The La Jolla Sea Caves

The seven caves, east to west

The cliff face between La Jolla Cove and La Jolla Shores — the stretch under Goldfish Point — holds seven named sea caves, wave-cut into sandstone of the Point Loma Formation, rock laid down roughly 75 million years ago. East to west they are: White Lady, Little Sister, Shopping Cart, Sea Surprize, Arch, Sunny Jim’s, and Clam Cave. (Order and spellings vary slightly between sources; “Sea Surprize,” with the z, is the commonly used form.)

They are close together but they are not interchangeable. Clam Cave, at the western end near the Cove, is the one kayaks can actually paddle into when conditions allow. Sunny Jim’s is the celebrity, because it is the only one with a back door.

Sunny Jim’s: the cave with a staircase

In 1902–03, a German engineer had a tunnel dug from the bluff down into the largest cave; today that tunnel — 145 steps, often damp — descends from The Cave Store on Coast Walk, a few minutes’ walk from the Cove. You pay a small admission at the shop and walk down into the cave’s mouth, looking out at the water from inside the cliff. The cave’s name comes from a cartoon character its opening silhouette was said to resemble.

It is short, mildly strenuous on the way back up, and not suitable for strollers or anyone who struggles with stairs. It is also the only guaranteed cave interior in La Jolla — no swell chart required.

Seeing the caves without entering them

From the water: kayak tours paddle the full cave line from the Shores; on calm days snorkel-combo trips float the cliff base. This is the classic view, and the wildlife — sea lions on the rocks, garibaldi below, pelicans above — comes with it. The kayak tour ranking compares every trip that runs the route.

From the land, free: the Coast Walk Trail runs the clifftop directly above the caves, from near The Cave Store toward the Shores. Twenty minutes, dirt path, railed overlooks, no ticket. From the trail you see the cave mouths cut into the cliff below and — through the gap the locals call the “kayak window” — the tour groups rafted up outside them.

The honest odds of paddling inside

Cave entry by kayak depends on swell, tide and weather, and no operator controls any of those. The working rule the guides use: Clam Cave, and only when the swell is under roughly 2–3 feet — which is why helmets are standard issue, and why mornings from spring through fall have the best record. If a listing implies guaranteed cave entry, that listing is overselling; the trip is still worth taking for the cliff line and the wildlife, but book it knowing what is promised and what is weather.