Things to Do in La Jolla

Through innovation and a passion for creation, Eleanor Burns revolutionized the process by which quilts are made. She cast off the shackles of scissors and templates for a more visceral approach that combines the ripping and stripping of fabric with an assembly-line approach to sewing. The new process brought an exciting speed to an activity once known for taking months and causing anyone who attempted it to grow a 4-foot beard. To spread the word and bolster the quilting community, she released her first book, Make a Quilt in a Day––Log Cabin Pattern.

Thirty years and 100 quilt books and patterns later, she continues to promote the art of the quilt and to improve the efficiencies of quilt construction. Along with a staff of fellow seamstresses, she began Quilt in a Day to further spread her message through simple and social classes filled with thorough and accurate instruction. Beginners can register for classes or attend a demo day, where refreshments fuel entertainment and scraps of fabric fly.

When twin sisters Izzy and Coco Tihanyi decided to pursue a career that combined their passion for surfing and their love of the ocean, their calling came in the form of starting Surf Diva. Before long, they were on course to becoming a lauded school for coed surfers in California and Costa Rica. Augmenting the pair's teachings is their team of certified instructors, all graduates of their school's intensive training program and certified in CPR and first aid. Committed to their expertise in surfing, many of the instructors also hold down careers as firefighters, paramedics, and snowboarders, granting them the combined know-how to put out beach bonfires with a casual backflip.

The team's instruction ranges from coed group lessons and competitive coaching sessions to two- or five-day women’s weekend surf clinics. When they're not teaching surfing, crew members commit themselves to alternative teaching programs in yoga and standup paddleboarding, helping surfers to conquer the water with their bodies as well as with their very buoyant hearts. The twins' Costa Rica program also helps women and families hone boarding skills abroad while becoming fully immersed in the Costa Rican culture.

Since the age of 7, Dr. Robert Stonebreaker shared a special affinity with all birds. Wanting to bring people closer to his feathered friends, he lent his passion to Free Flight in 1989, helping evolve the avian boarding-and-breeding center into a sanctuary where visitors could interact with the exotic creatures. Amid open air and emerald palm fronds, guests can let a yellow, orange, and green sun conure perch on their shoulder or pet a timneh grey while trading info on which local convenience store carries the best sunflower seed. The tropical oasis also teems with koi lagoons, where schools of shimmering carp swim under the flaps of eclectus parrots and fluffy white cockatoos soaring through the aviary.

Dr. Stonebraker tragically passed away in 2010, but the team at Free Flight has upheld his tireless work by fostering human-avian relations and furthering visitors' understanding of all birds. The bird keepers also encourage involvement through donation, membership, volunteer opportunities, and most notably, their adopt-a-bird program.

Photographer Daniel Woods can hold his breath for 3.5 minutes, which comes in handy when he has to grab an underwater shot. An avid outdoorsman whose accomplishments include a 22-mile kayaking excursion to Catalina Island, Daniel found his way to photography through the continual inspiration he drew from wild landscapes, particularly ocean coasts. And then he wondered: why should these landscapes be limited to models and athletes posing for magazines? With that, Daniel launched Beach Shoot to make these wild backdrops accessible to anyone seeking an adventurous photo.

His shoots—which he calls “personal ad campaigns”—venture to locations where beaches, sea cliffs, and trails abound. During these shoots, he paddles along with his subjects to snap portraits and action shots while they're kayaking, standup paddleboarding, or belly-flopping on the exact spot where Venus was born. He posts sample shots to his online portfolio, organized into categories such as adventure kayaking, wildlife encounters, and portraiture. He also uses these dramatic backdrops to frame marriage-proposal shoots.

A surfing high-school teacher sounds like the stuff of wacky summer comedies. But for Rob Dubin, a teacher and surfer of several decades' standing, it's long been a reality. After discovering the core-strengthening sport during a visit to Hawaii, Dubin added standup paddleboarding to his areas of expertise and founded SUPstanding Paddle to share its serene pleasures. He draws on time spent on the waters of Costa Rica, Java, and Morocco to help his students build confidence, increase balance, and identify the spot where dolphins most like to have their bellies rubbed with a paddle.

A crew of former athletes and passionate locals with a love for the outdoors wait beneath the bright-red awnings at each Bike & Kayak Tours location to guide more than 35 daily expeditions through the natural sights around San Diego. The 7 Caves and Ecological Reserve kayak tour sends paddlers on an expedition to a 75-million-year-old sandstone cliff with seven sculpted sea caverns that resound echoes in seven-part harmony. The La Jolla bike tour cycles past sightseeing destinations including the Pacific Beach Boardwalk and Crystal Pier. In the spring, snorkeling trips follow the seasonal migration of leopard sharks as students paddle in the shallow waters of the sandy flats with harmless predators.