Like any city, you can find a plethora of tours in and around San Diego that will satisfy any interest. But I’m convinced that this one tour is guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser for anyone, as long as they’re not scared of the ocean.
I give you: a tour of the sea caves in La Jolla! (Don’t be a noob like me and pronounce it like La Jaw-lah, it’s pronounced La Hoya.)
La Jolla is technically its own city, but it’s close enough to San Diego that this can easily be done during a short trip without taking up too much time.
I did my tour with Everyday California and I cannot recommend them enough! This is not in any way sponsored, I paid full price and would 100% do so again. I know I’ll be back to San Diego, probably sooner rather than later, and I have every intention of going back. It was truly that good!
Sorry in advance for the mostly low quality photos; it was only my second time using the GoPro and I definitely struggled to paddle and take pictures.
About Everyday California
I stumbled upon Everyday California by accident when I was looking for sea cave tours, but I’m so incredibly happy I did!
Everyday California was founded in 2008 when two guys found themselves unemployed after graduating college. They decided to start a small ocean adventure company, which eventually turned into a whole lifestyle brand that has some pretty awesome clothing.
That’s all fine and dandy, but that’s not the best part. Everyday California is a 1% for the Planet partner, which means that they donate at least 1% of their annual sales to a nonprofit focused on the environment. Everyday California has chosen to primarily donate to a program called Green Wave, whose mission is “to build a new blue-green economy that creates jobs, mitigates climate change, and grows healthy food for local communities through 3D Ocean Farming.”
Everyday California’s website is full of incredible information, specifically about deforestation. I won’t go into too much detail here, but deforestation doesn’t just refer to trees; it also includes kelp forests in the ocean! You can read more about ocean deforestation on Everyday California’s website here.
Don’t want to donate to Green Wave? Everyday California now gives you the option to choose the nonprofit your dollars get donated to when you check out on their website.
About the Tour Itself
Doing a sea cave tour was one of the only ways for me to achieve a safe “beach day” during the pandemic, but it was also something incredibly unique that I’ve never heard of before!
Time: About 90 minutes
Group Size: No more than 10 people.
Good for solo travelers: Absolutely!
Do I need to know how to swim? Nope! You have a life vest on and two guides to keep you safe. You don’t actually go into the water unless you want to, but more on that in a bit.
What if I’ve never kayaked before? Again, totally fine! Your guide will do a tutorial before you even get in the water, and if you start to get swept away at any point they’re really good about pulling you back to the group. (I almost got sucked into a sea cave that was being guarded by a pretty aggressive sea lion and my tour guide helped me avoid catastrophe.)
Will I be in my own kayak or will I need to share one with someone else? This is entirely up to you! When you book your tour you can choose either a single kayak or a double kayak if someone will be going with you. I’m not sure if pre-COVID they would put strangers together, but even if they did they definitely don’t now.
Will I get wet?
Yes.
What makes this tour so different from other kayak tours?
First of all, you’re almost guaranteed to see some kind of marine life. I saw an absolutely insane amount of sea lions! I’ve never seen anything like it!
Second, the guides are incredibly knowledgeable! Throughout your tour you’ll learn about different marine life, the roles they play in California’s ecosystem, and how the sea caves came into existence.
A Recap of My Experience
I can honestly say that the strangest part of my tour was the reactions I got for being a solo traveler…I was the only person in my group that was in a single kayak and people seemed truly amazed that I was doing the tour (and visiting California) by myself. Because I was alone, I felt like the tour guide kept a closer eye on me than he did the others. I was actually fine with that because I had never been kayaking before, let alone ocean kayaking, so it was nice to know there was someone looking out for me.
The very first thing you do is check in at the Everyday California store, where you also get a helmet and a life vest. After getting your gear you’ll walk about 5-10 minutes down the street to the meeting place on the beach where you’ll meet up with your group and get your kayak and paddle.
Before you even sit in your kayak, your guide will do a quick lesson on how to paddle and how to get past the breaking waves. Then, once you’re out in the open ocean, your main guide will be in front of the group while they have an assistant in the rear to help any of the slower paddlers.
As you paddle over to the sea caves, your guide will tell you everything there is to know about the marine life in the area and the history of the caves themselves. If there are any sea lions in the area, your guide will make sure you know where to look! Once you reach the caves, it’s time for the real adventure!
Two kayaks are allowed into the caves at a time. Your guide will get out of their kayak and position themselves between the two kayaks. They’ll then guide you into one of the caves where you’ll have a few minutes to look around and maybe see some sleepy seals or sea lions! (*This is of course dependent on safety. The guide makes the ultimate decision on whether or not it is safe to enter the caves that day.)
As you wait for others to enter the cave, you have the opportunity to go for a quick swim! You are free to jump into the ocean if you choose to do so, but you must keep your life vest on. Not great at getting back into kayaks? No worries! The assistant guide can help you out.
Once everyone has had a chance to enter the caves, you start paddling back to shore and the end of your tour. Depending on the swell, there is only one way to get back to the beach: kayak surfing!!! The kayak surfing was easily my favorite part of the tour (which is crazy because the whole thing was incredible). Your guide will give you a quick lesson on how to surf the wave and then you all go in one kayak at a time. I lasted the longest out of my group, but ultimately flipped my kayak and almost lost my coverup that I had been sitting on. It was so much fun that it would have been worth losing my coverup for!
If you only do one tour during your time in San Diego, this is the tour to do! For my budget travelers, the tours are significantly cheaper during weekdays. I actually did my tour the morning of my flight home, which was on a Monday, and it was a lot cheaper than if I had done it the day before.
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