Did you know you can easily rent a Kayak or Stand Up Paddle Board (SUP) and within minutes be hanging out with Sea Lions? Well, now you do! While there are plenty of places to rent watersports equipment along Mission Bay (kayaks, SUP, jet ski’s, boats, pedal boats, etc.) there is a special hidden location where this takes you right to the sea lions who are always hanging out.
Sea Lions are amazing. If you are a dog lover, there’s something about a Sea Lion that makes you think of them as being giant water dogs. Of course, you don’t want to pet and snuggle them like you would a dog, but it’s just enjoyable to be in their presence.
Let’s walk you through how to get here, what to bring/prepare, and what you’ll see if you decide to take this awesome adventure! First off, this adventure is completely kid friendly, and you don’t need kayak or SUP experience. They are easy to learn and figure out, and the beauty of this location is you don’t need to go very far at all to hang out with the Sea Lions.
To get there: Head on over to Mission Bay Sports Center which is right behind the Hyatt Regency in Mission Beach. You basically can walk right around the Hyatt and you’ll see the dock with a little stand for MBSC. Now, let’s show you what you’ll see, and at the end of this post we’ll give you more details so you are fully prepared to do this!
Once you are all set up in your kayak or SUP, just paddle straight out to a dock area you’ll see straight ahead. This is where the Sea Lions hang out. You can go out as far as you want along Mission Bay, or do what we did which is just circle around this dock, over and over again, squealing in delight every time a sea lion swam by us, under us or around us. It truly never got old!
On this day, the kids and I (Sydney brought her bestie) split 2 2-person kayaks. Sun was shining and it was just beautiful! You can see the tall Hyatt in the background and all the parked boats, we didn’t go far from where we rented them.
The sea lions bask on the dock, but what’s more exciting is that they are swimming all around the dock area. Several would just jump right in front of us, even swim right under the kayak! They are not scared of people, nor are they threatened. They just didn’t care that we were there and it made for a really fun experience.
As you circle around there are 2 yellow buoys that they piled on, so guaranteed spotting, and you can kayak right up to them.
And they would also bask on the dock.
We also went on another day when our extended family was in town. It was a cloudy day as you can tell from the photos, but still a blast. Sydney did the SUP with me hanging on the end of it. I thought she’d need a break and need me to take over, but she had no problem at all!
Grant and his cousin opted to do a 2-person kayak. It’s always best for the younger/smaller person to go up front.
Keep your eyes peeled because everywhere you look around this dock you’ll see a sea lion! Look at his cute little head! My niece wasn’t totally comfortable standing on her SUP at this point, so she just did it on her knees which worked out perfectly. So have no fear, you can do this too!
This guy dive bombed right in front of us!
They will swim right under you! Definite source of our giggles.
I want to cuddle them SO bad.
See those smiles? That’s my family who lives in Delaware thinking this is the coolest thing EVER!
Our crew just loved this! There’s another sea lion right in everyone’s path.
You can even do pedal boats. But I don’t recommend it. They are HARD. So hard. We couldn’t even pedal ourselves out there. These smiles were before we realized that! Stick with SUP or Kayak.
Well, I hope you are convinced this is something you need to do! Here’s some more detail to know.
- Location: Mission Bay SportsCenter, and you specifically want to go to the Hyatt Regency location they list.
- Price: The rentals aren’t too expensive. I hesitate to post prices as they can change, but they do take credit card or cash. You rent by time (e.g. 30 minutes, 60 minutes, etc.)
- Taking photos: To be able to safety capture your adventure on camera like we did, I highly recommend these simple and light
pouches. But don’t forget, if you tipped over, your camera would sink. So I added this
flotation device to it.
- Storing your things: I also recommend wearing a
water wallet to hold your valuables. You can keep some belongings at their desk on the dock, but of course always keep valuables on you. We have used these water wallets to rappel down raging waterfalls, snorkel, and everything else, and they hold up great and keep everything dry….keys, cash, credit cards, etc.
- What to wear/bring: as with any water sport, only wear what you don’t mind getting wet. You can wear bathing suits, and throw some lightweight shorts or shirts on if you wish. I recommend going barefoot and leaving shoes and flip flops at the dock. Be sure to sunscreen well, as you’ll be on the water and even on a cloudy day the San Diego sun can burn.
- Warning: Because this area is filled with Sea Lions and seagulls, we have to warn you…it really smells. There’s an overall stench as you circle around that dock, but one side in particular forces me to breath from my mouth. If you are highly sensitive to smells, you might consider kayaking and SUP’ing somewhere else without Sea Lions. I promise you it’s worth it, but just be prepared!
pouches.
water walletIf you’ve never done SUP or Kayak, I promise you this is an easy thing to pick up! The employees at MBSC are extremely nice and will help you with anything and everything. Family-friendly fun and memories that will last forever!
Do you have any more questions we can answer? Comments? Please share in the comment and we’ll get back to you!
