Amanda Salinas

Review of La Jolla Kayak

My family and I attempted to do the Leopard shark ...

My family and I attempted to do the Leopard shark snorkel excursion and I was not a fan at all! I am writing this review for all the first time snorkelers and parents because when I was researching I didn't find enough reviews. Before I made reservations I called a billion times and asked all sorts of questions, I told the staff that it was the first time all of us would experience snorkeling and she assured me that the staff would walk us through it all and be by our side until we felt comfortable enough in the water, this was far from what we experienced. Initially the staff seemed super friendly and gave us all our equipment which included: snorkel mask, fins, and the option to wear a wet suit. I don't remember both of our tour guides names but I do remember one being Emily, only because that is the name of one of my sisters. We walked about a block and a half to the beach and upon our arrival the staff gave us one tip to put our fins on and walk backwards into the water and left everyone on the beach and jumped in the water. I was stunned, they didn't allow any time for questions, there were multiple people in our group still on the beach and not once did they ask if anyone had any questions or anything they just left everyone. From what the operator told me when I called I expected them to walk us through everything, such as tips for how to use the snorkeling mask, how to use the fins and guide us into the ocean not just leave us on our own to fin for ourselves. When we finally got all our gear on we all went into the ocean and kept getting knocked over by the waves, the water was pretty rough and the fins don't make it easy to walk into the ocean at all. I felt panicked as a parent, as the waves were going over our heads and we were walking backwards and thank god we all wore life jackets. After about 30 minutes of trying to get to the deeper part of the water where the rest of our group was my mother, son and myself finally walked back to the shallow area of the beach and threw in the towel. Our reservation was for one hour but Emily approached us about 20 minutes before the end and asked how everything was going and when I mentioned I felt like I didn't know what I was doing she did offer to help me get back in the water but by that point I was done so I politely declined. There was another young boy maybe 9 or 10 with his father in our group who made it out to the deeper end of the ocean and he even said the water was too rough and for a moment he didn't feel confident himself when he was trying to get to the deeper end. He told me he recently went to Hawaii to snorkel two weeks prior and the water was clear and calm and it was a beautiful experience but he was also dissatisfied with his experience. He said he couldn't see anything other than seaweed because the water was too murky. He also mentioned it was a waste of his time and money and left about 20 minutes early. I would not recommend this tour for young children or first time snorkelers at all. I would recommend that you buy your own snorkel mask and fins and practice in a pool so that when you do go snorkeling you feel confident! I hope this review was helpful!