This post isn’t going to be about the destination. It’s about the journey.
And by that I mean the destination was a little underwhelming lol
Ya’ll know me… [or maybe you don’t and this is your first dose] but I’m going to tell it like it is. I’m not going to write a blog post about this “ammmmaazinngggg” place if I, personally, didn’t find it amazing. So let’s get into it and you can decide for yourself!
taken by our guide, Andre!
Destination Details
David and I booked a kayak tour of Emerald Cave. Only an hour from Vegas, you can find Emerald Cave on the Arizona-Nevada border, in the Lake Mead Recreation Area along the Colorado River.
Emerald Cove got its name from the green hue of the water. This is due to the algae that reside along the rocks and near the water.
The best way to explore Emerald Cave is by kayak tour. Most tours are limited to 15 people max. My husband and I booked our tour through a company called River Dogz.
screenshot taken from https://www.nps.gov/lake/planyourvisit/maps.htm
Let’s Get Into It
We chose to do the half-day tour, which is 4 hours. We met our guide at Willow Beach Marina. Willow Beach is located on the Arizona side of the Colorado River between Lake Mead and Lake Mohave. Both lakes are part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area administered by the U.S. National Park Service.
If you’re staying in Vegas, there’s an option to be picked up from your hotel for an additional charge, but we just drove ourselves to the meeting point. *FYI: You’re going into a national park, so there is an entrance fee! I believe the fee was $25, but my husband and I have a National Parks pass so we didn’t have to pay this.
You really don’t need to bring much with you. Snacks, bottled water, and kayaking gear are provided.
Once we got to the beach, we were assigned kayaks and given life vests. If you’re going with a friend or partner, you have the option to do a tandem kayak as well. In total, the tour takes about 4 hours and is 4 miles out and back.
The length of the tour will depend on how big your group is and how fast everyone is moving. We only had about seven people in our group and were moving pretty slowly so it took us almost the entire 4 hours on the river.
Also, don’t stress if you aren’t an avid kayaker. The water is very calm and there’s no current!
You can expect an easy, chill ride on the Colorado River. About a mile into our journey, we stopped along a beach area to grab some snacks and water and take a short hike to snag a cute photo!
We also had the option to go for a swim at this stop. The water was beautiful and clean but it was also cold! David took a quick dip but I only went in up to my shins haha a lot of people wore their bathing suits as well. I wore athletic shorts, a sports bra, and a T-shirt and was totally fine. I actually got warm during the ride.
Once we were coming up to the cave entrance we noticed a lot of people crowded outside. There were a bunch of other tours from different companies that were going here too so we had to wait about 20 minutes before we could go in. This is where it got interesting…
SO…the group in front of us comes out and our guide tells us how to go into the cave (rear end first). I turn to look inside and YALL…this is the tiniest effing cave I’ve ever seen!!! hahahahaha I was like what?!
Our group backed ourselves into the cave in a single file line, took some pics, and came back out. It wasn’t deep or big like I thought it was going to be and we lost a little bit of daylight so we didn’t get the best views of the “emerald” color of the water.
This is our group at the back of the cave. As you can see, the water is beautiful!
I promise I’m not trying to be a Debbie downer here. Don’t get me wrong – the entire ride was beautiful and relaxing and we had a great time! As I said before, it was only the destination that was just a liiiiiitle underwhelming.
After this point, we headed back to the marina. As with any hike, walk, ride, etc…getting back was way faster than getting there. My arms were also glad to be done lol
Final Thoughts
Despite the cave not meeting my expectations, I enjoyed the tour! I love kayaking and the weather and scenery were perfect. If you’re in the Vegas area and want to do a quick day trip to get away from the lights and people, this would be a great option.
Our guide told us they do these tours year-round. There’s also a 12-mile tour that starts at the Hoover Dam and goes to the marina. I’m good on that one but you may want to check it out 🙂
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