What a trip! Our guide Dylan was excellent. Very funny, knowledgeable, friendly & flexible. Kayaking was great and we saw many different animals - big alligators, a lot of manatees and even baby manatees, variety of birds, & dolphins. The fam really enjoyed our time with Dylan, and hope he continues his tour-guiding when we return this time next year!

This was a great tour. The guide Ross individualized the tour. He was informative, friendly and went out of his way to help us experience all parts of the tour. I am new to kayaking but my family member was not. He made sure it a great experience for both of us. I would recommend this combination tour since we saw manitees, dolphins, a beautiful and peaceful sunset and the glowing bioluminescence. The guide took his time to find us a glowing jellyfish.

This is one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had on vacation this year. All four of my kids loved it. We all got to see everything we expected to see our tour. Our tour guide Freedom was absolutely amazing friendly talkative, very knowledgeable about all the wildlife We seen she was very interactive with us and the kids. She was absolutely amazing. We enjoyed the laid-back, fun, kayaking tour. We almost thought we were gonna have to skip it because we scheduled it and the winds were too high on our last day of vacation. Luckily, we stayed an extra day just to do the kayak tour and we are so grateful to have Freedom as our guide. I lived in Florida for a good portion of my life and still learned a lot of information about the local wildlife from her. She is definitely an asset on your tour guide crew!

We had Chaz as our guide and we were lucky enough to be partnered with a huge group that went off with another guide so we were super lucky in having him all to ourselves. Chaz had amazing knowledge and really took us to some amazing places. We saw tons of Manatees, sat with a couple dolphins for over an hour, saw and felt some of the big red drum fish and then...to top it all off we saw a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch at night!!! so cool. This is our 4th tour with A Day Away - and they always seem to get better and better. The guides are super friendly and helpful and you get to see some of the natural world. A MUST HAVE add-on to your Orlando vacation AND if you are local like we are, its amazing to experience all this so close to home.

Chaz is a rockstar guide! Super bubbly, genuine and knowledgeable. He taylors the tour to what you want to see and facts/info to your interests (history, animal species, fun facts, weird stories) 5 🌟 dad jokes, guaranteed to keep you smiling or anoy your teenager. VIP service, no helping to carry gear or even get your toes wet stepping into the kayak. The tour itself was amazing. There's nothing like watching a beautiful scarlet sunset over glass water with dolphins all around you. It was both breathtaking and peaceful. Perfect way to refill your shockrahs. Once in a lifetime. I would definitely choose a day away again.

This trip was so fun! We learned a lot of about the area and the animals. They even offered a "paddle buddy" (for an additional cost) so my group of 3 (2 kids and myself) could participate.

Sunset tour was great! Loved seeing dolphins and birds in the light and jellyfish in the dark. Chilly in Jan but totally worth it. Too cold for Mantees but maybe next time. Chaz was a great guide and the price was more reasonable than other companies. Book with them directly!

Was in Tampa for a work convention and had stayed an extra day. I was looking for a kayak trip and based on many positive reviews, I made the trip across the state. This was one of the best and most unique kayaking adventures I have ever been on, I highly recommend and will definitely go again if in the area.

Had a great time with Chili as the tour guide. There were a bunch of manatees and dolphins right at the parking spot. The other wildlife is fun to see. It was towards the end of bioilluminessence season so it was just a white haze that would show up but we got to see some small cone jellies. For anyone going, bring baby oil for no-see-ums and bug spray for mosquitoes or wear good tight fitting clothes and long sleeves. I didn’t think I was getting bit during the tour or maybe just dealt with it, but the no-see-ums bit me up wherever there was exposed skin with shorts and short sleeve shirt (feet, lower and upper leg, tops of feet, upper and lower arm).

This was a lovely tour. Our tour guide, Freedom, was really knowledgeable and engaged. She gave a lot of information about the area and the wildlife. We saw some dolphins, as well as a ton of manatees who were very curious about us and were snuffling around the boats. We were also out while the moon was rising which was very beautiful, and we got to see some sparkles in the water from the bio-luminescence.

