NOT FISHING RELATED>>LJ Shores Caves
 

I was just wondering if anyone has any special advice for visiting the caves. My mom just flew in for a couple days and I have taken tomorrow off to spend with her. She wants to do something scenic and I figured I would take her to the La Jolla Caves. Problem is, I've only seen the tourists from afar and have never been anywhere other than the kelp. Can you paddle inside of them? Is there anything I should be worried about like my mom being slammed into the rocks? Any advice would be very much appreciated. Don't want to screw anything up and I would like to make this a really memerable trip for her. Thanks a lot in advance!!!

It is really fun and a super scenic paddle with tons of wildlife.

When you see the line of tourists waiting to paddle into the cave, go around them through the back entrance if the tide if right.

The trip is well worth it for those who have not done it.

Awesome thanks for the info. I'm just now starting to look at the itervals between waves on the data sheets. Says tomorrow should be an average of around 6 seconds. Wish is were longer for her sake, but oh well, it's the only day we can go.

I watched the tourist on tandems getting flipped in the LJ surf yesterday. I would suggest in these conditions to get her launched past the surf then follow in your kayak vs. trying it in a tandem.

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You can also visit them without getting in the water from above. There are stairs that go down there. I think the entrance is from the Cave Store.

Thanks for all the advice! I will have my mother in an Ocean Kayak Trident 11 which I have always found tracks straight while riding surf. My Hobie Revo always seems to want to turn to the left while riding the surf. I might just have us both get out when we get close to the beach and hold the kayaks in if she gets worried.

Just wanted to give an update and my appreciation to this forum. I took my mom out and got on the water right at low tide (9:14). I didn't want to go that late, but because of addicted2sp33d's comment I decided to give it a try. Best time to go bar none. ctfphoto said to go to the right of the tourists, so we did, and it was awesome. My GoPro abilities suck and I need to work on that, but the trip was amazing. Tons of leopard sharks and great clarity of water today. I got one weird looking creature on the bottom that I really can't identify but it was grey, wide like a ray, but had long tentacle looking things coming off of it's front almost like gigantic catfish whiskers. Wish my GoPro shots were better in times like these. Also, I decided to try sticking my feet in the water when riding the surf in at the end of the trip and I was completely stabilized. No turning to either side like usual and it couldn't have been a better trip for both myself and my mother. Thanks everyone!

Sound like a great trip, glad she had fun, it is a very special place.

I was on the water 10 hours yesterday in La Jolla and saw 100 dolphins, 1 whale, some rockfish but no YT.