Colombia · BIOLUMINESCENT PLANKTON
It only works on dark nights near the new moon, and no operator can change that. These 15 trips are compared on the lagoon they use, whether you swim, and whether the night is built around the plankton or tacked on to a beach day.
Full day at Barú with mangroves, raccoons, snorkeling in the Rosario Islands, a sunset on Freedom Beach Club, and night plankton.
“La experiencia nadando en el plancton fue inolvidable. Me encantó que tomaran fotos en cada actividad y luego las compartieran con el grupo. Hermosa la playa en Freedom Club.”
A full day from Cartagena to Isla Barú for Playa Blanca, mangrove boat snorkeling, and a night tour of glowing bioluminescent plankton.
“Where do I begin? Let's start with only book this tour if you or one of your party speak fluent Spanish and you have no difficulty hoisting yourself in and out of boats, since they use small boats with no ladders. Also do not book dinner reservations, since you will likely not get back before most restaurants close. Van was 30 minutes late to pick up, due to "traffic", but other people on the van said there was no traffic delays. We were told it would take 45 minutes to get to Baru. It took closer to double that, again no real traffic. When we arrived, we were told we'd…”
A long, island-hopping Cartagena day to Rosario Islands with snorkeling, Bocachica views, and a night plankton swim with snacks and lunch.
“Guia David Santiago mal profesional, cero empatia, distante, prepotente y maleducado. No mostro ningun interes por las personas del grupo. Mala organización de recogida y devolución a los hoteles nefasta. Que pena, lugares tan bonitos con un guia tan horrible, te sientes como un rebaño.”
Spend a full day from Cartagena across 5 islands in the Rosario route, with snorkeling, plankton time, lunch, and a seafood cocktail.
“The overall tour was good. The ride to the island and the amazing landscape was everything. The only not pleasant experience was the last activity; plankton and the lunch, where the guide who explained the experience said, that even those who cannot swim can go, and that it was not deep to jump in. We were in the middle of the ocean!! The food was delicious and have a good taste but it was super cold. Oh also, vendors are super intense on the island Cholon and oceanario. Other than that it was a good tour.”
Barú sunset at Playa Blanca from Cartagena, dinner at Mambo Beach, then a dusk boat ride to see bioluminescent plankton glow.
“L’excursion était terrible. Pendant le trajet, des colombiens ont entourés le véhicule pour intimider les touristes à leur donner de l’argent. Nous étions terrorisés. Une fois sur place, nous avons mangés le repas fourni et nous avons été malade. Enfin, lors du tour en bateau, nous étions très très coincés. Le bateau était bien trop remplis, mon gilet de sauvetage était brisé et s’attachait pas. Enfin, il n’y avait pratiquement pas de plancton. J’ai déjà vécu l’expérience dans un autre pays et je sais c’est supposé ressembler à quoi.”
Speedboat Cartagena islands tour with Bocachica fort, Isla Grande and Barú snorkeling, plus a night bioluminescent plankton stop. $100.
“At first we left late, and we had to take away recreational time at the Fort and add it to Playa Blanca (where they left us for several hours, but I'll explain that later). They called us at 7 am claiming that they would only tolerate a few minutes of delay (a schedule that we respected) and we ended up leaving on the excursion an hour and a half later (maybe more). They asked us for 20,000 more Colombians that WERE NOT SPECIFIED anywhere (understandable, but they should have told us). For the time of the plankton, they left us 3 hours in Playa Blanca (it's beautiful anyway, but I…”
Sunset Playa Blanca and bioluminescent plankton from Cartagena. Includes beach club time, boat viewing, and tickets for $75.
“Never received the ordered (and included) drinks, horrible bathrooms at the beachclub in which we had to spend 3 senseless hours (on a bench, no sunbeds available), terrible ignorant guide. Plankton was nice.”
Barú day trip from Cartagena with an aviary visit, Freedom Beach Club beach time, sunset photos, and a guided bioluminescent plankton swim.
