From the Blue Bus to the Water: Surfing Santa Monica in Two Hours
A shared beginner surf lesson that meets at a sky blue school bus in the Bicknell Avenue lot, runs four times a day all week, and includes the wetsuit and the board. Four to six students per instructor, ages twelve and up.
The hardest part of a first surf lesson is often just finding the meeting point. Fun Surf LA answers that with a sky blue school bus. The logo on its side is pink, it parks in the lot off Bicknell Avenue in Santa Monica, and the instruction is to walk in and keep right.
Everything comes out of the bus. The wetsuit and the surfboard are both included, so the gear is not yours to sort out. Lessons run two hours and start at eight, ten, twelve and two, seven days a week.
This is the shared lesson. You book one seat, and the other seats go to other people. Fun Surf LA puts four to six students with each instructor, and the school says a solo booking gets combined with other students. One person is enough to go out.
One reservation can hold up to ten travelers. That figure is the ceiling on a single booking. The number of people around you in the water is set by the four to six per instructor the school describes.
The minimum age is twelve. The adult age band runs to seventy, an adult has to be named on the booking, and the listing asks for basic swimming skills and a moderate level of fitness. Booking closes four hours before the start time and confirms instantly. Across its reviews the lesson holds 4.8 from 144 ratings.
Shared 2 Hour Small Group Surf Lesson in Santa MonicaFun Surf LA · two hours · wetsuit and board included · four to six students per instructorwww.viator.comThe Lesson Starts on Dry Sand
Fun Surf LA runs thirty to forty minutes of training on the beach before anyone carries a board to the water. That is where the pop up gets rehearsed on a board lying flat in the sand, and it is the part that decides whether the next hour works.
The school uses eight and nine foot foam top boards for its group lessons, and says fiberglass boards are not allowed in them for safety reasons. Foam is forgiving. It is also thick and buoyant, which is what makes a first wave catchable at all.
One Hour in the Water With an Instructor
The coached hour is the middle of the two. Instructors go into the water with the group, which is the practical difference between a lesson and a board rental.
Fun Surf LA describes its group lessons as suited to beginner and intermediate levels, and says its instructors hold ISA certifications along with first aid and CPR training. By its own account the school has been teaching in Los Angeles since 2016, and it works several beaches, with Santa Monica listed first.
The Board Is Still Yours When the Hour Ends
Both the listing and the school say that whatever time is left after the coached hour is yours, on the board they provided. That is worth planning around.
A first lesson often ends the moment the instructor walks back up the beach. Here the session has a tail. The tail is usually when people stop thinking about their feet and start reading the water on their own, and it costs nothing extra because the board is already under you.
Weather, Refunds and the Rest of the Small Print
- Cancel at least twenty four hours before the start time for a full refund. Inside twenty four hours nothing comes back.
- The operator can cancel for bad weather, and can also cancel a departure that too few people booked. That is the trade off that comes with a shared departure.
- Wetsuits and surfboards are included. The listing lists nothing as excluded.
- Service animals are allowed, and the listing notes public transport options nearby.
- The lesson is guided in English.
📍 The lot is off Bicknell Avenue in Santa Monica, at 20 Bicknell Ave. Walk in, keep right, and look for the sky blue bus with the pink logo. The lesson ends back at the same lot, so whatever you left in the car is where you left it.
Eight in the morning is the quiet start, before the sand fills in. Two in the afternoon puts you in the water at the warmest part of the day, and either way you walk back up to Bicknell with wet hair and two hours of Santa Monica behind you.