A collection of travel and adventure stories

Mendocino Sea Cave Kayaking

Description and Directions >>

Description:
There are various sea caves located along the Mendocino Coast of Northern California. Some of the easier caves to access are located near Van Damme State Beach, which is located off of Scenic Highway 1. A 2-hour sea cave tour is given by Lost Coast Kayaking, who has a setup right in the parking lot at Van Damme Beach. For more information see http://www.lostcoastkayaking.com.

Activities:
kayaking, caving, diving, picnicking, sightseeing

Directions:
Van Damme State Park is 150 miles north of San Francisco. Allow 4 hours driving time from the Bay Area. To get to Mendocino from the Bay Area, take Highway 101 North. At the town of Cloverdale (30 miles north of Santa Rosa, in Sonoma County), take Highway 128 West; follow 128 west to the coast. At Highway 1, go north to Van Damme State Park. The entrance to the beach is on the left.

Story Date 9/21/2003
Publish Date 4/6/2004

Story Perspectives >>

According to Mikala : We had never explored sea caves by kayak before, so we decided to take a 2-hour tour provided by Lost Coast Kayaking. They have a setup (with kayaks and gear) located in the parking lot of Van Damme Beach. We were able to use our own kayaks for this trip, but borrowed wetsuits and helmets from them.

Our guide was very friendly and knowledgeable...getting a feel for the experience (or no experience) of each of the kayakers. We headed toward our first cave. At first, I had no clue where we were headed, since I couldn't see any openings in the sea walls. Then I could see it when we got closer, but I was wondering if I would be able to get my kayak through. After some instruction by our guide, we all made it through fine. It was an exciting experience to be inside the cave, with the water flowing up and down with the waves. The walls were so close and the inside was very cool.

After the first cave, we headed to a blowhole in a large sea rock. I got to kayak right up to the wall and was blasted with water after the wave hit the blowhole.

We headed to another sea cave, but this one was narrower than the other we had gone through. This involved more timing on our part to make sure the wave wouldn't carry us up to the roof of the cave (and us hitting our heads).

This was definitely a great experience. The Mendocino Coast is very beautiful, and being able to see inside the sea caves was terrific.

According to Pilipo : This was a lot of fun. A two hour tour took us through 4 caves off the coast at Van Damme Beach. Lots of kelp to get through!