La Jolla Kayak and Snorkel Tour
La Jolla, USA
- 2 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
San Diego’s La Jolla Ecological Reserve is one of the best spots on the West Coast to kayak and snorkel. On this two-activity tour—all gear provided—you and your crew will take turns between floating above water and snorkeling in it, hanging out with garibaldi, leopard sharks, rays, sea lions, and tons of other fascinating marine life.
- All kayaking and snorkeling equipment provided
- Easy meetup a couple blocks from the La Jolla Shores boat launch
- Get the chance to scope out La Jolla’s sea caves
- Limited to 10 travelers, you’ll get a fun, small-group experience
What's Included
- Kayaking Equipment Included (life jacket, helmet, paddle, kayak)
- Professional Tour Guide
- Snorekling Equipment Included (mask, snorkel, fins, wetsuit)
- Gratuities
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Bike & Kayak Tours, 2158 Avenida De La Playa, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
Check into our store.
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.What To Expect
1
Bike and Kayak Tours
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Wheelchair accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Not recommended for travelers with back problems
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
- Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
- All participants must be able to swim
- Minimum age is 8 years
- Please arrive 30 minutes before the scheduled tour time
- Rental lockers available upon arrival
- Swimwear to wear underneath wetsuit is required
- Ocean and safety conditions determine the tour route and entrance into the sea cave is not guaranteed as well as water visibility.
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 10 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
Alan_B
Doing / seeing cool things w/my son. That's about it, but would recommend this. Our guides were particularly good.
Reviews
4.2
based on 123 reviews
Lyndsey_D, Sep 2025
Francesca was a great guide! Funny and knowledgeable. We were fortunate to see tons of Garibaldi and several leopard sharks, along with smaller fish.
Andrew_A, Sep 2025
Our tour guide Levi was nice. Fun seeing the sea lions. Water was very cold even with wetsuits. Even our tour guide didn’t snorkel. Not a lot to see under the water. But The kayaking part was fun.
Pallav_G, Sep 2025
Very nice guide, very helpful. We got sufficient time for both activities, and the experience was quite smooth. Just make sure your physique isn't the worst and you'll be good.
Rick_H, Aug 2025
Lockers are available for $8, they provide all the gear, including a wet suit if you want one. Super informative guides
Cleo_K, Aug 2025
It’s worth arriving at least 15 minutes early to get changed.
The equipment and guides Roman & Coya were great. We didn’t snorkel for long but it was just enough. We saw lots of cormorants, pelicans, sealions & guppies. The guides saw leopard sharks but i didn’t.
Kelly_H, Aug 2025
Kayak caves and snorkeling. Was ok, the kayak had a broken mount for the seat, so no back support and that hurt a bit. Snorkeling in one spot lot of the same fish, went through one small cave. Would break up and do only one activity at a time.
Madison_T, Aug 2025
My boyfriend and I went on the kayak and snorkeling tour led by Sammy and Savannah.
It was so much fun and they were great!!
Diane_K, Aug 2025
The staff helping to prep and provide us equipments was not very cooperative. We were just a few minutes late and he refused to give us wetsuits but gave us everything else. We literally begged him to at least provide to 1 member in our party that really needed it.
As for the guide that took us out to kayak and snorkeling, she was amazing. We really enjoyed our experience with her out in the water.
sloan_l, Jul 2025
Do not take this kayak tour. The photos and description are completely romanticized. This company books way too many kayakers to handle. The shop is run by teenagers.
The cove is beautiful. The caves are pretty. Snorkeling is a waste of time in these waters. Save your money for something else.
Maria_T, Jul 2025
Very easy to schedule, great price! Guide was local and told us a lot of history! The fish were pretty neat!
Lanette_A, Jul 2025
2 kayakers had trouble getting back on their kayak. After 3 attempts the tour guys were able to get them back on. Then, the couple were struggling to get back and the instructors left them behind.
The current was strong because we even got mixed into another tour group and nobody noticed.
Marjon_H, Jul 2025
My boyfriend and I were visiting from Baltimore. We were looking forward to snorkeling and swimming with the sea lions in La Jolla cove. We arrived earlier than the recommended 45 minutes in order to park. Unfortunately, we drove around for at least an hour and could not find any place to park. We were unable to make it to our tour, so I called to let them know. They would NOT reimburse me the money for the tour or give me a voucher to use in the future. It was a big disappointment to say the least!
Abby_B, Jun 2025
I felt the instructors were inexperienced. The waters were too murky to see anything. I felt we had no guidance.
Shelly_W, May 2025
I had a great time on this tour! Everyone was super friendly. The only thing I had a hard time with was knowing where my group was and who my tour guide was. I don't remember him telling us his name. There are also a LOT of kayaks on the water and nothing to differentiate different groups. Still had a good time and would reccomend it.
