How to have a perfect day in San Diego in 5 easy steps

There is plenty to do in San Diego. I was just there for a week and I can confidently say that if you find yourself bored in America's Finest city (look it up, that's actually their nickname), that's on you. You can easily spend a day exploring Balbao Park with its Spanish Colonial architecture, 18 museums, countless gardens and one really famous zoo that I never got around to visiting. You can eat and drink to your heart's content while strolling around 19th century buildings in the Old Town district. Bonus points if you are there are night, when you will be surrounded by tour guides in Victorian costumes leading what I assume are spooky ghost tours. Wanna get your party on? Head to the Gaslamp District. Or, you can do as I did on this absolutely perfect day and leave San Diego.

Step 1.

Take advantage of the excellent public transportation. The same light rail that took me to the Mexican border for a visit to Tijuana also stops at the Old Town transit center. From there, it's a 30 minute bus ride to La Jolla. 

Step 2.

Contact La Jolla kayak and sign up for one of their tours. Preferably, sign up for the day you actually want to go, something I kind of failed to do. Luckily, they were able to change my Classic kayak tour reservation to the correct date.  The idea was that we would kayak in and out of a couple of coastal caves, but spoiler alert, thanks to the currents we were not able to get anywhere close to the cave entrances. I have to stress that we were not able to accomplish the basic premise of the tour and yet I'm still rating this day a 10 out of 10. 

Step 3.

Get lucky as fuck. Really there is no other way to describe it. As our guide, Hannah, gave her safety briefing, I couldn't help but notice that there was a significant amount of dolphin activity going on behind her. I'm sure she was relaying very pertinent information but the only thing I heard was the voice in my head screaming: Dolphins!!  Also, my actual voice, as I did yell this out, instantly costing her the focus of the entire group. 

As we kayaked out, the water was super calm and nowhere near as cold as I expected it to be. I hadn't wanted to take any chances so I rented a wetsuit but in retrospect, it wasn't really necessary on this sunny day. Hannah, who was fantastic, started by explaining the uniqueness of this protected ecological reserve. Below us there were kelp beds, reefs and sand flats providing home to a wide variety of fish and marine mammals. Right off the bat, we saw a bunch of leopard sharks, who were exactly as cool as they sound. The problem is that I had my phone in one of those waterproof cases around my neck. Anyone who can turn on their phone from within one of those cases and accurately aim it at something as quick as a leopard shark is a far better person than I. I had to content myself with nothing but memories (and a determination to go back with a gopro and scuba tank).

As we got closer to the caves, the current had picked up. In our midst we, had a family of very inexperienced kayakers (read: they were unable to go in a straight line and were simply ramming into everyone and everything in the ocean). It was clear we weren't going to be able to enter. It was disappointing but we did manage to hang out in an area full of sea lions, which is always a good thing. 

                             

 

 

As we made our way back towards where we started, our dolphin friends had returned. I'm pretty sure they'd brought company as they were simply everywhere. 

We stopped to watch them as they popped up whack-a-mole style in every direction. As I glanced over at Hannah, she had momentarily stopped sharing information and was perched on her kayak, phone in hand- no annoying case for her- filming the aquatic display . If there is one thing I have learned from this type of activity, it's that if the guide has their phone out, you are there on a very good day. This is not the norm. 

She later confirmed this. In her 8 months as a guide, she had never seen this many dolphins and the ones she had seen had no inclination to linger around the humans the way these did. As I said, being lucky af is always a good plan. 

Step 4.

Having had such a successful outing, we could have easily called it a day and returned to San Diego (see step 1) but there were still more sea lions to see. We followed the La Jolla walking trail over to the La Jolla caves. 

The path is a coastal trail with non-stop stunning views. Along the way, we encountered hikers excitedly pointing out the dolphins. I like to think I showed remarkable restraint in not boasting about my recent proximity to those very pods.

At the cove, it was all about the sea lions. They were sunning, swimming, barking and generally bringing their own brand of chaos to the rocky beach. 

                                             

We continued onto the children's pool, a small beach protected by a seawall. The wall may have been built with human children in mind but the beach has since been taken over by harbor seals, which is a marked improvement as far as I'm concerned. There were initially a beach full of them but the seals tend to be way more wary of people than their sea lion brethren. All it took was one irritating woman walking down the beach to chase 90% of them back into the ocean. Only the ones immediately by the wall remained. 

Step 5.

You are on an absolutely gorgeous stretch of beach. The sun is setting. Why would you possibly leave now? Nope, in this situation, you have no choice but to sit your happy self down and watch the sun dip into the Pacific Ocean. 

Once that is behind you- and only then- do you board the bus back to Old Town, where a cold beverage or two awaits. Also, ghosts. There may be ghosts awaiting you as well. With any luck, you will see a corseted guide with her phone out capturing some friendly phantoms in all their splendor. But even if that does not actually happen, you can still revel in the fact that you just had an absolutely perfect day.