Sporty Adventures in San Diego: Surfing, Golf, Deep-Sea Fishing, Sailing & more

Move aside, surf gods ... it's time for surf divas to strut their stuff. When sisters Izzy and Coco Tihany founded their La Jolla-based surfing school for women more than a decade ago, they were ahead of their time in thinking that custom-made programs were the future—and they haven't looked back. Now known by female surfers around the world, the school offers private lessons for women as well as men, and runs a summer day camp sessions for 5- to 10-year olds, but Surf Diva's most popular programs are still its women-only weekend and 5-day clinics, offered year-round. Surf classes with the girls is a fun way to celebrate a bachelorette party, and co-ed classes are offered for corporate team buildingWith a minimum of three students per clinic, you won't receive the one-on-one attention of a private lesson, but you'll have a lot of fun—one thing Surf Diva guarantees. For two hours on Saturdays and Sundays, weekend sessions incorporate the basics of wave riding and a colorful introduction to the surfing lifestyle. For avid surfers, the divas occasionally arrange trips to wide the raves in Costa Rica. To really adopt a surfer chick vibe, stock up on the fab range of cool apparel and gear at Surf Diva's boutique or its online shop. Surf's up ladies!

Weekend clinics $165 per student; private lessons $82.50 per hour.

"La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club is a wonderful family destination," says Izzy Tihani, a sporty local insider and co-founder of Surf Diva surf school. "It's a member's-only club located on a private beach, and it has the only hotel located directly on the beach in the La Jolla area. It recently hosted the Davis Cup and has excellent tennis courts, a 9-hole, par-3 golf course, and great dining and children's activities." Tip: the club and all its activities and facilities are normally only open to members, but if you book one of the 98 rooms at the club's adjacent La Jolla Shores Hotel, you can play tennis and enjoy all of the club's amenities. The historic club, founded in 1927, boasts 12 hard-surface tennis courts—eight of which are lighted—a tennis pro shop, and a tennis program offering clinics and individual and group tennis lessons taught by USPTA professionals. Members and hotel guests can also use the club's roque court for playing croquet in the sand; a 75-foot-long heated swimming pool and two children's wading pools; a quarter-mile-long jogging path; and a children's playground.

Saltwater anglers looking for a new thrill need look no further than the waters off of San Diego, California, where you can go on intense, extreme fly-fishing trips in search of fierce Mako sharks! Join celebrity fisherman Captain Conway Bowman, or one of his team of experienced fishermen, for a gripping day-long or half-day excursion. Bowman is one of the world's first, if not the first, fishing outfitters to offer Mako fly-fishing charters. One reason he's pursued the speciality is because the Pacific Ocean in Southern California is home to just the right kind of size and temperament of Mako, and he's invented a clever and safe way to lure them to a fly rod, using super-fresh chum, and to catch and then release the sharks. Avid fishermen and women might know Bowman from his appearances on ESPN's "In Search of Flywater," and his hosting of "Dollar Wise Fly," currently aired on the Versus Network. His business partner is the equally talented saltwater angler Dave Trimble, who handles things when Bowman is off filming a show. If you're not quite up to wrestling a Mako shark as it does flips in the air, then you can go on one of Bowman's less extreme fishing trips for tuna, barracuda, dorado, bonefish and more. Sea kayak fishing trips and carp fishing in area lakes are also offered, as are fly-fishing lessons from time to time. NB: The Mako fishing season in San Diego runs from May through October.

Any golfer worth his or her nine-irons should know about Torrey Pines, one of the country's premier municipal courses with two of the best championship courses in California. Book well in advance if you want a tee time on either the North or South course, both set on a clifftop with stunning views of the Pacific Ocean, and next to the Torrey Pines nature preserve. (Or check into the Lodge at Torrey Pines, an upscale resort and spa near the 18th fairway, and you'll enjoy preferred tee times). The gorgeous, award-winning public club opened in 1957 with two, 18-hole courses designed by celebrated course architect William P. Bell, and in 2001 the South course was revamped by the equally famous Rees Jones, whose work on the 7,607-yard course helped it be chosen to host the 2008 United States Open Championship. Both courses are quite challenging, especially when wind, fog and occasional rains roll in. Additional facilities and amenities include a driving range, practice putting greens, a fantastic golf shop, lessons from pro instructors. After a round, settle in for drinks and dinner at the restaurant at the Lodge at Torrey Pines.

