2-Hour Kayak or Paddleboard with Sea Lions in Marina del Rey
Description
Enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of beautiful Marina del Rey marina while kayaking or standup paddle boarding. Discover unique sail and power boats and spot local wildlife (sea lions, dolphins and a big variety of birds). Our kayak/SUP tour takes a responsible approach to tourism and environmental stewardship. We're proud to offer a 100% sustainable way to explore Marina del Rey's natural beauty.
Tour Options
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
Reviews(63)
Good communication for directions and meet up. Our guide, Elvis, was so friendly and knowledgable. We saw lots of sea lions and sea birds and boats. Would highly recommend for a relaxing SoCal outdoor activity.
It’s not at all worth the money. This more of a self guided tour rather than tour guided. I was hoping for some history or some fun facts. We saw very few sea lions and they were just sleeping on the back of boats. This booking made it seem like we would be interacting with the animals or they would come close to us. We were only on the water for 1 hour. Very disappointing.
We’re sorry the experience did not meet your personal expectations, but we would like to clarify that this is a responsible wildlife-viewing experience - not a zoo or an animal encounter. Sea lions are wild animals, so their location, behaviour, and level of activity can never be guaranteed. Approaching, touching, feeding, chasing, or otherwise disturbing them is neither appropriate nor permitted. We respect the animals and always observe them responsibly from a safe distance. Nowhere in our listing do we promise that guests will interact or play with sea lions, or that the animals will approach the kayaks. Interestingly, another guest from the same group left a five-star review describing the guide as excellent, noting that they saw multiple sea lions, including families, took excellent photos, and had a great time. This demonstrates how differently guests may perceive the very same experience. We are sorry that you were expecting a closer animal encounter, but that is not something an ethical wildlife tour can or should promise. We strongly encourage guests to read the full experience description before booking to ensure that the activity matches their expectations.
Excellent guide, we saw multiple sea lions including families. We were able to get close and get excellent photos. We had a great time!
It was an amazing experience! I had never been kayaking before and was a bit nervous. Elvis was very reassuring and helpful and made me very comfortable. It was my best friends birthday so 5 of us decided to try this. We had a blast and got to see a few sea lions and learned the basics of kayaking. I would definitely recommend this adventure! 🙌🏽🙌🏽
The tour guide Tyler was very nice and respectful. He made sure we all felt safe and had fun. The sea lions were lovely to see and it wasn’t too warm or cold!
Kayaking around the marina was a great way to spend time on the water and get a great view of all the boats. Our guide was very friendly and patient with a first-time kayaker, but when I choose to pay for a tour over self-guided, I expect to hear stories, anecdotes, lore, information, history, and/or fun facts about the area we are visiting. Our guide had three trivia questions.
Hello there, Thank you so much for joining us on the water and for sharing your experience. We’re glad to hear you enjoyed kayaking around the marina and that our guide made you feel comfortable as a first-time kayaker. We also appreciate your feedback about the tour content. Our goal is to provide not only a safe and enjoyable paddle but also to share engaging stories and insights about the marina and its history. We’ll be sure to pass your comments along to our team so we can enhance the experience with more fun facts and local knowledge. We truly value your input and hope to welcome you back for an even more memorable and informative adventure next time!
Group of 5 enjoyed this fun, relaxing tour of Marina and saw plenty of sea lions. Four took single kayaks and one double. Tyler was a knowledgeable guide.
This trip was a fun trip around the harbor to see Sea Lions. We saw many. As long as you are in great shape, you will love it.
I did not see all the seals that were advertised that I would see. The guide, Tyler, left me a couple of times and then when I asked where all the seals were, he’s like there’s some over there. Did you get enough views of the seals sarcastically. Then he was sure to try to get his tip by asking everybody as they got off the kayaks to open their Zella accounts or Venmo to tip him and add him. It was just a kayak tour around boats, and I did not see all the seals that were advertised in the brochure online
Hello Vanessa, Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us. We’re very sorry to hear that your tour did not meet your expectations, and we sincerely apologize for the disappointment. While we do often encounter seals in the marina, they are wild animals and their presence can never be fully guaranteed. That said, your feedback about how this was communicated is important, and we’ll be reviewing it with our team to make sure guests have the right expectations. We’re also concerned to hear about your interaction with the guide and the way gratuities were requested. This is not the standard we set for professionalism, and we will be addressing it directly with our staff to ensure it doesn’t happen again. We truly value your input, as it helps us improve our service, and we hope we’ll have the chance to provide you with a much better experience in the future.
This was a fun way to spend 2 hours on a beautiful July day in the marina. We did see sea lions, and were able to get somewhat close to them without causing a ruckus. However, what we mostly saw were boats. Docked boats, boats coming in and out of the marina, and children learning how to sail in tiny sail boats. A friend of mine was in from out of town, and we decided this would be a cool activity to try that neither of us had ever done before. I will say that our guide really didn't tell us much. He pointed out sea lions, but was definitely not a naturalist or a historian. He didn't tell us any interesting facts about sea lions, and only gave us a few facts about the marina. We spent about 1 hour paddling out toward the breakwater, and then an hour coming back. Most of that time was just casual conversation. It was a pleasant time, but not a learning experience. So if you are hoping to learn a lot, this may not be the activity for you. But If you were new to paddle boarding, like us, then at least you have an experienced person with you to help if something goes wrong. There was a wind blowing us out of the basin, so going out was easy. Coming back in required a lot more effort due to the wind resistance. You definitely want to be in some physical shape. One thing to note is there not a place to store things, but the guide was in a kayak, and he carried our shoes and our bag. We did get a little wet from boat wakes, but did not really need towels. We left most of our things in the car, and I put my car keys and phone in a wet bag. Sunglasses and a hat are good on a sunny day. Overall a fine experience.
