La Jolla Snorkel Rentals and Tours — Local services in San Diego

Just wanted to share my experience renting snorkel gear from here, and hopefully give some constructive feedback to the shop.

I think they need to really step up their safety protocol, and give more thorough instructions with their customers, especially those not as experienced snorkeling in the ocean, and those not from the area.

I rented snorkel gear from this shop, and they showed me a video which recommended a close-by beach for snorkeling, and how to get there. In the video, they make the beach seem completely safe, and snorkeling would be no problem.

No safety walkthrough. No instruction on how to use equipment. No life jacket. No warning of rip currents.

Once I get to the recommended beach, within 10 minutes of swimming, I’m caught in a rip current, and swept very far from shore. I attempted swimming back, but was making no progress. I came very close to drowning. I’m very lucky there were lifeguards at that beach. I had to call for help, and the lifeguards saved me.

After talking to the lifeguards, they said that they think that particular beach can be too much for beginners, and would only recommend for advanced swimmers. Something that would’ve been nice to know beforehand.

Once returning to the shop, physically and mentally exhausted, I mentioned what happened, and was told it would have been better “if I also rented a wetsuit, because they help you float”, something that was not explained to me when first renting.

I don’t want anyone else to go through what I went through, and really hope this shop improve in some areas, such as:

asking customers their experience level recommending proper equipment, based on that experience level mentioning the rip currents, and what to do if caught in one having life vests as an option, not just wetsuits which are not as buoyant...

Madison is an awesome tour guide! She was very knowledgeable and willing to work with beginners. Do the tour if it's your first time snorkeling. Recommend good water confidence before attempting and knowing your limits. 🌊

Walked in for snorkels/wetsuits on a Saturday and got lucky enough to run into a tour group about to head out. The space is cramped and some wetsuits had holes, but for $35 you get a wetsuit/snorkel/flippers for 3hrs-- a great deal! But had a confusing security...

This is your typical tourist shop outpost for La Jolla.

They have a great selection of items but the prices are all more than the normal gift shop that you would expect. Instead of getting deals like two T-shirts for $15 each T-shirt is probably $15-$20.

They did have lots of small trinkets for the kids to look through that were in between the price range of six to $10 which was nice.

We didn’t get anything for us as there was a gift shop down the road that was much...