Perfect choice for learning to fly ! I love learning with Cyn! Knowledgeable, well experienced, fun…read moreand easy to digest training methods. She had me up in the air confident faster than I had expected. And the dunes are such an amazing location to consistently have the right conditions for practice. Great community. Thank you!!

My boyfriend and I came here for my birthday, and I truly can't put into words how amazing this…read moreexperience was! From the moment we arrived, everyone was so positive, welcoming, and inviting. Which made me feel so comfortable, especially since it was my first time skydiving! Sean was my tandem instructor, and he made the experience 10 times better. I couldn't have asked for a better first experience. I highly recommend coming here, it was absolutely incredible and something I'll never forget!

First time skydiving with my son. The dive itself was amazing and I always felt that we were in…read moreexpert hands. Five stars for that Took away two stars because they called us 15 minutes prior to our arrival time that they were delayed and they wanted to push our 2:00 time to around 3:30. This was not ideal but since we were close we decided to continue there to find out the details. Upon arrival we were told that they were backed up and that we would be the last jump of the day at around 5:00. So, a mid afternoon plan turned into a whole afternoon affair.

Absolutely lovely location.Be careful of High Tides. Cold,cold water right now, so bundle up while…read morestrolling. Will definitely experience it again!! Possibly Summer camping again!!

This is my favorite beach from Santa Cruz to Carmel. It's just a jump off the freeway. Not a whole…read morelot of parking but that's ok by me. It has lots of room and perfect to clear ur mind & get in a lil earthing. It's a nice beach. Clean too

I've flown with Jesse and Dave for 3+ months and got my P2 license with Lift. Jesse cares a lot…read moreabout your safety and compared to other instructors I've seen, you can expect someone who is very inclusive and will do his best to get you flying as soon as it's safe and possible. Both Jesse and Dave make an effort not to overwhelm you with instructions which I highly appreciated since you can only focus on a few things when you're new (this is in comparison to other instructors who I saw giving students long talks for each flight, which I'm sure they forgot as soon as they started launching). In addition to being good teachers, they also teach at a great training site, Ed Levin. Ed Levin has several launch areas that you can progress into, and most importantly for a training site: Relatively calm and steady winds for you to learn with.

It took me 4 months sporadically learning with Jesse and Dave toward P2, and each lesson I felt…read moresafe, content and I learned something new. It has been a year since I got my P2 certificate, and I have grown into loving paragliding more and more. Jesse has maintained a loving community where pilots have fun flying and hanging out. I have made many amazing friends for Jesse's trips to Dunlap, Mexico and Woodrat. The dream to fly took me to learn paragliding, and the great people hooked me in. 10/10 recommended if you are interested to learn paragliding in Bay Area!

My boyfriend and I took a hang gliding lesson with Mike bright and early on a Saturday morning (we…read morearrived ~8am) and had a LOT of fun! There were 2 other attendees other than my boyfriend and myself, so our class was a total of 4 people, all of us beginners. One person had taken classes before, but was doing more lessons in order to get his hang 1 license. Mike starts the class by introducing himself and teaching us some safety lessons. We put together the hang glide together as a group, and he teaches us the different parts of the hang glide and how they work together. Then, we roll the glider up a small hill and he gives us some pointers on how to approach the lesson and what to do what we start running and once the glider starts taking off! The lesson was from about 8am to noon. Mike REALLY works for the money he makes during these lessons - he is running up and down the hill, and coordinating to make sure that everyone gets plenty of time on the hang glide. His passion for this sport is palpable, and it's clear he is friends with all the other folks at the area / park that morning who are regular hang gliders. This is a really fun activity to do on a weekend morning, not to mention the VIEWS are amazing. Attaching some photos as proof! Overall I had a GREAT time and would certainly consider taking more classes with Mike!

I found Eric to be an excellent instructor. His patients and willingness to restate his…read moreinstructions, many times over, drives home the needed understanding for the skills he is describing. On those occasions when I was not getting the instructions, he restated them framed differently. His vast knowledge and experience was demonstrated through his patients and confidence. With his guidance I learned very quickly. I have no hesitation recommending Eric for hang gliding instructions. I would have no hesitation if I were starting over asking his support and training. Thank you Eric, for all your help and assuring I learned the skills needed to be a safe pilot! Mikee Bowen

Beautiful beach with soft sand, and great wind in the air. They have a small parking lot with lots…read moreof space. The trail is along the beach and it's nice to walk along. My family loved this semi secluded beach far from the tourist sites.

