Channel Islands Expeditions - Oxnard — Local services in Oxnard

We drove about 2 hours from Irvine, CA to reach the harbor in Oxnard, CA. We were all prone to sea sickness (highly recommend asking your doctor for that motion sickness patch). We did not see dolphins or anything particularly crazy. The trip can be on the expensive side at about $300 per person, including tip).

It was the BEST kayaking experiencing of my life.

The boat was loud and if you don't like the smell of marine diesel, you're gonna want to sit near the front. And if you don't like waves and sea travel, then ...I have a lot of other questions for you. But if you can tolerate about an hour and a half of being on a boat, then you're going to be in for a treat.

Visiting the Channel Islands is like going to California's version of the Galapagos. It's nearly untouched and it's a nature preserve (being a National Park). So there's a lot of wildlife and limited people. I recommend going in October since it's no longer super hot and apparently we went on a 'perfect day' according to the crew. We briefly saw a Blue Whale en route and it was spectacular.

I go kayaking several times a season and a lot of the kayak rental places are very hit or miss. The crew at Wild Blue REALLY care about your comfort. They swapped kayaks for me to make sure that I had a good time on the water. That is a HUGE deal, especially if you're going to be on a kayak for several hours going through caves and such.

If you are afraid of the ocean and tight spaces, going ocean kayaking and weaving in and out of sea waves is going to be a bad time. But if you love adventure and you are a capable swimmer, there's almost no chance of dying because everyone has a life vest plus you're on a kayak.

I strongly recommend bringing a GoPro AND practice mounting / framing it. It's useless if everything is out of frame or you don't have the right mount. I used a shoulder / backpack mount and I was able to strap it on the chest of my life vest. Awesome footage with awesome people.

Garret, Mark, Melissa (?), and everyone aboard the Sun Fish made this a once in a lifetime trip. I plan to go back at least once a year until the...

I would not take this trip even if it is free again. Unprofessional guide C yelling at us the whole time and being super rude, left extremely stressed out as opposed to relaxed and having a fun day, I have been on many excursion trips in different countries always had fun and was safe. This tour is terrible, charged us double other locations in the country provided nothing but an extremely annoying guide. We are not college kids but young/mid age professionals that are very familiar and interested in our safety and following protocols. This guide used safety as a wild card to be rude, yell, intimidate, threaten he will put us in double kayak just because my friend asked him to adjust her helmet which literally took him 5 minutes. He started rushing us through the cave and ruined the whole experience. I told him we are not interested in double kayak and we bought separate tickets, he replied sometimes married couples buy separate tickets, what kind of logic is this? You cannot treat customers like this and start threatening them because you are incompetent to help total of only 5 customers. I dont care how many years you lived in the island or dived you need to have skills to provide good customer service to customers or close your business and go to island on your own. The whole trip he made fun of my friend who was a bit older from rest of us and questioned her abilities (she is actually better shape than us and dose strenuous exercise all the time) and he singled out her telling other customers on the trip if they are not in double kayak we cannot finish the tour, other customers freaked out and started fighting with our group it was a huge mess. He stopped a few times after that to tell irrelevant stories about his boss and sinked ships and he had enough time to cover all of that for sure not time for taking care of a customer who paid so much money only for 2 hours of kayaking. We took the tour on 17th, Captain T and the girl M on the boat were good people to be fair but unfortunately it did not make up for the...

We did the epic kayak trip to anacapa and it was amazing! The sea caves were big, some were more like sea tunnels where you went in one end and out the other. Those were my favorites. The only thing I wish was that I did this tour in the fall instead of the spring. In the fall the ocean is calmer. If you want a fun, almost white water rapid like experience then doing this in the spring will be your cup of tea! The kayaking was amazing fun and our tour guide was so knowledgeable and experienced. I felt very safe on the water with him. Would I recommend this for first time kayakers? No, not really, not at least in the spring. The waves and swells can be very challenging, and a new kayaker may not enjoy the experience as fear may be more present. That said I loved it and would totally do it again! Now this tour isn't just kayaking, it's also the boat ride out! We saw literally hundred of dolphins! We also saw two humpback whales (who showed their tails!), seals and sea lions, and the most special; a sunfish! The boat is small and intimate, the crew was awesome. If you get sea sick sit in the very back! Don't go inside the boat! Another part of the tour is snorkeling. Boy howdy is that water freezing cold! If you can stand it, you'll love it! The kelp fields are amazing! I even had a sea lions buddy swim up and tell me hi!

One problem I had was with the prior email instructions. They specifically said to not wear a bathing suit to the tour, and that they have changing rooms. When we asked why we found out what they were trying to say. What they ment to say was don't wear ONLY a bathing suit. You can absolutely wear one under your clothes. But you will also absolutely need lots of layers on top of it! The boat is very open, and the wind and sea is cold! So wear your swim suit, but add on clothes, jackets, and maybe even blankets.

All in all I'd say if you're an experienced kayaker you're going to want to do this tour! The company was awesome, and deserve...