Pure Adventure

Amazing adventure. Javier and his crew were fantastic. Best tip go to the early 5pm tour — this way you can see the mangroves and nature before dark– it was cloudy when we went so the light reflection made it difficult to see the bioluminescent creatures. Coming back in the dark was a challenge that’s why it’s good to see the way in before its dark. Once in a lifetime chance– excellent tour overall

This tour was hands down one of the best things I did on my trip! Fajardo itself is quite lovely, but adding a ride through the bay was the perfect way to spend our time in Fajardo. The team welcomed us, told jokes, taught us how to kayak with our partners and led us through the dark to the glowing plankton. We hit the open area of the bay and sat there telling jokes and learning about the glow. The guys are pretty funny and our group was laughing and clapping the entire time. I noticed the other teams weren’t laughing and being as loud as us across the bay. The guides also gave us a full tour of the stars and knew all the constellations. It was gorgeous and the glow was so magical! It’s best to go on a night where there aren’t any clouds and it’s NOT a full moon. Otherwise, it’s an awesome kayak ride through the bay which is cool anyways. Great price and at the end they gave us some local snacks. Thank you so much for a great experience!

We thought we were going snorkeling in beautiful clear water to see wonderful marine life, instead we were taken to an old Navy pier with cloudy water where the «one“sea turtle was so blurred you couldn’t be sure it was even a turtle. And as for fish, I’ve seen better in home aquariums. The so called beautiful secluded beach that was advertised was anything but. For the $ 180 we spent, it was a waste of time and money. Very false advertising!

My girlfriend and I went on the bio bay tour, and unfortunately the bay wasn’t really lighting up. Pure Adventure let us know beforehand though, and gave us the option to cancel or change plans, which was really generous and helpful. We chose to still go, and I’m glad we did. The kayaking into the lagoon alone was worth it, and the guides (our main one was Javier) were cheerful, helpful, and funny. You will get wet, but the guides tell you everything you need to know to kayak safely whether you’re a beginner or expert. Puerto Rico is a beautiful and diverse landscape, and we got a great understanding of it from our tour. Highly recommended if you’re in the area.

Great company! My friend and I went on their BioBay kayaking trip and the staff did everything possible to make it a fun, safe, and exciting experience. Like others have said, you will get wet! Even just getting into your kayak… you will get wet so be prepared! The day after the kayaking excursion, we decided to book a snorkeling trip with Pure Adventure. I highly recommend this trip if you are looking for a half-​day excursion. The trip takes you to the coast of Fajardo, where you get to swim around with a guide (or guides!). The water around Fajardo is beautiful — warm, super blue, with lots of visibility. Both activities we booked with Pure Adventure were great. The guides are incredibly knowledgeable, friendly, and accommodating. Thank you Pure Adventure for adding fun and adventure to our trip to Puerto Rico!

The customer service was awesome and guides were very friendly. However, We weren’t incredibly impressed by the bay. We were warned beforehand that the luminance may not be as up to our hopes as we were expecting but it really wasn’t up to any standards. It almost didn’t exist. They blamed it on pollution and laughed it off but it was really disappointing. If pollution really is the issue, I would have loved to learn more about it beforehand and during the tour. I believe this would have helped us to fully understand what we would be viewing and the significant impact we humans continue to make on this earth and various ecosystems. It could have been an excellent teaching opportunity, but it wasn’t, which makes me feel like maybe the guides don’t have a the strong background in marine bio they claim to. Kayaking through the mangroves was very cool but I wish we had done it before the sunset to really appreciate what we were kayaking through and then returned to the land, through the mangroves, in the dark. My biggest frustration was that there were many inexperienced kayakers that couldn’t steer nor could they stay to one side, and consequently ran into other groups of kayaks, myself, and many other kayakers. Maybe a beginner and experienced tour could be an improvement for the near future that they could make?

My husband and I did the sunset kayak tour in late December 2015. We received a text message around 1:00pm the day of the tour warning us that the bioluminescence was not «acting as normal». This was an understatement, the bioluminescence wasn’t doing much of anything. I think sadly that human pollution in its many forms has ruined the bay and that the tour groups are still trying to shine it on for a while longer. Though we were covered with a tarp and the moon had not yet risen, we say almost no sparks or lighting up of the plankton in the water. The kayaking thorough the mangroves was interesting and cool, but I wouldn’t say that the tour guides were specifically trained in marine biology and overall the tour was very much a «meh». If you are interested in kayaking, do a daytime or sunset tour elsewhere and skip the bay.

Great people, excellent experience! Recommended stopping by the Oasis Bar down the road as well, not a lot of frills, but cheap drinks and absolute beautiful views!