Monterey State Beach had beautiful views of the bay and nice sights for my family of four to enjoy…read more We love coming to Monterey and have been to the peninsula many times, but this beach was new to us. Apparently, it is not one of the most popular beaches, although it was nice enough. There's a small parking lot, but it was free to park so that was nice. There's not much cover here, so it could get hot, so I suggest coming in the morning. It was good that we visited on a weekday morning, so that there were very few people besides us. It was also on our way out of Monterey to head home, so it gave us a last "touristy" thing to do before we had to say bye to one of our favorite places. Interestingly, there's a little stream or technically it's an estuary through the beach, I've not seen that before. It looked a bit stagnant and smelled a little, so we opted not to walk through it to get to the edge of the ocean to hang out and relax. My children loved playing in the water, building sand castles and finding seashells. My kids even got to meet and chat with a lifeguard for a little bit and take a picture with him, so that was a treat for them. The lifeguard was friendly and professional, he kept an eye on the beach and the few people around while we talked with him briefly. All in all, this is a decently nice state beach with no admission, and no parking fees, and really nothing to complain about. We spent about an hour or so here and enjoyed listening to the waves and walking on the soft sandy beach. We plan to be back.

Awesome beach to take your littles to:…read more There are bathrooms and sinks (but no soap, so remember to bring your own or hand sanitizer!). The parking lot is right next to the beach, so not a far walk which is great if you're carrying a ton of stuff (which you probably are if you're bringing kiddos). There is usually a pool/small body of water separate from the waves/shore which is fantastic if you want to chill and feel relatively unstressed and able to lean back and let your kid(s) play in water without needing to be right there next to them.

This beach stretches out wide with a ship wreck on one end & nice waves. There are bathrooms &…read moreshowers along the parking lots, life guard posts & lots of families having a good time. BBQing is allowed but no glass bottles or alcohol. Makes sense. It's great place for the babies if you're worried about the larger waves that come in!

I've had lessons at three different schools. First with Morningside Flight Park in NH; then with…read moreKittyhawk in NC; and finally with Mission Soaring. I enjoyed all of it, but I have to say that the professionalism, quality of instruction and safety at Mission Soaring is outstanding. Pat, Eric and team have tons of experience and know exactly the right thing to say to help students progress *safely* through each stage of learning. The community of pilots at Tres Pinos is amazing and supportive. Experienced graduates often return to take advantage of the unique combination of consistently flyable conditions and expert help with any lingering bad habits. At Tres Pinos you can make friends that will gladly help you at every stage... from your first flights and landings to your graduation to coastal and mountain flying. This is a great place to learn to soar but also to practice humility and grit along the way.

Holy poo that was fun!…read more My buddies and I had our first hang gliding lesson with Mission a couple weeks ago. Since the Milpitas office was closed during Memorial Day week, we didn't have to do the one hour orientation in Milpitas (although most people normally do). They instead sent us the packet with the waivers and directions to the Hollister site via mail. We called the instructor when we arrived and he drove us up through some dried up grassy hills with his truck. There were 4 of us (two per hang glider) and one instructor, which meant that we got plenty of attention, each did 7-8 jumps off the hill each& got 8 ft of air at the end of the day- yea we no beginners yo! I must admit I was scared, but with each jump, the instructor ran beside us and reminded us of what to do (e.g. to steer left/right/up/down). He also reminded me to breathe& relax each time before I took off. Breathing is important! We spent a good 4.5 hours that day on that hill. For $160/per person, this lesson was about $40/hr which in my opinion is much cheaper than sky-diving or tandem hang-gliding. We put away the hang-gliders just as the sun set. Exhausted &hungry, we walked back to the truck ready for the long drive home. To our surprise, our instructor pull out a huge cooler and handed us some beers. "My students always get beer!" He smiled. Already dehydrated from the sun, the beer hit me fast. And then like he can read my mind, he hands me a soda and Iaughs.

Amazing experience!! The owner/instructor is kind, fun,…read moreinspiring and FULL of INCREDIBLE ENERGY!! We fly! We laugh and bond with each other! Learning about ourselves and getting a fantastic workout!I LOVE Pat & Mission Soaring!! You will too, if you're lucky and can appreciate being a bird and feeling "lifted"!

From the owner: Our training site has practice hills that are a great way to start with a landing zone that is a…read moremile long and a half mile wide. Over the years, we have taught at dozens of sites in the Bay Area, but Tres Pinos is by far the best place for teaching Hang Gliding. The hills are gentle and the training area has the most consistent, reliable winds anywhere in the Bay Area. With foot launched flight it is important to have the wind blow up the hill - the valley where our training site is located, funnels the wind straight in for the best possible training experience. The town of Tres Pinos is 5 miles past Hollister on Highway 25, turn left on Quien Sabe Road. The first gate on the right is where you'll park and meet your instructor. (Only instructor vehicles are allowed beyond the gate.)

The short trail in the park continues to surprise me! Every visit is so different. I decided to go…read moreon a weekday morning and experienced a very relaxing walk with good views. The hike is short. Enough for my mom who never hikes to enjoy it. Did not see any turkeys or egrets, but got to see deer and other birds.

This park offers amazing views of Sandy Wool Lake. The walking trail circles the lake, it is not…read morefully shaded. One side of the trail has plenty of trees, while the other side is more exposed to the sun. It wasn't overly crowded, even on a weekend. I suspect that's because parking costs $6 and there is no street parking available. Unlike many parks where you can park nearby and walk in for free. I visited on a summer day when temperatures were around 90°F. It was quite hot, with little to no breeze. We stayed until sunset, the lake reflected the evening colors, it's beautiful.