Kayaking La Jolla; Much More Than An Adventure

 Living near or traveling to San Diego's coast provides plenty of opportunities to enjoy fun on the water with family and friends. Rent a jet-ski or sailboat in Mission Bay or take a harbor cruise from San Diego's downtown waterfront. These activities are great, but fall slightly short from kayaking through one of San Diego's beautiful marine protected areas, like La Jolla's Ecological Reserve.
 Perhaps I'm bias, but combining the adventure of kayaking the pacific with sea life playing and feeding in their natural habitat, as well as captivating sites and information regarding La Jolla's rich underwater park and sea caves,  certainly mixes up a recipe for a vacation highlight. Not only will your family and friends be talking about it years to come, but hopefully we've ignited a passion for our beloved seas and all the living creatures that reside in them.

There is a profound connection between us and the ocean:

The air we breathe -Ocean plants produce half of the world's oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide. They regulate our weather and aid in cloud formation to bring us fresh water.

The food we eat -not only sea food, but kelp and algae are used in making a wide variety of foods including various dairy free products and frozen foods. They are also found in domestic pet foods to help nourish our beloved pets.

Medicines we take -there are various beneficial sea derived ingredients in medicines used to fight cancer, alzheimer's, heart disease, viruses, and various other diseases.

Our Jobs and Economy -One in 6 jobs in the united states is marine related and more than $128 billion in GDP annually results from ocean tourism, recreation, and living resources.

The Ocean and its' eco-systems play a huge role in our health and well-being.

Not only do our La Jolla sea caves and ecological reserve kayak tours shine light on our connection to our wondrous marine eco-systems, but our snorkeling tours, bike tours and guided hikes do as well.

Hike Bike Kayak tour guides are sure to bring you on an adventure, but will leave you feeling much closer to the sea. We strive to be stewards of the ocean and inspire all who join us to share ocean awareness with others.

Kayak Tour Updates

A few Sea Cave Kayak Tour and Whale Watching Kayak Tour updates for the month of February:

• Our Sea Caves Kayak Tours have encountered plenty of sea lion playing and feeding along the 7 caves and around the kelp forest.
• We've spotted a mother gray whale with her juvenile calf just outside the kelp forest. 
• It's Harbor Seal pupping season! Harbor seals with their newborn pups lounge along Children's Pool, napping and taking in the sunshine. 
• We've spotted 3 double crested cormorants, which is atypical to the usual brandt's cormorants that we see on the cliffs nearly year round. 
• Squat lobster (tuna crabs) on the rocks and shore. 

• On our kayak whale watching tours we've seen record breaking gray whale numbers. On one tour alone, we counted 22 whales!
• we've also encountered super pods of pacific white sided dolphin-one tour guide estimated 300+ 
• we've seen numerous spouts and flukes...and a total of 8 breaches.
• a pod of common dolphin swam around our kayaks just outside the kelp forest.
• as always, sea lion playing and feeding nearby.
• randomly spotted 2 leopard sharks heading in from our whale watch (unusual for this time of year)

Feb. 25th, 2015 from above Scripps Institute of Oceanography

Recaps Of Our Recent Whale Watching Kayak Tours

We've been seeing gray whales galore on our whale watching kayak tours for the past few weeks! So far this season up until today, 1,005 gray whales have been sighted off the coast of Southern California. This is 990 southbound whales, including approximately 39 calves, and 15 northbound whales already.

This past Saturday marked one of the most exciting whale watching kayak tours at Hike Bike Kayak. We counted numerous whales, with spouting, breaching, and spy hopping in the mix!

Breaching is a common behavior but we don't really know why one gray whale breaches at a particular time. There are a few hypothesis regarding a breach...It can be used as a method for stunning prey. Also, to communicate ("Here I am!"), power demonstration, or perhaps playfulness. Due to gray whales having so much whale lice (3 different species) they can get extremely itchy, so they might breach to dislodge some of those pesky creatures on their backs. Some gray whales stop along their migration to rub on sandy substrates, like off of Zuma beach, CA...which can help rid them of their lice. Sadly, some may breach to try and free themselves from fishing net entanglements. Humpback whales have been seen breaching multiple times in a row after freeing themselves from a net, most likely to test their bodies to make sure they are free, and also for the sheer relief of it.

Here is a close-up video of a breach one year ago today, off the coast here in San Diego!

Imagine being in a kayak and recording this great footage on your go pro or other camera!!