Lynn_P, May 2025
The staff was great Beth did a great job helping us when our kayak flipped lol. It could have went way worse but outside of losing half our gear, flippers, snorkel, & a couple personal items ( hat & sunglasses) it was okay but this is definitely for people with experience of kayaking & being comfortable in the ocean which was a FIRST for me.. we spent a lot of time trying to get with our group so that part could have been organized. Being a visitor to California I didn't know a lot about this but still seen this as a cool adventure.
Derek_T, Mar 2025
I’ve been on this experience about 10 years ago when it was much better. Granted the weather was better at that time however, I feel that there was lack of communication between the current employees about where we were snorkeling. We drifted outside, avoiding waves for over an hour without doing anything which caused a lot of people to get seasick. Due to the weather conditions, we were not able to even approach the cove, and the conditions were too rough to go snorkeling. There was a lack of guidance in general, even though employs seem nice.They offered us to go snorkeling off the beach, but it was still too rough and cold to do this. There was a safety issue where my seat was not tied correctly and when we tried to link boats my strap snapped because was not properly tied even before we got into the water. I spoke with Management and explained my disappointment and that if weather conditions have made the water too rough to fully experience it they should not take people out in the first place. Management did give a voucher however I have not planned to be in San Diego anytime soon and I wish I had gotten my money back.
Michelle_K, Aug 2024
I had a great time! Ellie was our guide and she was amazing! She was fun, knowledgable and great at projecting her voice and giving good instructions so we all could hear and easily follow them. She went above and beyond to make our experience great.
My husband got really seasick on the kayak ride over and Roman our other guide was really helpful too. I would definitely recommend this experience to others as long as they don’t get bad motion sickness.
Jesse_V, Aug 2024
Getting lost from our group and a tour guide guiding us back to our group as well as just being in the water and running a little late but the tourists still being kind and helping us out
Rachel_C, Jul 2024
Beautiful day. Friendly guides. Great fun. Wonderful experience. Fun adventure. Worth every penny! I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Danielle_C, Jul 2024
Had a fun time out on the water. All guides were nice and knowledgeable. Water was a little murky, but not the fault of the guides at all. We lucked out with weather otherwise.
Alan_B, Jul 2024
Doing / seeing cool things w/my son. That's about it, but would recommend this. Our guides were particularly good.
Thomas_J, Jun 2024
Ella was a great tour guide and showed us a lot of cool marine life including lemon sharks. The sea lions were the best! The mansions over looking the cove were amazing and views from the kayak were incredible.
Kristen_S, Jun 2024
My son and I had a great time kayaking! It was a beautiful day and everyone we encountered at the kayak shop was helpful and friendly. We loved our adventure. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably skip the snorkeling only because the water was SO cold—even with our wetsuits! It's the end of June. Also, we are kind of babies. It was a lovely day!
Venkatesh_K, Jun 2024
Tour was great and staff were very friendly. Just felt that snorkeling time could have been little longer. Apart from that, everything was great!!
Melynda_Y, Jun 2024
Seeing the Sea lions 🦭 play and jump in the water was cool. Our guides were awesome- made the experience comfortable and fun.
Tatiana_H, Jun 2024
The circumstances were poor. We chose this activity and were excited to see cave and wildlife but we didn’t really see any of that.
It seemed to be colder than normal in June (we admittedly aren’t from the area so 60 degrees in the middle of the afternoon in south Cali was a surprise for us) which definitely made the situation worse… but apparently red tide made visibility underwater nil so snorkeling was pointless. We couldn’t get to the caves because the waves were strong.
So basically, we kayaked out to see and smell some medium-sized black birds. Then kayaked to a seemingly random spot where water was extremely dark with no visibility and pretended to snorkel in very cold (60 degree) water for about 10 minutes, and then rowed back to shore. A disappointing experience.
When circumstances are poor rain checks should be given. I’m not sure why they would proceed with the activity when you can’t do anything that was advertised and paid for.
I can’t comment on how it would have been in the perfect conditions. So if you do this, just hope for and ideal day or the experience may be a bust.
Sanchit_G, Jun 2024
The guide was very nice. However, the water was too murky to see anything, and the whole thing took less than 1:30 hours, but it was advertised to be of 2:30 hours
Hyein_K, May 2024
It was great to learn so much about the biodiversity around the La Jolla beach! Our guide, Tylor was extremely well prepared and was an expert for this tour. Although some parts of the water were brown because of algae, Tylor was able to find a good spot for snorkeling. Kayaking was challenging than I thought (mainly because I lack arm muscle) but it was totally worth it! I would like to try this again when I visit San Diego and would recommend this tour to my friends.
Rochelle_K, Sep 2023
The day that we did this excursion, the weather and waves did not cooperate. We could not kayak in the caves and the snorkeling was uneventful. What WAS fun were the two guides and that made the adventure worth it! kUDOS to the staff and thanks for the history and jokes along the way!! :-) :-)
Chris_B, Aug 2023
Unforgettable experience with my teenage son and I. Guides were super friendly and knowledgeable of the area. Everyone had fun. Snorkeling is not for everyone. You need to be a decent swimmer and not afraid of some adventure.
From $114.00
per group (up to 1)up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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