“La logistica del transporte estuvo excelente, en todas las instancias cumplieron con la hora pactada. el aviario es nuy lindo vale la ir el unico inconveniente fue en la playa de baru, en freedon beach, supuestamente era un lugar tranquilo para descanzar y nos pusieron toda el dia musica a todo volumen que no te dejaba no conversar con mi acompañante y fue peor en la tarde donde subio aun mas el volumen. la verdad fue muy molesto”
Birds at Colombia’s national aviary, a full day at Mambo Beach Club in Barú, then sunset plankton glow in the Barú swamp.
“This was such a terrible experience. At the beginning thy seemed very organized when they picked us up and took us to the aviary, then they just dropped us off with a “guide” who just left us and picked us up at 12. Then they took us to this semiprivate beach place called Mambo with mid food, extremely loud, they just left us, and went home I guess, and asked the restaurant waiters to take us to the new tour operator “AfroCorales” to give us the plankton tour, they sold us a photo package for 60k COP, and promised to send pics that so far have not shown up. Lastly,…”
Cartagena to Barú for Playa Blanca, Colombia’s National Aviary, and a night bioluminescent plankton boat trip.
“Do not book this tour. First, despite stating they will do hotel pick up and drop off, they will suddenly tell you the day before on WhatsApp that they can’t do it because the “vehicle is too large for the roads.” This is a complete lie, as the vehicle was not an air conditioned bus but a 8 passenger van which would have easily fit on the roads. Second, the beach club accommodation is in plastic chairs in direct sunlight with no shade or umbrellas. They require you to pay extra for any shade. They showed no understanding for my pregnant friend who could not sit in directly sunlight for…”
Cartagena day trip to Playa Blanca and Barú’s Mambo Beach Club, lunch voucher included, then a night plankton boat show.
“Nice beach and great service. I caught a food bacteria from the amount of flies we had around us at lunch time”
Afternoon Cartagena to Barú trip: magical sunset, semi-private beach club, dinner or snack, and bioluminescent plankton.
“A experiência foi boa apenas com o plâncton e o nascer do sol Um táxi sem ar é muito pequeno me buscou e foi mais de 1h de viagem até a praia Blanca, aonde meu filho passou mal com o calor Chegando lá iríamos ficar em um beach Club que na verdade era uma barraca à beira mar. Praia linda e nós foi oferecido uma coca aguada e um enrolado de queijo que não estava bom Quando fomos ao passeio, depois do pôr do sol meu filho estava vomitando muito mas mesmo assim fomos porque não tinha como voltar. Terminando, ele estava muito mal e o barqueiro ficou com o…”
Full-day Cartagena island adventure to the Rosario Islands and Barú, with snorkeling and Laguna de Barú plankton for a glowing night swim.
“Out of the four islands I really enjoyed the 'Fun Island'. Luis our tour guide was great and so much fun!!”
Barú sunset at Freedom Beach Club plus a nighttime swim for bioluminescent plankton in the Rosario Islands, all from Cartagena.
“This was between approximately 7:50am- 9:30pm. The beach we spent the day on was beautiful! It was secluded and so not overrun with tourist. Baru beach is very popular so the beaches can get overcrowded. But it was not explained to us that we would spend the full day on the beach and only go to the plankton in the evening. When we did go to the plankton there was nothing to be seen. It was disappointing for everyone on our boat. The tour is Spanish only and we had people in our group who spoke Spanish and were also confused. Overall maybe not worth a full day, if you…”
Cartagena 5-islands tour with snorkeling, Caribbean lunch, Isla Grande and a bioluminescent plankton light show. Pickup and boat.
“It was a very long day and we opted not to stay for the bio-lagoon. We’re very much enjoyed the day trip especially driving to see the sunk plane. Two of the afternoon islands didn’t have much to offer our family one was only to buy cocktails. Overall a good but exhausting day trip”
Pick a base, pick a kind of day, read the reviews.
