I was expecting to see the bright blue glowing planktons like we saw in our unit studies, the glowing water we saw was more of a white color. Our guide did tell us that later in the summer it does turn more of a blue color though. So the bright blue glowing waters I was seeing in Puerto Rico and the Maldives is likely due to the water also being so clear and blue! While I was slightly disappointed that we weren’t seeing the bright blue glow, I recognized how amazing it was to see the water glow each swish of the oar! The faster you pulled the oar, the brighter it glowed! Unfortunately for us, none of our cameras were able to catch this amazing glow in the darkness. You’ll just have to go experience this for yourself in Indian River Lagoon, Florida.
The best time to visit the Indian River Lagoon is June through October on a night when the moon isn’t at it’s brightest, preferably a new moon. It is recommended to bring insect repellant and wear water shoes. BK Adventures is the only tour in Florida that offers a family raft trip like we did. They also offer sunset kayaking with bioluminescence, clear kayaks, bio swim tour, and also stand up paddle board tours!
If you are planning a trip to Florida, a bioluminescent raft tour NEEDS to be on your itinerary! It is only 1.5 hours from Orlando. Visiting Kennedy Space Center just before the raft tour would be a perfect day since they are very close to each other! This is an experience you won’t forget! Check out BK Adventures to book your trip!
