Boats & Charters in Santa Barbara and the Central Coast

Adventours Outdoor Excursions (726 Reddick Ave. 805/899-2929) arranges everything from kayak to mountain-bike excursions. Santa Barbara Sailing Center (Santa Barbara Harbor launching ramp. 805/962-2826 or 800/350-9090) offers sailing instruction, rents and charters sailboats, and organizes dinner and sunset champagne cruises, island excursions, and whale-watching trips. Sea Landing (Cabrillo Blvd., at Bath St., and the breakwater in the Santa Barbara Harbor. 805/882-0088 or 888/779-4253) operates surface and deep-sea fishing charters year-round. From Sea Landing, the Condor Express (805/963-3564), a 75-foot high-speed catamaran, whisks up to 149 passengers toward the Channel Islands on dinner cruises, whale-watching excursions, and pelagic-bird trips. Truth Aquatics (805/962-1127) departs from Sea Landing in the Santa Barbara Harbor to ferry passengers on excursions to the National Marine Sanctuary and Channel Islands National Park. Their three dive boats also take scuba divers on single-day and multiday trips. Captain Don's (Stearns Wharf. 805/969-5217) operates whale-watching and pirate-theme harbor cruises aboard the 90-foot Rachel G.