Ventura, CA Outdoor Activities

During Snorkeling Catalina's boat tours, snorkeling trips, and private sightseeing charters, visitors come face-to-fin with marine life. Tour guides lead revelers through shallow and deep waters and pilot inflatable boats offshore so passengers can snap photos of seals and dolphins. Back on land, the full-service snorkeling shop outfits guests with necessary equipment, such as flippers, masks, and underwater ovens for fish who don't like to eat soggy bread crumbs.

Catalina Adventure Tours’ aquatic guides unlock the secrets of island living during submarine and glass-bottom-boat tours or interior land excursions. Safely submersed below sea level aboard the military replica SS Nautilus, groups of up to 45 search the waters for rapidly growing ladder kelp, boisterous fish, and reflections they think are sea spirits, and those riding in glass-bottom boats start feeding frenzies among hungry schools gliding below. Alternatively, guests can spy bald eagles and buffalo during an Inside Adventure tour or gaze over cacti speckling the foreground of sweeping ocean views from the Wrigley Memorial & Botanical Gardens on the City Botanical Garden tour. Catalina Adventure Tours also runs evening missions with guides serving as curators of ocean nightlife and designated drivers for seahorse discotheques.

Just off the coast of Southern California in the waters surrounding Catalina Island resides an underwater civilization as awe-inspiring as the city above. To see it, the experienced divers of Catalina Snorkel and Scuba outfit explorers of all skill levels to swim over the marine landscape, leading journeys into the protected Casino Point Underwater Dive Park, the kelp forest, and Lover's Cove—which made Coastal Living's Top Spots to Snorkel. In addition to guiding tours, Catalina Snorkel and Scuba also rents snorkeling equipment and leads classes that range from introductory dives to advanced, postcertification scuba training to become the next Aquaman.

A 65-foot curvilinear orange slide spits out kids into the nearly 210,000-gallon indoor pool with a splash during recreational-swim time. Twenty-five yards in length and separated into eight lanes, the pool also makes for excellent exercise. With water kept between 81 and 83 degrees, the pool also keeps muscles loose for programs, such as Aqua Zumba Fitness and Aquacize, each designed to incinerate calories and boost cardio through fun dancing and aerobic workouts. Committed to safety, the facility is supervised by top-notch lifeguards, and experienced swim instructors equip the water-bound with the skills needed to put a midsize fish in its place. To provide the community with top-notch facilities, renovation was completed in 2007 to include amenities such as changing rooms with lockers, showers, diaper-changing stations, and restrooms. Families are also welcome to relax on the outdoor patio while the little ones patter about in the splash zone.

From dawn to dusk, Hopper Boat Rentals fleet of small, maneuverable crafts weave past the sailboats and houseboats docked in the tree-lined Channel Islands Harbor. Though the compact vessels are easy to master, Hopper Boat Rentals’ aquatic experts still happily help customers suit up in provided lifejackets and then impart a brief tutorial on operating their vessel of choice. They then rent out their watercraft by the hour, allowing customers the freedom to enjoy a quick jaunt or a daylong quest to overthrow surrounding sandcastle fiefdoms.

James Pike started riding waves when he was 8 years old, when his father would drive him out to the boardwalk in Santa Cruz to go boogie boarding. As he grew up, he learned to surf with a local club, buying and repairing his own used surfboard, which was weathered after 40 years of challenging the ocean and being used to write down mermaids’ phone numbers.

As an adult, James founded Pike’s Surf School, where he teaches students of all ages how to balance on boards in surfing and skateboarding classes. Following lessons on technique and etiquette, students can glide through the waves or fly over pavement, and youths can take a combination surfing and skateboard clinic in groups of four. Pictures and video help pinpoint errors in technique, and cross-training improves students' ability to maintain their balance in different situations.