Two hours, an open bar and the light —
and nothing else to do at all.

Hotel pickup and drop-off are in the price, and on an evening cruise that is worth more than it looks: you come back after dark, having had access to an open bar for two hours. Nobody in your group needs to stay sober to drive.

If you make your own way, the meeting point is the beach hut in front of Pelican Pier, between the Holiday Inn and Playa Linda, and the crew wear orange shorts and white polo shirts. Bring a light layer — the listing does not mention it, but the trade wind does not stop at sunset.

The Octopus catamaran is set up with lounge seating, sea views and cushions rather than benches, which tells you what the two hours are for. The bar is an open cocktail bar and the crew bring it round — you are not queuing at a hatch.

With it come appetizers, tropical fruit and fresh baked bread. On a two-hour boat that is a genuinely generous spread, and it is the reason this reads as an evening out rather than a transfer with a view.

The route runs the sheltered leeward coast to the island’s northern tip, where the California Lighthouse stands above the dunes. It is the landmark this cruise is built around, seen from the water rather than the car park most people photograph it from.

Then the part everyone came for. The operator’s own line is worth quoting because it is accurate rather than florid: the water goes “from sparkling shades of aqua blue to the shimmering reflection of the night.”

There is no snorkel stop, no beach landing, no second site. Two hours of sitting on a catamaran with a drink while the sky does the work. Say it plainly so nobody books it expecting an activity: the cruise is the entire product.

Then the same pickup returns you to your hotel. On a $90 ticket that includes the bar, the food and the transfer at both ends, the arithmetic is better than the sticker suggests.