Kayaking Puerto Rico

Where Kayaking Puerto Rico operates

Kayaking Puerto Rico (KPR) runs its own water-based excursions on the eastern side of Puerto Rico. Its About page calls it "a young, innovative, Puerto Rican adventure company specialized in recreational and environmentally-oriented excursions on the eastern side of Puerto Rico", and its address is PR-987, Km. 5, Las Croabas, Fajardo. Tours start from Fajardo: the Kayak Village at Las Croabas for the Fajardo bio bay, and Marina Puerto Chico for the boat trips, including the evening crossing to Vieques. The tour menu also covers Culebra Island, Icacos Island and the El Yunque rainforest. The homepage puts Fajardo about 1 hour's drive from San Juan. Prices are shown in USD.

The About page dates the company to 2007, when its first trips were an Aquafari and the Bio Bay Kayak Tour at Laguna Grande. It says KPR won the 2008 Puerto Rico Tourism Company Quality & Excellence Award as best tour operator in Puerto Rico, added the Culebra Island Aquafari and a KPR Adventure Center on Culebra in 2009, and launched its mini boats in 2010. In 2016, the page says, KPR acquired the Caribbean School of Aquatics and with it the Fun Cat Catamaran and the Innovation.

Bioluminescent bay kayaking in Fajardo

The signature trip is the Fajardo Bio Bay Kayak Tour on Laguna Grande. The site describes bioluminescence as "one of planet Earth's best-kept secrets", with tiny organisms that make the water glow at night. The tour lasts 2 hours, which the page says includes 15 minutes of pre-ride instructions, and it runs Monday to Saturday all year from the Kayak Village at Las Croabas. The site lists it from $70 USD per person, with a minimum age of 6 and a skill level of "Moderate Kayaking".

The route starts at Las Croabas, enters through a red mangrove channel inside Las Cabezas de San Juan Nature Reserve, and opens into the lagoon, where an eco guide explains the ecology and points out constellations. The page notes that glow intensity depends on the phase of the moon. Included are sit-on-top kayaks for 2 persons and paddles, a US Coast Guard approved life jacket, low-intensity navigation lights, safety instruction, bug repellent, snacks, KPR's eco-interpretive guide, and first aid and kayak towing equipment. The rules say "swimming is not allowed".

Because it is an evening trip, check-in times change with the season. The page lists a first and second run, for example 5:45 PM and 8:00 PM from October to January and 6:30 PM and 8:45 PM from May to July, and asks guests to arrive 20 minutes before check-in. KPR also sells a Bio Bay and Rainforest Combo Tour, listed at $165; the homepage describes a full day that hikes El Yunque's trails and waterfalls, stops for a Puerto Rico style lunch and ends at the bio bay, with transportation included.

Vieques in a single evening

The Vieques Bio Bay trip crosses by boat from Marina Puerto Chico to Mosquito Bay, which the site calls "the world's brightest bioluminescent bay". It lasts approximately 7 hours and is listed from $195 per person plus taxes and fees. The minimum age is 10 and the weight limit is 230 lbs per participant. The price covers the round-trip boat, ground transportation in Vieques, a guided paddle in a tandem glass bottom kayak, life jackets, light snacks and soft drinks aboard, and about 1 hour of free time along El Malecón in Esperanza. Food bought in Esperanza is extra and gratuity is optional. The tagline sums it up: "No ferry. No overnight stay." Check-in runs from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM depending on the season, and the site says no kayaking experience is needed.

Mini boats and snorkeling at Icacos

The Mini Boat Adventure puts guests at the helm of their own 13-foot boat with a 40hp four-stroke motor, following a guided convoy from Puerto Chico Marina. The About page calls it the first excursion in Puerto Rico to let visitors pilot their own boats through Arrecifes de La Cordillera Nature Reserve, "the top boating and offshore snorkeling site in Puerto Rico". No boating license is needed. The trip lasts 3.5 hours, with check-in at 8:30 AM for a 9:00 AM start or 1:00 PM for a 1:30 PM start, daily. Prices are $225 for 2 persons per boat and $275 for 3 persons per boat, plus tax.

The itinerary describes a 30-minute cruise north past Fajardo's 130-year-old Spanish lighthouse, a 45-minute guided snorkel on a shallow reef, then time on the uninhabited white sand cay of Icacos. Included are a cooler with ice, water and granola bars, a USCG-approved life jacket, boating basics, premium snorkeling gear, a guided interpretive snorkel session, and first aid and marine rescue. The tour needs only 1 boat to run.

Other trips on the menu include the Culebra Island Aquafari (kayak, snorkel and swim with turtles on a full day), Snorkel and Slide (which the homepage calls an all-inclusive snorkel and beach tour in Icacos), a snorkel and beach safari aboard the motor vessel Innovation, and a rainforest adventure with a natural water slide, which the homepage says was put together by Island Journeys. The founders also created the Surfing Puerto Rico wave school at La Pared Beach in Luquillo in 2014 with pro surfer Brian Ramos.

Rules, restrictions and getting there

The tour pages set out restrictions plainly. The Fajardo kayak tour has a weight limit of 240 lbs per person and 425 lbs combined for 2 people, children aged 6 to 13 must share a kayak with an adult, and the page says 3 people cannot share a kayak. The mini boats allow 300 lbs per person and 650 lbs per boat, at most 3 people per boat, and ages 6 to 17 must ride with an adult. On both tours the site says pregnant guests and guests with recent surgeries, neck, back, arm or leg problems, epilepsy, heart conditions or dizziness cannot take part, and that "all guests must be able to communicate in English or Spanish". On accessibility, the Fajardo page says "the ramp is accessible" and the water is shallow at the launch, and it warns of wind, currents and sargassum in some seasons.

For getting to Fajardo, the tour pages give Google Maps links and local taxi contacts, and warn that taxis and Uber cannot be booked on the spot after the bio bay tour. Optional round-trip transportation from select San Juan and Fajardo locations can be added when booking the Vieques trip; it needs a minimum of 6 passengers or may be canceled or cost extra. The Fajardo kayak tour itself needs at least 6 guests, and if that is not met the page says KPR will call to offer a new date, a private excursion or cancellation "without penalty". Guests get free tour photos by email link, which the page says take 5-7 days.

What the site leaves open

The tour pages point to a separate FAQ for "company policies, cancellations, payments", and do not themselves give the cancellation window or refund terms for a guest who changes plans. The Fajardo page does not name the species in the mangrove reserve, and the mini boat page does not say how long the boating training lasts. Prices are "starting at" figures, and the site does not say whether they change by season. The homepage reviews also mix in praise for the Fun Cat Catamaran and Surfing Puerto Rico, so not every testimonial there is about the kayak tours.

For travelers on Puerto Rico's east coast who want the bio bays by kayak rather than motorboat, or who like the idea of steering their own boat to a reef, KPR is a long-running local operator with unusually detailed tour pages. Anyone outside the age and weight limits, or who wants the full cancellation terms before paying, should read the FAQ first.