The otherworldly magic of kayaking in Ireland—at night

It’s not quite dark when we float away from Reen Pier in Castlehaven Bay, late on a summer’s evening. As the sun sets, and the glow in the sky slowly fades, a crescent moon lays a silver trail on the water for us to follow, lighting the way for our small group of kayakers as we head out into the unknown.

As we paddle, the sky turns from blue to black, and the stars start to light up in the sky overhead. Soon, the whole sky is a dark cloak of tiny sparkles. As we glide into the night, it strikes me that it feels like we are floating, venturing through the portal of darkness to another realm.

We aren’t really in another realm, of course. We’re on a night kayaking adventure with Atlantic Sea Kayaking in West Cork on Ireland’s south coast, along the Wild Atlantic Way. Taking this trip allows access to something many people don’t usually get to experience: the sea at night. The night tours start around an hour before dusk.

At the pre-launch briefing, we learn that we won’t be using torches. This will allow us to use our night vision, our natural ability to see in the dark. We also won’t be using our cameras for photos. The idea is to focus on the present (and anyway, the photos would be dark and blurry). And, as it turns out, the most magical thing we’ll see will refuse to be photographed at all.

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Nocturnal magic and night skies

Once we’re on the water and have settled into the paddling rhythm, all that is left is to connect with nature and the nocturnal world.

I notice the air feels feels thicker at night. Sound is altered; herons calling from a distant shore sound nearer than they should. Even the silence seems heavier. The sweet smell of honeysuckle fills the air. We see a bat fly overhead. Jim Kennedy, our guide, says they regularly see everything from otters and seals to foxes, owls, and kingfishers.

The kayaking itself is gentle—we don’t paddle a long distance. We hear stories of the Spanish Armada ships sunk or captured in the bay during the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, and about the area’s long history of pirates.

And then there's the stars. Among the billions of twinkling stars overhead, we also see the light from two planets, Jupiter and Saturn. We see a bright light travel fast in a line across the sky—it's the International Space Station. We watch fast-moving satellites that may be just 185 miles away (about 300 kilometers), and we can see all the way to the edge of the Milky Way, trillions of kilometers away.

When I put my hand in the water, my fingers leave a trail of sparkles as we glide along. It's magnificent. It's bioluminescence.

Although there’s a scientific explanation for it—light produced from a chemical reaction caused by living organisms—there is something about bioluminescence that is magical. At the kayak’s bow, a sparkly V-shaped wave fans outward as we move. I’ve brought my phone to try to capture it, but the photos and videos are just black. It can’t be captured on a screen, but it'll stay in my memories.

Experiencing the dark

Guide Naoise Kennedy later tells me that even on nights that they don’t see bioluminescence (it’s seen more often later in summer, but it also depends on weather conditions and water temperature), just being out in the dark or seeing the night sky is a unique experience, especially if people are visiting from a dense urban area.

“Some people we've had out over the years have never been in darkness and now we're in such a visual world with screens everywhere and constant bombardment of that,” says Kennedy.

“We ask people to leave phones on shore, so it’s an escape from all of that. At first it can be difficult for people, but when they're out there, it's almost like a relief, as there are no screens around. We try to use as little light as possible—we use red lights on the water, which means your night vision is working," adds Kennedy.

Our group also spends a couple of minutes in silence on the water, where people close their eyes and listen to nature. “The sensation of floating on the water with your eyes closed is almost hypnotic,” says Kennedy. “For people coming from busy environments, it's a bit of a shock to the system. We're all busy and highly stressed a lot of the time, so it's rare you get the chance to just stop and slow down.”

Marine reserve

A night kayaking trip in Cork’s Lough Hyne is just as special. When we launch at dusk, the forest around the shore of the lake, which is a protected marine reserve, is mirrored perfectly in the still water.

Our guide, Pa Conway, greets everyone in Irish and tells us the history of the lake and how it is tidal. We hear a donkey braying, and the rustle of a barn own taking off. Under the water, there are shrimps, crabs, sea urchins and scallops. There’s a heron screeching from a cliff, making a racket to show its territory. “We call it the West Cork Pterodactyl,” jokes Conway.

Wildlife at night

In Glengarriff Bay, in West Cork, I watch a night kayaking tour leave from the slipway. As the water and sky go black, the orange kayaks and yellow buoyancy aids glow in the dark. With darkness under and over them, it looks like they’re suspended in space, between land and the sky.

“There's something special just being in the darkness and soaking up the atmosphere,” says Nathan Kingerlee of Outdoors Ireland, which runs the Bioluminescence Night Kayaking trips from Glengarriff. “Coming into the autumn and you're out there in the dark with bioluminescence, you've got the sounds of otters calling and the sika deer calling across the bay through the woods. Probably the most special thing is when you have the fish under your kayaks, flashing, so you've got these little shining torpedoes which are sparkling under you,” says Kingerlee.

Occasionally a seal will jump and splash, creating a set of sparkles from the bioluminescence. And when rain drips off the surrounding woodland, the raindrops activate the bioluminescence as they hit the water. Kingerlee says one of his favorite parts of the trip is when they are “paddling back to civilization”, around midnight, and the lights of Glengarriff and the Eccles Hotel look like "you're paddling back into an oil canvas."

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Safety on the water 

Being on the water at night is special—not only because of the sights and sounds, but even just having the access. Bodies of water can be dangerous and unpredictable, even during the day. Take away light and the danger is too great for a small, unlit craft. People get lost and disoriented in the dark, they can’t see hazards, and they can’t be seen by moving boats. They can end up out in the open sea or on this lake, they can get sucked into the tidal rapids.

Guides on these tours have safety systems and safety lights. They know the weather and tides, they use stable, mostly double kayaks. They also know how to navigate and protect the marine reserve, and ensure people have the best experiences—unlike the people who arrive and shine car headlights into the water to try to see bioluminescence, which actually hinders not only their own chances (the lights are too overpowering and also hinder night vision), but those of everyone else nearby.

How to do it

Atlantic Sea Kayaking runs 2.5-hour Night Kayaking Tours trips in Castlehaven Bay and Lough Hyne in Cork (ages 16 and older) from April to late October. Outdoors Ireland’s three-hour Bioluminescence Night Kayaking trips in Glengarriff Bay in Cork run from May 1 to October 31. Both options include equipment and are suitable for all levels.

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