What Makes Our Trips Different?

Outstanding Service and Attention to Detail  --  from booking your vacation until your last meal in town, BWK's staff is there to assist you with every detail of your trip.

Who we are – Blue Waters Kayaking is a full service sea kayaking company based in Northern California on the Point Reyes National Seashore area just north of San Francisco.  We offer rentals, tours and sea kayaking classes, and we serve thousands of satisfied customers each year. Our staff are highly skilled, highly trained professionals who are dedicated to providing the highest level of service. Out clients come to us with all levels of sea kayaking experience. We introduce many of them to the sport of sea kayaking and teach intermediate and advanced sea kayaking to improve their skills over time.

The Highest Standards in Safety – At Blue Waters Kayaking, safety is our highest priority. Over the years, tens of thousands of people have been served by our programs and we continue to have an outstanding safety record. We hold our Baja guides to a high standard of first aid training: Wilderness First Responder, or higher. Some are EMTs. Our senior guides have been leading wilderness trips for 20 years and more, and have achieved a high level of training and competence. You will be inexcellent hands.

Established Record – Blue Waters Kayaking has been leading Baja trips and teaching kayaking for over 20 years. We are recognized as leaders in the industry, and are well known in the Northern California kayaking community and beyond.

The Location of our Whale Camp – Our whale camp is perched on an island at the entrance to the Mangrove Estuary.  We are the only camp facing west, in full view of the lagoon's entrance and the setting sun. During the day, you can see the whales surfacing and spouting from our camp. On calm nights, you can hear them breathing. The Mangrove offers a scenic backdrop, protection from the winds, and incredible opportunities for kayaking and birding.  Dolphins swim by our camp both morning and evening, hunting the myriad and abundant fish that inhabit the estuary.  Four species of heron are commonly seen. Some species like the Green and Yellow Crowned Night Heron are quite rare in the U.S., but are commonly seen here.

Our Naturalist Guides are Professionally Trained – Blue Waters Kayaking has a longstanding tradition of employing kayak guides who are also professionally trained naturalists. Our guides have a wide range and depth of experience as naturalists doing teaching and fieldwork. Among our lead guides this year is Chris Starbird - with a Masters degree in Marine Science from Moss Landing Laboratories - and Jennifer Pironis, a trained veterinarian. They will share with you the knowledge that they have synthesized over many years of study that can help to open you to the secrets of the natural world. Your week with them will be a special treat and an educational experience that is second to none.

Great Food – At our Mag Bay base camp, we have a local chef named Lala who cooks delicious home-cooked Mexican meals with skill and a good measure of love.  We pride ourselves in providing nutritious, healthy food of the highest standards on all of our trips. We cater to all food needs and sensitivities, and there is always a vegetarian option available at every meal.  People universally rave about the food on our tours.

Expert Instruction – Our Baja guides are also highly qualified and experienced sea kayaking instructors who love to teach. All of our guides are  ACA-certified instructors and/or NOLS trained, and are drawn from our sea kayaking school in Northern California.  We are the only outfitter to offer this level of instruction on Baja sea kayaking trips.

Single Kayaks Available – As part of our program of offering skills training on our Baja sea kayaking tours, we make single kayaks available to participants, something no other Baja tour company offers.  The opportunity to enhance your skills in single kayaks with our expert instructors adds a special dimension to the trip.  If the wind picks up and groups from other tour companies wait on the beach for a break in the weather, we put on our wetsuits and turn it into a training day. Every day is a great day on a Blue Waters Kayaking Sea of Cortez tour!

First Class Equipment – All our equipment is first rate.  We take the best gear from our Northern California operation to outfit our Baja tours.  All our boats are recent models, well-maintained and in good repair.  All spray skirts and PFDs are clean, new and well-fitting. We offer light-weight paddles from Aquabound Technologies and Lendall Paddles.  We even have a few bent-shaft paddles for those with wrist problems or who just want to try one out. From pumps and paddle floats to tow lines, be assured that all our gear is new and of high quality.

No Hidden Costs – Many other companies charge extra for things like Park fees, wetsuit and snorkeling equipment, etc.  At BWK aside from well-deserved tips for your guides and two dinners in town, there are no extra expenses from the time you set foot in Loreto to the time you leave.

Featured in the Media:  Blue Waters has been featured on the web at MSNBC, in print articles at Sunset Magazine and Adventure Sports Journal, and on TV with Barbecue With Bobby Flay, Bay Area Back Roads, and The Great Outdoors with Tom Stienstra.