Sailing fans shouldn't miss the chance to hit the Pacific Ocean on an authentic America's Cup racing yacht.
The company owns two, 80-foot International America's Cup Class (IACC) racing yachts, akin to the Formula One racing machines of the yachting world—precision-engineered, single-hull vessels that are the fastest on the planet—and you can step aboard for an exhilarating cruise on San Diego Bay. They also offer trips on a magnificent replica of the original 139-foot yacht AMERICA, which began the America's Cup tradition back in 1851. The Dennis Conner's Americas Cup Experience, formerly known as Next Level Sailing, offers the chance to race, learn to sail or just relax on one of two racing yachts, Stars & Stripes or Abracadabra, as you take a two-hour sail around some of San Diego's most scenic harbor attractions. Help hoist the sails, take a turn at the helm—the touch steering is incredible—or just sit back and shoot the breeze. They claim their boats sail so smoothly, that you're guaranteed not to get seasick. Dennis Conner is a sailing legend, a four-time America's Cup-winning skipper, who earned the nickname "Mr. America's Cup, and who once raced on the Stars & Stripes. You can book Dennis to attend your own VIP sailing excursion, regatta or corporate event, or join him on his occasional "Dinner with Dennis" sunset cruises in San Diego Harbor. If you visit San Diego between late December and late March, be sure to take a whale watching trip on the AMERICA yacht, to see the annual Gray Whales migration to Baja, California.

"The backyard of the OEX location at La Jolla Shores is the gorgeous La Jolla Cove, an underwater ecological preserve that features the glorious Garibaldi, a protected orange fish that is the state fish of California," says Izzy Tihani, co-founder of Surf Diva, who recommends OEX for scuba lessons and excursions throughout San Diego. OEX also offers kayaking trips and lessons.

Come face to jaws with one of the most feared creatures on the planet on an extraordinary, 5-day long expedition to dive with Great White sharks at Isla Guadalupe, more than 200 miles off the coast of San Diego. "Isla Guadalupe is very remote, and it's one of the last places on the planet where you can find seven Great Whites tailing the foot of your vessel," says Patric Douglas, the founder and CEO of Shark Divers, who jokes that CEO stands for "Chief Excitement Officer." "To give you an idea of how uncommon that is, it would be as rare as walking into Central Park and finding a family of low-lying gorillas!" In case you're wondering—and I'm sure you are!—Patric says that in the nine years that his company has been in business, none of his clients have been hurt when shark diving. "It's very safe and is more like glorified snorkeling," he says. "The shark cages are only four-feet below the water's surface, and you don't need to be a certified diver. I've had eight year olds and eight-five year olds on my trips." From August to November, Shark Diver operates five-day voyages from San Diego to Isla Guadalupe, a volcanic island off the west coast of Mexico's Baja California, that's home to a large population of great whites and other rare marine life. During the all-inclusive trips, passengers live on an 80-foot-long boat and are "wined and dined." The crossing takes 20 hours each way, and the trip includes three days spent diving in specially designed shark cages, so you'll have ample time for viewing and photographing these incredible creatures. To learn more about all things shark related, check out the new Shark Divers Blog, which, to the surprise and delight of Patric, has become hugely popular, and now functions as "the voice of the shark diving industry." Holiday-goers in the Bahamas can join the company's outpost there for tiger shark dives, and with the Shark Diver partner in Honduras, you can descend 2,000 feet below the water's surface in a three-person submarine to get a close-up view of elusive six-gilled sharks—massive creatures that can measure up to 19 feet long.

Five-day trips from San Diego to Isla Guadelupe cost $3,100 per person, all inclusive.