Great tour! Warning– you will get wet, but the biobay is totally worth risking that. Our marine biologist, Javier, was amazing and went out of his way to show us a wonderful time. Many thanks to you!
Lost a star due to the guy acting as our photographer for the excursion– for whatever reason, he took a disliking to my sister and me, and was very rude throughout the tour to us. Not sure what his name was– but he was the ONLY rude person we met our entire time in PR, so it was that much more apparent.

I enjoyed my experience with PA but I’m not sure I’d recommend them. Everything was great at first, but when we got out on the kayaks, the guides weren’t that friendly and appeared very irritated with everyone. It felt rushed and that they weren’t enjoying themselves. Nonetheless, the Fajardo bay bioluminescence is awesome and is worth the trip. Kayaking in the moonlight was lovely.

Amazing tour! We tried ‘Learn to scuba’ for the first time and these guys were so accommodating and motivating. The entire experience was just awesome.

These people are SO accommodating! I came here for scuba diving, but since my flight was the same day, I was unable to dive, so they offered a snorkeling trip, compliments of the company for the mishap.
ASK FOR MICHAEL! He makes the trip so much fun, and really knows his stuff. They take you out in a kayak to the coral reef and you go around the whole island checking out the beautiful fish. If you dive deep enough, you can even see the lobster on the bottom of the ocean.
Not too expensive, timely, and they offer underwater cases for your iphones to take photos for $ 20. DO IT!

Must do on east coast Pure adventure was extremely friendly and very organized. looking across the other numerous companies on the street. not going to complain about the rest but pure advent was on point. check in, pay, quick explanation then youre out. the better youre group the better the trip out. but the 4 or 5 guides we had did amazing. funny and informative and let me tell you. i do not know how they deal with the people that go some serious nightmare. cannt stay in line cannot listen 2 pieces of advice. go with no moon. and if possible also. a low tide time. bio bay way amazing and the water glowed white really cool. the time in that bay to be honest was only like 20 min. its like 30 – 40 min in. and 40 min out. blast. and tell michael i said hello

We had a fantastic experience doing the bio bay your with this company! The guides, who were supposed to be marine biologists, gave a thorough but superficial description of the phenomenon of bioluminescence. They were however very, very entertaining and made the wait for sunset bearable and amusing.
Since we did the 6pm tour, the drawback was that we made it to the lagoon well before sunset and had to wait about 20 or more minutes for it to get dark so that we could see the bioluminescence. Once it was completely dark, our time was up and we had to leave the lagoon. The way back was completely dark but we saw schools of sardines swimming bright neon along the waters. It was utterly magnificent and I would recommend this experience to all newcomers to PR! Our only complaint is that the tour could have been timed a bit better so that we had a few more mins in the dark, esp. for the early tour.

What a blast! A customer of mine who grew up in Puerto Rico said a BioBay tour was an absolute must. Pure Adventure was the highest rated on TripAdvisor so it was the winner. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get their website to work when I went to book it. It kept giving me an «internal 404 error». I sent them an email and woke up with a helpful response. Apparently, every time I had attempted to book it, i was booking it! The woman I emailed had said that she had canceled all but one and was confirming that I did still indeed want to book the tour. I said yes! Once we got to Puerto Rico — we quickly realized that we also wanted to make a trip to El Yunque! I cancelled the Pure Adventure tour and we went to book a tour with another company that toured El Yunque and the Bioluminescent Bay. Unfortunately — that tour ended up being booked solid. I sent an email back to Pure Adventure seeing if they could rebook is. Thankfully — they could! The drive to the park was definitely a bit of the challenge if you aren’t familiar with the area. Our GPS did work to get us there — but their provided directions aided us as well. The line for the bathroom at the park was HUGE and there was no toilet paper. I wish I had worn my bathing suit there instead of waiting to put it on upon arrival. Standing in that line was a pain. Once we got to our tent — we registered and were given brief instructions on how to kayak. We then were given life vests and then lined up to board our kayaks. Prior to boarding — they snap a quick picture of each group of two kayaking. They posted these for free to their Facebook page! We then boarded our kayaks and kayaked through the Mangroves. I am definitely glad we took the earlier tour. We were able to see what the Mangroves were like so that we could easily navigate them on the way back as it was pitch black. Some of the tour guides took pictures of everyone kayaking that were also posted to Facebook for free! The only annoying part of the tour was that some people didn’t understand the direction to «stay in one line». But if you have some patience for others — you’ll be fine. The bioluminescence wasn’t very prominent in the area so they pulled tarps over all of our kayaks. We then were able to clearly see it — it was so cool! Once we knew what to look for we could see it paddling out as well. We lined up and paddled out through the Mangroves in the darkness. Each kayak had a light on the back so we were able to see where to stay in line. Once we were back — the guide helped everyone disembark, we went and picked up our car keys (the team kept them in a lock box while we were out) and gave us some light snacks. Overall — the Bio Bay was a must do and you should choose Pure Adventure!

