Santa Barbara Adventure Company — Attraction in Santa Barbara

Wow... how do you even leave a review for one of the best times of your life?

We had booked this trip many months ago before the second wave of Covid shut everything down. Thankfully they had an amazing Covid procedure in place and I was able to save my credit for when camping opened up again.

When it was time to reschedule I was anxious about calling them... that's what I get from being in a generation who hates talking on the phone! 🤣 but my fears were quickly subsided when a young man answered the phone and helped me reschedule. I believe his name was Dustin (sorry if it wasn't 😅) and he normally didn't work the office but due to bad weather he was stationed there for that day. He quickly scheduled  me another kayak adventure and was ever so pleasant to talk to for a few minutes.

Alright, tour review time! I reiterate the fact that I really dont know how to tell anyone about one of the best times of my life... the views are just so immensely spectacular there are really no words to describe. You really just need to see it for yourselves... so if your reading this looking for a sign to go... THIS IS YOUR SIGN!

What I can tell you about is my tour group, it consisted of a lovely family from New Mexico and a bad ass independent woman who just moved to California and at the head of it all was our tour guide Marc (with a C). My wife an I have been to about 20 National Parks now and done probably a gazillion tours and I have never met someone like Marc (with a C).

You know that cool person you were in school with or worked with or whatever and you just were like "wow I want to be that person's friend"? That is Marc. He just seeps the aura of awesomeness! Not only is he cool and awesome but he's also friendly! Within minutes we were already chatting about our lives and future goals.

As if that wasn't enough... get this! Marc (with a C) is the most intelligent tour guide I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. He and the genius kid from the family from New Mexico had hours of conversation about the flora and fauna specific to Channel Islands. Most of the tours I've been on have been with tour guides who aren't really passionate about what they are doing and seem to be just stating facts from a flash card. Not Marc, he will tell you all the different scientific names of seaweed, birds, barnacles, fish, etc around the island. And then he'll talk about their eating habits and why they might have almost gone extinct. But not like he's reading a note card he has stuffed in his pocket. This dude is passionate!

And to top it all off... this guy makes you feel safe! If you are feeling apprehensive about your well-being I urge you that you shouldn't let that stand in the way of getting the tour.. This was my first time ocean kayaking and my wife's second time kayaking ever! And let me tell you not once in the 3+ hours did I feel in harms way. You will be completely geared up with helmet, wet suit, life jacket and more if you choose. Also, the tour guides are trained to help you get out of any trouble if by some happenstance you get into any... I know for a fact Marc( with a C) would've carried us all on his back and swam 20 miles if something were to happen. So, if you're reading this and my first sign wasn't enough here is your second sign to get a tour right away.

Thank you to Adventure Co. for working around Covid and a big thank you to Marc (With a C) for an absolutely...

The Santa Barbara Adventure Company did an excellent job with our Discovery Kayak Tour on the island of Santa Rosa in the Channel Islands. They were incredibly efficient from the online booking to subsequent communications about what to wear/bring as well as the provision of equipment and orientation.

Our guide was Mark. He was friendly, always willing to help and to answer questions and worked hard to ensure everyone had a safe and fun time. The group was small enough to be manageable, especially entering and exiting some of the sea caves. We had 3 double kayaks and a single. Some caves were smaller and could only take one kayak at a time. Mark would go in ahead and wait for each kayak to go through and give helpful instructions on steering in the waves and current. The day we went was relatively calm, but the wave action is concentrated in the caves which made it a fun challenge to paddle through.

Mark was also incredibly knowledgeable about the flora and fauna we saw: harbor seals, purple sea urchin, huge beautiful orange sea stars, rare birds like the Oyster Catcher. Be aware that there is not much to see inside the caves, but it's more about the fun of navigating through them. Although no one in our group opted out of going through the caves, Mark made it clear that it was "Challenge by Choice" and that if you weren't comfortable going in you could wait outside. He never pressured anyone to do anything they weren't comfortable doing.

I would recommend that if you go in a two-person kayak that the stronger, more experienced paddler sits in the back, as they have the most steering responsibility. Only one of the two should take a cellphone for pics and of course a dry bag is mandatory. The person sitting in the front should be in charge of pictures.My daughter was in the stern and trying to take pictures, but had a difficult time both steering the kayak AND trying to take pictures due to the current. So, if we had to do it again, I would, as the bow paddler, be in charge of pictures and that would leave her to position the kayak so that we could get better pics. That was our only regret, otherwise the day met and exceeded our...

Been to Santa Cruz Island few times before for hiking, enjoying the views. This time decided to try kayaking since I had never done it before. Booking on website was fairly straightforward. We did the Discovery Tour. They provided A LOT of info, however, some of it may be outdated. Their video said they may provide water shoes, but then when I called the guy said they stopped doing that, so I went out and bought a pair. But then on the island they said they had some if you didn't have any. Their facility on the island provides a small store, but I didn't bother to check out what they offered. I think they said you could get some small snacks, waterproof bags for your phone, or lanyards for your glasses. They also have a changing area and storage bins for your belongings. They provide everything, including life vest, helmet, slicker jacket, wetsuit (optional), the paddle, and the kayak. The trek from this little facility to the beach was about 1/2 mile. The staff/guides were all very polite, helpful, and knowledgeable. They try to keep the groups small. Ours consisted of 6 people on 3 kayaks. Our guide, Cassie, was excellent and very skilled. She gave us very good instruction, and provided info about flora, fauna, geography, geology, biology throughout the excursion. We paddled through several caves and saw sea lions, baby sea lions, and Pigeon Guillemot. We were good and worn out by the end, which I believe was about 90 minutes on the water. We had a really fun time and got a great workout, too. One couple got a little too tired but Cassie was strong and able to help tow them in with no issue. I'm only dropping 1 star for the info on the website being a bit outdated and the 1/2 mile trek to the beach. Outside of that, I would absolutely recommend this. I attached some photos I took of other things you can encounter on the island or the boat ride to and...