Adventures By The Sea — Local services in Monterey

First, the positives (there are many!): It was easy to book our 2 hour kayak tour, and our family of 4 were the only ones there, so we got individualized attention. Our guide (Anne?) was very nice and seemed to know a lot about the wildlife in the area. We saw so many adorable otters, seals, and sea lions. They provided "splash guard" pants and jackets, life jackets, and towels at the end. The man who helped launch us and receive us back at the end was great - it's so impressive how well he can read the waves!

And the not-so-positive: While our guide was friendly and knowledgeable, she spoke so softly that most of the time we couldn't hear what she was telling us. When I asked her a question I had to repeat it 4 times before she could hear me (shouting by the 4th time), but somehow she still continued speaking to us as if we were standing next to her in a quiet room rather than across windy waters. We never quite knew what our guide was doing, as she didn't communicate her next steps to us (or perhaps we couldn't hear her?). About an hour in, we approached the area where we had started. There was clearly rain coming our way, so we thought she might ask us if we wanted to keep going or turn in early, but she just started paddling away in the other direction. As we watched the rain get closer we became worried but she never even turned around to us. Then the rain started, and it poured. She didn't turn around, but before long one of my children was sobbing (it was early April, so a cold rain). I had to chase her down in my kayak to tell her that we needed to turn back around and go in.

Overall, we loved seeing all of the animals, but couldn't recommended to someone to come back here, at least not with the same guide. Even afterwards, she never seemed to realize what a negative experience it had become. After we dried ourselves off, we couldn't even find her, and we had to give our tip to another staff member to...

My GF and I decided to rent a pair of electric assist bikes to cruise the Monterey, Sand city and Pacific Grove areas while vacationing in carmel. After checking prices, reviews and location, we decided to walk into Adventures by the sea (ABS) in Monterey at canery row. We arrived, signed waivers, put a payment card on file, picked helmets and went outside to pick what style of bikes to ride. We chose the beach cruiser style for comfort and we were both happy with the comfort sitting up gave us. We were given great instruction, tips relating to our ride and how best to use the power assist levels for our journey. In 15 minutes we were off enjoying the views and having fun. I found the bikes easy to use, fun, the assist was perfect and the option to use a throttle lever was awesome, making the ride easy and enjoyable. My girlfriend had no previous experience with an electric assist bike, or a bike in a very very long time. She was timid and careful to start, but She was a pro again in no time and had a blast. We rode consistently for almost 2 hours, I used the throttle and let the bike do all the work. It got up to 20 MPH and accelerated great(260 pound, 6 foot 2 tall guy). The battery power level dropped 25 percent right at the end of our ride. When I return to the area with my son in the future, I'm going to suggest we rent from ABS and ride to 17 mile drive, I cant wait.

The price, the welcoming staff that were knowledgeable of the product and the ease of the whole process, made the trip a highlight of our...

Service was great. E-Bikes were old and unsafe. The rear brake on my wife’s bike didn’t work at all and front brake pads squealed to high heaven. She almost crashed in sandy area since only had (marginal!) front brakes. The insult came when we returned and we noticed they had dozens of brand new models of the same bikes, and yet chose to give us unsafe bikes. One bike had almost 12,000 miles on it and the other 9,000 miles. What responsible bike rental business would rent these? The weather was chilly and windy, so we were one of only a few renters that day and still…

Responding to your reply: We DID point how bad the bikes were when we were leaving, and your staff replaced my bad bike with another bad bike. We just gave up. My wife was too nice to complain. She was not in the sand, she was on a bit of sand on the road. Her brake pads were completely gone. He had plenty of opportunity to make it right and chose not to. The rear brake cable was so stretched it could not be adjusted. Who rents such death traps?? We DID call to get advice when bike went dead. NO rental company should keep bikes more than one year. I asked my local bike shop and they said they should be replaced yearly ESPECIALLY if there are THOUSANDS of miles each year. He said they were likely many years old with 12k miles. And no attempt to refund our money. Do...