We went on 2÷19÷15 and most of all Bio Bay is a must! One of the most incredible things you’ll ever see. However… kayaking with Pure Adventure is NOT RECOMMENDED. They changed the time and sent a text to notify (not a phone call). You WILL get wet as you have to wade out into waist deep water to get in and out of the boat. It is a long way to kayak (several miles one way) and while everyone says it is dark no one tells you about the branches hanging down or the paddles from the returning boats or the lack of direction from the very young tour guides. We had too many boats in our group (20) for the guides and very little help. They won’t tell you different parts of the bay have higher concentrations of the bio organisms. If they aren’t glowing much where you are, move about 50 – 100 feet and try again.
We were bruised, scraped, wet, and very tired at the end. I would do it again in a heartbeat on a motor boat. I would not recommend Pure Adventure though.

The best crew ever. They are awesome must do bio bay with them. They are very helpful for beginners. They are very funny and helpful. There are many operators but these guys are the best of the best. Down to earth folks. Love to kayak with them again. They attached our boat when we lost and attached to the trainer. We felt very safe with them. Bio bay best kayaking operators.

This is a must do if you are in Puerto Rico! We were very disappointed that bio bay tours are suspended during the week in VQS, but luckily, Pure Adventure in Fajardo bailed us out!
The tour is competitively priced & the staff is great. The actually answer their phones, return emails & texts, etc — things that shouldn’t be taken for granted ;). The staff is knowledgeable & friendly. and PATIENT. There is very little Pure Adventure could have done to make this experience better, short of perhaps turning on the flashlights a little more often. It is PITCH BLACK.
Because the bio bay is so incredible, many companies set up tours. This means you have dozens & dozens of kayaks going through a narrow channel in complete darkness. Expect crashes! Expect to crash into trees, into others, and to have others crash into you. No one was hurt (maybe their pride) and no one fell out of a kayak. There is a company that offers motor boat tours, but frankly, that just makes it that much harder for the kayakers, as the wake creates accidents!
Having done & LOVED the tour (and I am not a kayaker) I would still choose the kayak over the boat. However, take this with a grain of salt. I’m fairly confident that the couple behind us may have broken up after the tour. If you & your significant other are incapable of working as a team, maybe the boat is better for you. Also, if you have a small flashlight or head lamp, I would bring it! The tour guides (we had 4 for our group) have them, but they rarely use them! We ended up following the kayak in front of us, as suggested, but that also meant that whenever they went into a tree, we went into them.
All in all, it was incredible & I would do it again in a heart beat.
You will be completely wet from the waist down, as you’ll have to walk out to the kayak. Bear this in mind!

On Friday, May 2, 2014, my friends used this company to do the bioluminescent bay tour in Fajardo. Since the tour was at night, I’m inexperienced at kayaking and swimming, I was very very nervous about the excursion. All of our guides were great!!! The tour was a little stressful for me and my partner due to the darkness in the caves area and the number of people going through. We didn’t see any of the night creatures but seeing the water glow, the guides pointing out the cool star constellations in the sky and the briefing given about the history of the bay, made it a very enjoyable experience. For the price it was well worth it.
My only concern is maybe the tour company shouldn’t book so many people to go. We had multiple kayak collisions due to the number of people kayaking in both directions to/​from the bay. In the darkness (9pm) and with small children on some of the kayaks, it could a safety hazard. My partner and I got stuck. Luckily one of the guides was in the back of the group and heard our May Day May Day call for help. He pulled heed us out of the darkness of the cave which was great…
If you go to Puerto Rico and want to go to the Bioluminescent Bay, use this company. You won’t be disappointed.

Bio Bay kayak was fun, but we wished the glow that night was clearer! Oh well, our luck! Couple of quick tips:
–If you need to be picked up from San Juan, it cost $ 20/​person. The driver Jose is great, very funny and nice guy.
–Cost is $ 45/​person with credit card or $ 40 with cash
–Two tours each night, 6pm or 8pm. We did the 6pm and we were able to see where we were kayaking and wait till sunset (quite quaint and romantic) before you start playing with water to see the glow
–The guide is funny and knowledgeable but too many kayak, you don’t get enough attention
Worth it, but I we didn’t see a bright glow, I was confused!!! =(