Ocean and bay

Seal Tours

When you’re on a boat with wheels, you can tour both the streets of San Diego and splash through the bay without ever having to change seats. Similar to Duck Tours in other towns, this one — Seal Tours — is named to honor San Diego’s Navy SEALs and the seals you’ll see. During your 90-minute tour, the captain will narrate the sights, expounding on everything you pass by, from the history of military bases to the California sea lions sunning on the floating docks. Tickets are $19 for kids, $39 for adults, both rates a few dollars cheaper if you buy them online. 619-298-8687— Barbarella Fokos

So Cal Surf Dogs

In September the Helen Woodward Animal Center will host its tenth annual Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon at Del Mar dog beach. To help dogs prepare for the event, the animal center has teamed up with So Cal Surf Dogs to offer canine lessons in surfing and stand-up paddle boards throughout the summer. Each hourlong lesson ($45) provides a board and life vest in addition to instruction. They give dog owners a fun opportunity to see if their pets have any affinity for the waves, whether or not you do yourself (but you probably do). 858-756-4117 x350. — Ian Anderson

Boat in to Humphreys

For those who don’t have the cash to throw down on one of the eclectically curated shows of Humphreys Concert Series, look no further than the personal watercraft. Gain access (through legal means, please) to a boat, canoe, kayak, blow-up raft, yacht, what-have-you, and float over to Shelter Island. From there you’ll hear, maybe even glimpse, your favorite classic-rock band, smooth-rock legend, modern-day crooner, comedian, hip-hop outfit, new wave, or latin band. Shows run from May through October. Check the schedule for details and perhaps you’ll find the price of admission easier to handle than an oar. — E.V. Hepworth

Tuna Harbor Dockside Market

The term “fresh fish,” a local sea-urchin diver named Peter Halmay once explained, is in truth a measure of how long the catch has been dead. At the Tuna Harbor dockside market, not very. Seafood doesn’t get much fresher than buying it right off the boats from the fishermen who made the day’s haul. The inventory changes, naturally, but on any given Saturday you’re likely to encounter live sea urchin, rock crabs, thorny heads, and top snails along with live octopus and boat-frozen blue fin and yellowtail. Don’t worry about what to do with fish guts later — they will clean and filet your selections on the spot. 619-962-3056. — Dave Good

MANTA Wind & Water Sports

Enchanted Cove, Fiesta Island

Get your feet wet with kiteboarding and kitesurfing in the protected inlet of Enchanted Cove with MANTA Wind & Water Sports. A beginner package is geared toward open groups of three or more (age 12+) at $179 per person. Private groups of two to four people are $299 for everybody (add $100 for additional students). The four-hour lesson goes over how to set up gear, fly the kite, body drag, and hopefully stick a few good rides by the end of the day. Advanced classes include “Board Riding Made Easy,” “Riding Upwind & Jumping,” “New Equipment Orientation Class,” and more. 858-610-6000. — Chad Deal

Snorkel with sharks

Dive into the most spectacular beach diving site in Southern California: the Ecological Underwater Park at La Jolla Cove. Easiest — and cheapest ($70) — is snorkeling. You get to see orange damselfish (garibaldi), sheephead, lobster, rays, sardines, sea lions, seals. Maybe even leopard sharks, which congregate in shallow waters right in front of the Marine Room restaurant June through December. They’re friendly. Swimming with them is a thrill. So is swimming the giant kelp forests, but that’s usually a scuba affair. You can get certification surprisingly quickly, though, and it’s worth it to be able to penetrate this exotic world. 858-539-0054. — Bill Manson

San Diego Bay Beer Can Sailboat Races

In its 36th season, Cortez Racing Association and Silver Gate Yacht Club partnered again to present one of the largest sailing events in Southern California — the San Diego Bay Beer Can Series. The regatta starts promptly at 6 p.m., with over 100 sailboats of different sizes and classes gathering to participate — racing once each week — with the races divided by a boat’s rating. The starting area is near the center of Harbor Island, offshore of the 1/2-mile range markers, so Tom Ham’s Lighthouse is the perfect vantage point. Sails fly every Wednesday through August 5, except July 1. — E.V. Hepworth

The Living Coast Discovery Center

Housed within the 316-acre Sweetwater Marsh National Wildlife Refuge, the Discovery Center connects people with coastal animals and plants through exhibits and aquariums filled with moray eels, leopard sharks, and other San Diego marine life. Then through Raptor Row and Eagle Mesa, exhibits are devoted to resident birds. Finally, in the San Diego County Native Plant Gardens, you can get great ideas for low-water plantings. Finish with a 1½mile walking trail to the shores of San Diego Bay. Admission is $14 for adults, $9 for seniors and children; kids 3 and under are free. Open daily, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. — Deirdre Lickona

Kayak trash collection with Random Acts of Kindness/San Diego

RAKrs make themselves do things, like offering free hugs to strangers or giving passersby compliments or telling old friends what they mean to them, and continuing this every day for a week. The group was founded two years ago to “practice kindness and pass it on to others” and to “share ideas on how to be more assertive when people need a hand.” Being part of the group just makes these tasks easier, but others, like volunteering for a H20 patrol to collect waterborne trash from a paddleboard (June 13), or helping out at Beerfest (June 19) become fun get-togethers, too. See their meetup.com page. — Bill Manson