One of the tourist adventures Lynne and I wanted to partake in during her visit to San Diego, was to kayak and explore sea caves in La Jolla. (You met Lynne in a previous story Friend's Solo Escapades.....).
As you have learned from my stories, when I hear of an exciting adventure during my travel nurse living, a fear of missing out (FOMO) overcomes me. “When will I be here again? If it is a must do, then do it now, otherwise the opportunity may not present itself again. Or it will be extremely expensive to fly cross country to do whatever it may be.” The addition of the Viator travel site indicating “this tour books quickly” is perfect marketing for FOMO personalities. Tour booked.
The day arrived! We made it to the tour facility in plenty of time. Upon arrival, we learned there was an option of renting wet suits to wear while kayaking. It was April. We talked to the representative a bit more to determine if we should or shouldn't. We decided no need for wetsuits. We're from New England; we’re rugged!
I purchased a waterproof cover for my phone to hang around my neck. I did not want to drop it in the ocean, never to be seen again. We all know how pricy those things are.
Locked our things in a locker and started our walk down to the beach where we met our instructor, Chandler, and the other folks on the tour.
Chandler appeared to be in his early to mid twenties. He had a great presence, a lot of patience and a stellar sense of humor. “OK, this is going to be a blast!”
Chandler provided instruction on how we needed to position ourselves to paddle through the oncoming waves. “Lean forward in the kayak when the wave is coming towards you” was the main gist of things.
I was able to paddle through the wave with some splashing on my person. Lynne, made it through without receiving a welcome splash.
Once the group made it through the waves, we started our paddle toward the caves. Before we got there, Chandler lead us towards an area near the cliffs and told us that there were sharks there. Really Chandler?!?!
He then calmed the group down by relaying they were leopard sharks and not a danger to humans. “Well, that’s a relief.”
THEY ARE A VERY DOCILE SHARK AND, AS THEY ARE BUILT LIKE A SMALL ARMOURED TANK, THEY POSSESS LITTLE FEAR OF ANYTHING, EVEN HUMANS.
Next, we headed where the sea lions and seals were playing around in the pacific and on the cliffs. Such adorable critters. However, they’re also about 400 pounds and up to six feet long. We had a large distance between us and them for all of our safety. Enjoy the very short snippet:
So happy to have been in the water with the sea lions and seals, but it was time to move on to the sea caves.
As an aside, prior to hanging with the sea lions, we paddled by the caves. But there was another group enjoying them at that time. Noticed that their instructor was in the water and holding the back of their kayaks to “swim them into” the sea caves. Chandler reported our tour was the only one allowed to have folks paddle into the sea caves independently.
Once the group arrived to the cave area, Chandler inquired who in the group actually wanted to paddle into the sea cave. He reiterated the potential dangers of going into the caves via kayak. Relayed he would visualize the wave surges and let the individual know when to start paddling toward the cave entrance. As one can imagine, if a wave comes in to expeditiously, a kayaker could get slammed into the sea wall or over turned into the rocky inside of the cave. Yup, I still wanted to do it. Yup for Lynne as well. We’d already kayaked with sharks for goodness’ sake. LOL.
My entry into the cave:
Look at that skill set-LOL. It was more like, “I’m doing it. I hope there isn’t a rogue wave that is going to take me out”.
The “tour” was a paddle in, look around, maneuver the kayak around, observe the cool looking exit of the cave, snap a photo (mine was blurry, likely from my rush not to be killed or maimed) and paddle out (still crossing fingers not to experience a rogue wave the majority of the time).
Ahhhh, made it out. The adrenaline was pumping and it was a super enjoyable experience! Lynne and the rest of the group who participated all enjoyed it and made it in and out safely as well.
Chandler updated that we were going to “kayak surf” back to the beach to finish up our tour. Basically, start paddling and then once a wave comes up behind the kayaker, it then turns into riding the wave back to the beach in the kayak. No paddling involved on that part of the trip.
My turn came up and the paddling began. I remember visualizing the kayak on top of the wave and obtaining an understanding of what surfing might feel like. I liked that! But then, I can still see it now, visual slow motion took over as I observed the front of the kayak starting to turn toward the left….Shit, I’m going over! Yup, I was correct.
Flipped right over and fell out of the kayak while upside down. Came back up from under water like a champ while somehow holding my sunglasses and the paddle. I was thrilled I purchased the waterproof phone case (and it didn’t choke me). I know you’re wondering, did she wish she got the wet suit? Nope, the water was fine for this Flipper.
Flipper