Animals & Wildlife
Our local nature tours and multi-day camping trips are a great way to get up-close-and-personal with many types of wildlife.
Our quiet, slow-moving kayaks help us get to out of the way places not always accessible by land.
Read through the following kayak trips and tours to find the one that fits you best.
3-hour Green Sea Turtle Discovery Tour
Join us for this wonderful nature tour by kayak in San Diego Bay. 
We will visit the northernmost habitat of the Eastern Pacific Green Sea Turtle. We have the most sightings during the winter months when the sea turtles are feeding in the local eel grass beds.
This is also the time to see hundreds of migrating birds that travel through or to San Diego to escape the winter cold. We typically see Black Brant Geese, Canada Geese, Snow Geese, Lesser Scaups, Surf Scoters and White Pelicans.
We also see our local resident birds: Ospreys, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Brown Pelicans, Buffleheads, and Western Grebes.
Our quiet, slow-moving kayaks will not disturb the turtles or the neighboring bird habitats.
Delicious3-hour Pelican and Sea Lion Kayak Tour on Mission Bay
Join us for this fun and easy 3-hour paddle on Mission Bay. This kayaking tour is appropriate for all ages, 2 to 102. No previous kayaking or swimming experience is required.
After an introductory paddling lesson we will explore the bay in our quiet kayaks to discover the many varieties of birds that live here, including Brown Pelicans. We will paddle by the nesting site of the Great Blue Heron on our way to a favorite playground of the California Sea Lions.
We make it easy for you to join us on this paddle. We provide all the kayaks and equipment plus an introductory paddling lesson. We use stable, comfortable kayaks that are easy to paddle for a safe, enjoyable trip in protected waters.
3-hour Sea Lion Kayak Tour on San Diego Bay
Join us for this fun and exciting tour by kayak on San Diego Bay.
We'll meet at Shelter Island for an introductory paddling lesson. Then we'll launch our kayaks for a beautiful tour of the bay traveling toward Point Loma.
Along the way we'll visit the bait barge where the local California Sea Lions hang out. We typically see many species of birds such as Brown Pelicans, Snowy Egrets, Double Crested Cormorants and Great Blue Herons.
We make it easy for you to join us on this paddle. We provide all the kayaks and equipment plus an introductory paddling lesson. No previous kayaking or swimming experience is required.
We use stable, comfortable kayaks that are easy to paddle for a safe, enjoyable day on the bay.
Bring your family and friends for an up-close-and-personal view of the California Sea Lions.
Birding Kayak Tour at Lake Murray
Saturday, January 9, 2010, 9am-noon
Sponsored by the San Diego Natural History Museum
Join us for a day of exploring Lake Murray, located in the San Diego River Park just east of San Diego. We see more different species of birds here than on any of the other lakes.
Dog Paddle on Mission Bay
Bring your 4-legged pals along for some fun and exercise on this kayak excursion across Mission Bay. 
After a brief session to get the dogs comfortable in the kayaks, and a quick paddling lesson for the humans, we will launch our kayaks to explore the Bay. After about an hour we land at the Fiesta Island leash-free area for a romp and playtime. After about 30 minutes of on-land fun we paddle back to our launch site.
Each session is 2 hours and is reserved just for you and your pup.
El Capitan Reservoir Nature Tour by Kayak
Join us for this great nature tour on one of San Diego’s largest lakes. Located in the rural hills east of Lakeside, the lake is known for its Wild Hogs that graze along the shoreline and Wild Turkeys that can be seen running through the tall grass.
It is a known nesting site for Spotted Sandpipers, Willow Flycatchers and Great Egrets. Bring your binoculars and see how many different species you can find.
Kayak San Juan Islands: Orca and Eagle 8-Day Excursion
Call to scheduled your dates
Experience the excitement of Orca whales while paddling the San Juan Islands. There is no route more inspiring than exploring the San Juan Islands. We paddle an average of 10 miles each day which gives us plenty of time to explore and relax.
