Bike and Kayak Tours — La Jolla — Attraction in San Diego

I was not originally going to write this review but I keep receiving text messages from the business asking me to, so here we go. This was kind of a conflicting experience. While I enjoyed my time kayaking La Jolla Cove and Danielle who we dealt with at the front desk was extremely nice, I’m pretty unhappy with how things ended off. Halfway through our kayaking my girlfriend noticed she kept being scratched on her hand by something when she would paddle and found a completely exposed screw pointing up on the right side of her kayak where the seating is attached. See the attached picture. This was already pretty annoying for her to deal with on her way back in, having to avoid the screw every time she paddled. As we came back on in, a wave hit her near the shore and her kayak tipped, when she tried to hold on to the kayak she accidentally put her hand on the screw which ended up leaving her with a small deep gash on her palm. We notified their staff on the shore and one of the guys cleaned her wound and said how sorry he was, but that was it. When we returned to the store to return our life vests, no one at the store was notified of the incident. All we were offered was an “incident report” and some band aids. No sort of refund was offered, not even half off considering the kayak my girlfriend was given literally ended up wounding her. This was clearly not her fault as you’re not even given a chance to look over your kayak, the staff on the beach pick your kayak and rush you off into the water. In my opinion, this is a huge oversight on their staff and a lack of care for their customers. On top of what we already paid for renting the kayaks, my girlfriend had to also pay $300 for a doctor to look at the wound and to be given a tetanus shot. What was supposed to be an enjoyable experience turned into a hefty urgent care bill with absolutely no accountability coming from the manager or staff. All we got was an “Oh wow sorry this happened, here fill out this report. Do you need more bandaids? No? Okay have a nice day.”. In my opinion the situation was not handled professionally, and the staff seemed unequipped to deal with situations like this. Would not rent...

I booked a tour, received a confirmation, and showed up on the scheduled date. When I arrived, they asked to see my confirmation, which I provided. After about 10 minutes, I was told they never received my booking and that there was no room left on the tour. I was given the option to either be refunded or rescheduled.

To say I was disappointed is an understatement. My boyfriend had traveled from far away, and we had specifically planned to be on this kayak tour at that date and time. I cannot understand why I received a confirmation if they could not accommodate us, and why no one reached out to let me know before we showed up.

I was told we would receive compensation, but when I asked what that would be, I was offered “free lockers.” Neither the confirmation email nor the website mentions lockers or the need to rent them, so this felt irrelevant and unhelpful. I paid full price for a tour and had to rearrange plans to return for the rescheduled date the following day.

During the tour, I became seasick about 30 minutes in. While I recognize this was my own issue, I was disappointed with how the employees handled the situation. I asked our guide what I should do, and she said I could return to shore but that she could not escort me. She assured me their employees would see me and help pull me in once I reached the beach. However, when I arrived, no employees assisted. My boyfriend had to jump out of the kayak, pull me in through the waves, and ended up soaked head to toe. No one asked if we were okay or why we had returned early. We simply returned the gear and left.

I wish I could say this was a good experience, as I had such high hopes for it, but the customer service was extremely disappointing. I do want to note that our tour guide herself was great, but overall I did not feel satisfied or properly compensated for the inconvenience and...

We booked the kayak tour during our short weekend in San Diego because me and my fiancé love to kayak. I’m giving 3 stars because we did kayak, and our guides were decent, but a lot of things could be improved.

Firstly, their shop & getting ready area is filthy. We did the 11:30 tour, so maybe if you go earlier it’d be cleaner, but there is sand and water everywhere, and it smells foul. Don’t get me wrong, I get owning a kayak tour company means sand and water is part of the job, but any respectable business owner or employee would look at the mess in their shop and try to make it more presentable. Not to mention there is really no where to put your stuff while you’re are trying to get prepared for the tour besides the changing room or bathrooms - both equally gross.

Also, upon reflection this business is what I would call a tour “mill” : only employs unserious college students as guides, packs in as many tour groups as possible back to back causing rushing, and their gear especially their paddles are used and abused and not in great condition.

Finally, while I appreciated our actual tour guide, when coming in they are supposed to help you “kayak surf” onto shore using other guides stationed at the beach. Well, the person supposed to bring me in wasn’t prepared, fell, and didn’t get to me in time causing me to capsize and get soaking wet (ruining my later day plans). While I get mistakes or accidents happen, the fact this person told me afterwards “sorry about that, I’m the worst one at this” wasn’t exactly comforting (why let someone have the responsibility if they aren’t good at it?).

Overall, I judge my review and businesses based on if I’d go back & if I’d recommend it to others, and in this case I’d do neither. It’s a very basic, run of the mill kayaking tour and I feel you could find more...