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.”
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.”
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 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,…”
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…”
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…”
Playa Blanca and Isla Barú by day, then luminous plankton bioluminescence at Portonaito lagoon after sunset, with lunch included.
“terrible tour la comida en un lugar insalubre, no tienen baños son letrinas, playas sucias es el peor tour. La dueña tiene terrible actitud una estafa.”
Cartagena four-island day trip to Barú and the Rosario Islands for snorkeling, a Pablo Escobar plane stop, plus bioluminescent plankton at night.
“I recently took the Cartagena: Four Island + Snorkel and See Plankton tour and while it was a decent experience, it didn’t quite live up to expectations. The activities listed in the description were not fully followed, which was a bit disappointing. The beaches were beautiful, the snorkeling was fun, and the plankton experience was a bit underwhelming. We didn’t spend much time with it, and the pictures are misleading as there’s still quite a bit of light pollution, which made it hard to fully enjoy. Additionally, while at the Freedom Beach Club, I had an unpleasant experience with a masseuse who tried to take advantage of me, which soured…”
Cartagena speedboat day to the Rosario Islands, Cholon, Tranquila and Barú, ending with a luminous plankton night swim.
“Baru remains the only island appreciated but the rest ... zero .. they come to pick us up at the hotel it's okay they drop us at the port we don't know where to go we ask for help no one calculates us until a whatssap intervention. Then we are crammed into separate boats we are made to change boats again between snorkeling and the island of cholon. The island of cholon we take 3 bottles of water at $ 150,000 super scam the water is disgusting and I'm not talking about the people who come to see us every 2 minutes. Then we take the boat crammed until baru.…”
A full day from Cartagena to Barú for beach time, lunch at Mandala Beach, sunset at Playa Blanca, then a night swim with glowing plankton.
“No lo recomiendo en absoluto,transportes de mala calidad,incluso sin cinturones de seguridad, condiciones sanitarias precarias en el sitio, embarcación inadecuada para la actividad nocturna,sobrecargada de pasajeros,Con varios menores de edad y chalecos Salvavidas defectuosos que incluso no cerraban.,caminos de acceso de muy mala calidad y puntualidad en bus de regreso deficiente, debiendo esperar en la obscuridad y con menores de edad Más parecía un reality de aventura que una actividad turística, que por lo demás,no es de bajo costo,hay muchas cosas que mejorar,para llegar a ser una actividad turística de calidad. Por ello no lo recomiendo en absoluto y menos con menores de edad.”
A full-day Barú trip from Cartagena with Playa Blanca beach time, sunset, lunch, and bioluminescent plankton in Portonaito lagoon.
“Disorganizzazione totale. Ho acquistato un tour in inglese, la guida non diceva una sola parola di inglese. A metà giornata la nostra guida è andata per riaccompagnare altre persone a Cartagena e siamo rimasti a fare l attività di plancton sempre con persone che non parlavano una sola parola di inglese. Non sapevamo su che bus salire per rientrare a fine escursione. Nessuna informazione, nessuna indicazione. Lasciati allo sbando. Escursione terribile se non per la bellezza del plancton.”
Cartagena island hop by speedboat with snorkeling, Caribbean lunch, beach time, sunset snacks, and a magical luminous plankton night show.
“L'organisation pourrait être améliorée. Dans le descriptif, l'activité plancton est comprise dans la prestation alors que ce n'était pas le cas et il fallait payer à nouveau pour la faire”
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