This tour uses remote camps which will be our home each night. The camps offer a wilderness setting with the comforts of roomy dome tents and home cooking in the camp kitchen. All camping gear and meals are provided. All you bring is your sleeping bag, clothing and personal items. The San Juan Islands have a mild summer climate with daytime temperatures 60-70F and nighttime temperatures 50-60F.
Kayak with Glaciers and Whales in Southeast Alaska
Saturday, July 31 - Sunday, August 8, 2010
Only 10 spots available on this tour
You will experience two of our most popular trips for just one low price on this HUGE adventure. We have combined our whale encounter with our glacier tour. This trip is fully catered and all camping equipment is supplied. All you bring is your sleeping bag, clothing and adventurous spirit. Here is how our itinerary pans out.
Floatplanes will pick us up and fly west to Kupreanof Island, one of Southeast Alaska's premiere areas to view whales. The coastline offers miles of beaches and coves to explore by sea kayak. Humpback whales are only one of the many animals feeding in the rich waters offshore.
River otters search the beach looking for a dinner of crab and clams while bald eagles keep a watchful eye, searching for salmon returning to spawn in nearby creeks. For those interested in doing some land-based exploring, our neighbors include black bear, moose, deer, mink, and wolf. After each exciting day we'll spend our evening recalling the days events by a warm fire on the beach.
Laguna San Ignacio: Whale Encounter and Taste of Baja
Saturday - Thursday, March 13 - 18, 2010
Have you ever actually touched a whale? Here is the opportunity to really do it. The whales are comfortable with the Mexican fishermen so they come right up to the boats for some gentle head rubs. They really do want to communicate with us.
Here is how our trip lays out. We provide round trip ground transportation from San Diego. On the way south we travel along the stunning Pacific Ocean before we stop for the night in the beautiful boulder and cactus garden of Catavina.
Manatees and Mangroves in the Florida Everglades
8-Days/7 nights, January 1-8, 2010
This tour uses a cabin at a lodge, which will be our home each night. The lodge is located on a private island within the 10,000 island area. We will take shuttle boats out to the local islands and mangroves where we will be dropped off to explore in our kayaks. We will paddle an average of 5-8 miles each day.
Some days we will get dropped off on a white sand beach on one of the 10,000 islands and spend the day exploring the small keys in the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way we will encounter dolphins, sea turtles, white pelicans, and snowy egrets.
Morro Bay: 3-Day Memorial Day Weekend
Saturday, May 23 - Monday, May 25, 2009
Sponsored by the Valley Wide Kayak Club
Let's get out of town for the Memorial Day weekend and explore Morro Bay State Park.
We have reserved one campsite at the edge of the campground for the holiday weekend.
The park includes Morro Rock Ecological Reserve, the outstanding Morro Bay State Park Museum of Natural History, and the Heron Rookery Natural Preserve.
Nature Tour at Lower Otay Lake, San Diego County
Lower Otay is the home of the U.S. Olympic Training Center for rowing sports. The lake has 1100 acres of water and a 25-mile shoreline so there is lots of room for exploring. In addition to the Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons and Ospreys that live here, thousands of birds stop here during their annual winter migration. We watched a pair of peregrine falcons on our paddle here last year.
After in introductory kayak lesson, we will explore the lake looking for birds in our quiet kayaks.
Bring your binoculars and see how many different species you can find.
San Quintin Bay, Baja California
Memorial Day Weekend
Saturday, May 29 - Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Labor Day Weekend
Saturday, September 4 - Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Join us in exploring this Pacific bay only five hours south of San Diego.
We will camp on the beach of the outer bay and take day paddles to explore the historic features and unique geography of this area. From pristine white sand beaches to volcanic tide pools, there is plenty of exploring to do here. We will be sharing the bay with many varieties of marine mammals, birds and fish. Sea lions and dolphins play in both the inner and outer bays.
Workout in Nature: Search for Green Sea Turtles
Saturday, November 7, 1-4pm
Sponsored by the Magdalena Ecke YMCA
Join us for this wonderful nature tour in South San Diego Bay. We will visit the northernmost habitat of the Eastern Pacific Green Sea Turtle. We have the most sightings during the winter months when the sea turtles are feeding in the local eel grass beds.
