Trio Tour: El Yunque, Luquillo Beach, and Bio Bay Night Kayaking

Posted By : Christine_K
The first third of the trip to the rainforest took about 2.5 hours and we went up into the rainforest, saw a nice lookout tower, then had to go down/out of the park to find a separate entrance to go to what I thought (based on reviews here) would have a larger swimming hole and the possibility of a rope swing etc, but it was a super wimpy river bed (see photo). Not much to see. The guide Raphael made a crass joke about squirting flowers as kids that when it dried it would smell like urine. Yuk. Luquillo Beach portion of the day was advertized as 2 hours, when in reality it was FIVE hours. This was unexpected and caused us to cut the day short as I could not stand/wait that long. We had looked forward to the kayak portion, but the wait was just too much. I have requested a partial refund as this ridiculously long wait near kiosks of which 75% were not open was subpar. Do yourself a favor, do not book this as a whole day affair. Do El Yunque separately. Do the beach separately. Do the kayaking separately.
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Posted On : 2024-04-22 11:32:41

Posted By : Anita_W
This was an excellent trip but long so not for everyone. It was about 12 hours. The staff were all helpful especially Raphael and the organisation was good. I liked it because we could do everything in a day. The rainforest is beautiful and l loved the swim in the freshwater pool. I liked having time to chill at the beach and eat seafood in a kiosk café. The bio bay was quite hard work kayaking as we had not done this recently but we managed and the experience was worth it. Lovely scenery (mangroves) and stars. Quite a unique experience.
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Posted On : 2024-04-04 10:55:31

Posted By : Dawn_S
This is the second time in 4 years that I have chosen to do this excursion package with a grandchild. Both times the boys, 10 and 13 LOVED it. They will have an adventure to remember forever with their grandmother. With that said, the tour company made this experience wonderful for both young and old and someone in between as well, as my daughter joined us. The tour guides were funny, and did a great job at teaching us facts about the rainforest and Bio Bay that we didn't know in an entertaining manner.
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Posted On : 2024-01-29 13:04:21

Posted By : P7470NNjenniferr
The rainforest portion of the tour was amazing. Rafael did a great job of sharing information and being engaging and it was beautiful. The bioluminescent bay experience was not what I was expecting at all, and considering the additional cost of this part, I definitely would skip it . There was a large group of women that had no idea how to kayak and they made it very difficult for those of us that were comfortable in a kayak. I understand though that really can't be helped, but the group of women was loud and obnoxious too, and so that also detracted from the overall experience.. However when we got out to the bay, the guides strapped all of the kayaks so close together that we couldn't put our hand in the water to move it to experience the bioluminescence. I have done one of these before in Florida and the guides let us be spaced apart so we could each experience it. It was very disappointing. I would highly recommend the rainforest tour part though. Bring water shoes and a towel so you can swim and enjoy the water and dry off before getting back in the van. And also bring a snack if you can't wait until after 1:00 p.m. to eat lunch.
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Posted On : 2023-10-23 14:56:52

Posted By : Bianca_P
This was an awesome experience. Our driver/rainforest tour guide Ralphel was awesome. The beach and kiosk was the perfect rest and recovery time to get ready for the night kayaking. All the guides at kayaking were amazing. Everything was beautiful and the guides and drivers was fun. It was an experience of a lifetime.
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Posted On : 2023-07-24 11:47:34

Posted By : 277barbc
Definitely skip the beach, it was disgusting-no bathrooms and so much trash everywhere! El Yunque was nice but not what we expected, we only saw some small gecko's, no birds or other wildlife. There were nice views and a waterfall. If you want to do these tours I would recommend doing the forest and Kayaking tours but don't do them all together. Kayaking was pretty cool to go at night and the guides were fantastic trying to make it fun. As far as bio-bay, don't get your hopes up, it was pretty minor what we saw, not like the pics. We did see some algae but not what we expected. The tour company was great and accommodating as they picked us up and dropped us off very close to where we were staying.
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Posted On : 2023-02-12 10:52:54

Posted By : Marina_D
We did enjoy the experience and the guides were great. Overall I would recommend it. I only had an issue contacting the company before the event to confirm our pick-up. They only operate via the phone number provided on the ticket. However, when we travel, we rely on Wi-Fi. They do not answer via WhatsApp or the Viator communication system.
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Posted On : 2023-01-03 10:33:17

Posted By : JEFF_L
The overall experience for a family with younger kids was great. It wasn't too much for them to handle, especially an 8yr old with a heart condition. Short hike, fun swimming and cliff jumps, rope swings. Wasn't too difficult of a kayak excursion either. However, my reason for a three star is that hike and kayak were way off from what I felt was advertised. We hiked in maybe 10mins to a large pool, where we swam and it was a cool vibe. But that's all you really did on the hike, the rest of the couple hours for this portion was swimming. Didn't really get to see much else. The kayak tour was a crapshow to say the least. We didn't see really anything that we were hoping for like the bay lighting up. The kayaking itself was a fail of epic proportions. You go down a narrow canal for about 20mins, which is pretty cool. Mangroves on either side, cool scenery. However, going back when done with biobay is a madhouse. Going upstream, many novice kayakers, in complete darkness was a mess. I think they should hand out headlamps to everyone so you can see what's in front of you. The same mangroves that were cool in the dusk created an absolute pitch black kayak upstream in the evening. So again, I think overall it's a great trip for families with kids as it's not too strenuous and they can see a lot. For maybe older travelers it's not quite what I'd want for a excursion.
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Posted On : 2021-07-09 15:29:17

Posted By : Diane_N
Trekking through the mud, jumping from a rope swing, and trying to reach a waterfall.
We only heard one instruction at a time. None of us knew we were hanging out in the swimming hole for so long. It was nice but I felt like we were waiting to be told just a little more information. Same with kayaking. She/He only told us the next thing, never an overview of our time. The website also left out good descriptions for what to expect.
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Posted On : 2021-06-16 09:08:47

Posted By : Ariana_W
The best thing about the tour was the driver and rainforest tour guide Rafael and Louie. They were amazing! Really sweet and funny! The tour itself wasn’t really what we expected. The rainforest portion was short and due to rainy weather we weren’t able to enjoy the river as much as we would have liked to. We stayed at the in between beach too long and It was very lackluster. Trash all around It due to inconsiderate tourist I’d assume, and there wasn’t much to do
There. As for the kayaking experience not all of the tour guides were helpful and there wasn’t much “glow” due again to rainy and cooler weather. I would do this tour again for Louie and Rafael but that’s it.
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Posted On : 2021-06-08 10:17:34