Mid September paddle with friends. Tanner was an EXCELLENT guide. No real sunset due to storm clouds in the distance, but it was not an issue. The bio was bright & glowing! Manatees we’re plentiful. Very relaxing paddle with nothing but nature. Will be back very soon! Thanks Tanner!!

From the moment I made reservations over the phone the morning of the tour, to the very end of our tour, staff was exceptional! Chili shared tons of interesting information about the Wildlife Refuge, the animals we could be potentially seeing and his experiences with what other guests have seen. We were lucky to have seen just about everything, beautiful birds, alligators, stunning manatees, dolphins, osprey, amazing sunset and the mysterious and magical bioluminous. What a show mother nature provided and well hosted by Chili. Thank you so much for making my husband and my 60th birthday a memorable one. 💗

This was a wonderful kayak tour, got to see manatees up close, dolphins birds. The sunset on a clear day would have been amazing but it was cloudy. The bioluminescence was amazing, a true wonder of nature. God is amazing! We came from the gulf side for this tour at night, the three hour trek there and back was unpleasant but truly worth it. Do it you won’t regret it.

My friend and I did the Sunset/Manatee/Bioluminescent tour tonight and boy did it not disappoint. I was BLOWN AWAY by the knowledge, safety focus and professionalism of our two guides, Freedom and Matt. After a thorough safety demo, we went to the water and got in our Kayaks and then immediately saw a pod of dolphins and about 15 manatees. The nature was beautiful and the sunset was stunning. Freedom and Matt took us to TWO different sunset spots, so we could maximize our time watching the impending dusk. Then the bioluminescence came out. It was indescribable and both the guests and the guides took in the truly spectacular natural wonder. We spent about three hours on the water that was finished in a flash. I live in Orlando, so I will absolutely be back. Again, wildly impressed!

A big thanks to Ross and Steve for a fabulous guide of tour. Steve helped a lot till end as we were exhausted and really they both were great and I would recommend them to all coming with family.

Met guides Roo and Jeff just after 630pm, they explained the equipment and our family of 8 went off at 7pm with 2 seater kayaks. We were probably a bit fortunate that everything on our list got ticked off. We saw a couple of gators, loads of manatees who were very playful and one of my sons even got a manatee tail in his face! Then as it got dark we saw the bioluminescence some crabs and then we got luck with quite a few dolphins being around us.Finally right at the end we got to see the jumping mullet. The guides were veery friendly , helpful and knowledgable and spent more than the allotted time, We were out over 2.5 hours. Water was calm so you don't need to be superfit. We were so glad we did this tour and would highly recommend.

Amazing tour. Guides Ross and Steve were great. Manatees, an amazing sunset, and the bioluminescence was so cool. It’s worth driving out to Merrit Island as the lack of light pollution allows you to really see the bioluminescence. Be advised it is a long tour, almost 4 hours, so be prepared.

This was a breath taking experience! Amanda, our tour lead, was so knowledgeable and kept it fun! The manatees were so entertaining, the sunset was beautiful and peaceful and the bioluminescence was remarkable to see. It was hot but worth it to experience the awesomeness of nature!

Tour is fabulous guide Amanda is knowledgeable It’s very buggy- wear long sleeves and pants and lots of bug spray: even though they will bring it. Just don’t go through Viator they will overcharge you and you can book directly through the operator for much much less

This tour could be shortened or led by a more experienced and engaging guide. From where the tour happened it was impossible to see the actual sunset for the trees. We spent a lot of time "floating here for a while," not going anywhere, sitting in the heat and humidity in silence. We got splashed and soaked by a Manatee which was awesome! Until the itching began, and later the rash which we first thought were bug bites appeared. When the number of red marks grew to the hundreds, a google search revealed a harmful bacteria that causes this rash in Mangrove areas.