Washington State Parks reversed its decision to stop popular bioluminescence tours launching from Wildcat Cove in Larrabee State Park, and is requiring new conditions.
“We’ve decided to reinstate the 2024 bioluminescence tours through September 15th,” Heath Yeats, a Northwest region manager for Washington State Parks, wrote in an email to Dragonfly Kayak Tours on Friday, Aug 9.
While the bioluminescence tour operators who use the launch were given the greenlight to start their tours back up, Yeats’ email explained that there would be some additional conditions.
These conditions include limiting the total number of night tours launching from Wildcat Cove to four a week, the use of parking passes for tour guests and changes to the gate lock-up procedures, explained Tori Ayres, who owns and operates Dragonfly Kayak Tours.
“We’re excited,” Ayres said. “You can’t make things happen unless you make some noise about it.”
Ayres previously told Cascadia Daily News that she was caught completely off-guard when she received an email from State Parks at the beginning of summer notifying her that her most profitable tour would no longer be allowed.
While Ayres offers other kayaking tours, the bioluminescence night trips are her most popular, comprising about 50% of her revenue. Moondance Sea Kayak Adventures, which also offers these after-hour tours out of Wildcat Cove, said they were aware of the change in policy months ahead of time.
Sophia Rouches, who owns and operates Moondance, also noted that her business was much less reliant on the night tours, as they usually only run them around the new moon, when the viewing experience is optimal.
The natural phenomenon of bioluminescence occurs when single-celled algae, primarily dinoflagellates, are disturbed, causing a chemical reaction in the organism that releases light. The result is an explosion of bluish-green light that lasts for only a split second.
State Parks previously allowed each operator to run only seven after-hour tours this season. Dragonfly Kayak Tours’ last trip of the seven was July 26.
Yeats previously told CDN that the operators were told to stop offering the night trips due to lack of park staff after hours, which raised concerns about visitor safety and security. He was not immediately available for comment to explain the recent change in policy.
Working Waterfront Coalition of Whatcom County reached out to State Parks earlier this summer in support of continuing conversations around after-hour access at Larrabee State Park for commercial operators.
“We’re glad to see the safe and permitted use of the boat launch for bioluminescent tours extending for the rest of this season,” Dan Tucker, a program manager for Working Waterfront Coalition of Whatcom County, wrote in a statement to CDN. “We’ll be continuing the conversation with park officials on how best to manage the interest in this wonderful natural phenomenon.”
The coalition is scheduled to meet with State Parks next week, Tucker confirmed.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen next year,” Ayres said. She said State Parks wants to have a meeting with the operators at the end of the season.
“We love doing these tours,” Ayres said. “We love being able to provide these to the community because it’s such a gem.”
Isaac Stone Simonelli is CDN’s enterprise/investigations reporter; reach him at isaacsimonelli@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 127.
