Catalina Adventure Tours

My husband and I went on both the safari and the submarine while we visited the island; both of the trips were fun. The safari was great– we went to the airport and saw bison, our tour guide was extremely knowledgable about the island and was full of fun facts which made the trip even more fun. Five stars for safari. The submarine was just ok– they only take you to two different spots to feed fish, and it’s the same fish in both spots. I think we were expecting a little more for how much it was. The cool thing is you can buy fish food and torpedo it out by your window to watch the fish, and our daughter really liked that.

This rating is for the bus tour through the east end of Catalina Island, over by the airport. We had a great time. My only complaint is that the driver acted like he had been eating several hash cookies before he started driving the bus to take us on the tour. He was giggling the entire 2 hours, and it made me very very uncomfortable on the way to the airport, because I felt like we were going to crash or roll off the cliff a few different times. I just felt very insecure with him behind the wheel. And then once we got to the airport, I realized that this is just his funky personality, although he is a very nice guy. So on the way back, I felt relieved that we made it halfway through the tour alive. But it’s kind of unsettling when you don’t know what the hell someone’s on, and he’s putting your life in his hands driving a bus on very very dangerous, rocky roads. Don’t get me wrong, the driver was very very sweet and respectful. I just didn’t feel safe most of the time on the bus.

About 3 weeks ago my family and I took the bus tour and underwater submarine tour! A little late with the review, oops! Well anyways, both tours are perfect for all ages. They were both a lot of fun and very informative. I’ll talk about the two activities in separate sections.
Bus road tour– We rode a bus around Catalina Island and passed through a lot of scenic places. I wasn’t expecting much in all honesty but this bus tour was loads of fun. Our tour guide (I wish I remembered his name) was a cute and witty old man. He constantly made clever jokes to keep us interested and entertained throughout the tour. The people on the bus, including myself, were smiling and laughing constantly in response to our tour guide’s jokes and comments. He was also very well-​informed about Catalina Island including its history and people. My family and I learned so much about the island that I still remember to this day. This bus tour truly showed how amazing Catalina Island is. The island is more than just the beach and its beautiful blue water, there’s an important history behind the island and the daily life of the people that reside there. Now about the bus itself; good air conditioning, comfy seats, but no seat belts. The no seat belt thing didn’t concern me for two reasons. 1) The bus driver was a very well-​trained and experienced driver who didn’t drive super fast, rather he always drove carefully and besides, the roads in Catalina Island aren’t filled with fast moving cars, rather they are filled with golf carts, which are the residentials’ main source of transportation. 2) I thought it was convenient to not have seat belts on the bus because you will want to constantly move from the left to right side to look at the scenery on each side. Overall, I would definitely recommend this tour to anyone who will be visiting Catalina Island.
Submarine experience– The submarine was cool, overall. The submarine doesn’t go too far out in the sea, in fact it stays within the harbor, so you’ll definitely feel safe. The windows were big and the seats were comfortable. Be careful as you are going down and up the stairs of the submarine, the stairs are very steep. The submarine tour offered the option to buy fish food which will shoot out in front of the window you are sitting beside. My family and I didn’t purchase any because the people around us did so we knew we would be able to see a lot of the fish. There were so many fish that surrounded the submarine, it was jaw-​dropping. The fish are so beautiful and big, and there were thousands! All the kids were going crazy and smiling and all the parents were impressed. The submarine tour guide was also very informed about the ocean and the sea creatures that lived there. He talked a lot about the types of fish that were surrounding the submarine. The guide was very well-​trained.
THE REASON WHY THIS ENTIRE REVIEW IS ONLY 4 STARS AND NOT 5 IS BECAUSE OF THIS REASON: I got motion sickness while in the submarine so I didn’t have the most spectacular time. I didn’t get motion sickness while in the bus because as I’ve previously written is the bus tour section, the driver was a very careful driver who didn’t drive too fast but not too slow either. ***Piece of advice, if you get motion sickness easily, as in you get dizzy easily on amusement park rides, car rides, etc., do yourself a favor! Don’t go inside the submarine.

Great time and lots of gorgeous views. This was such a great time. I Highly recommend taking this tour!

I’ll blame part of this on the fact we did no research beforehand. Our bad.
We wanted to see as much of the island as possible, and I’d done an awesome excursion via a cruise ship a few years ago, so we booked a Safari Adventure. They gave us a discounted price of $ 63 for each of the 4 adults, less for the 10 year old.
2 hours of kidney bruising, incessant tall tale — telling, all of 3 bison off in the distant viewing, irritating touring. A night and day difference from my experience a few years ago.
We spent all of 30 minutes at the airport for a snack and bathroom break. We did eat, which is reviewed separately. This was the only stop and the only place we got off the military converted transport. If you have a bad back — don’t get on their truck. They need seat belts. The driver scared the crap out of my S/O’s daughter by saying he neglected to check the brakes and literally careened to the edge of a cliff. She was looking straight down the cliff. Not cool.
Also, everything was «fun», «good times» and sharing all the experiences of the times with his kids when they were young and how it was better. The impression we got was it was better before we got there.
He didn’t stop long enough anywhere to take pictures, except to view the «loser» buffalo off in the distance. Loser buffalo are those males that don’t get together with the female buffalo. 3 loser buffalo. Poor lonely buffalo. He constantly directed us to look somewhere «on the left» when it was the other left. Which hill? Enjoyed being directed to look at places that used to have water. We are in a drought. We know. We also appreciate that there are Wrigley’s still on the island. Which red tiled roof belonged to which family member?
At the end, by the time we were groaning to just please stop talking, he was lamenting that he only got paid minimum wage and how the company had to pay subsidies for year round lodging to the employees and to tip generously. Boo hoo. We just got gouged $ 300 to take a crappy, painful bus ride. It was beyond tacky. It impacted his tip negatively.
He had some fun facts. Some interesting stories. We wouldn’t have been so disappointed, and annoyed, if we hadn’t felt so rushed and battered. The binoculars for our seat were not working. I got slammed into the side panel and repeatedly had to grab hold of the seat back. My S/​O nearly landed on the floor 3 times.
For what we experienced, we paid too much. And remember, this was discounted. It supposedly costs $ 83 per person. We could have paid $ 30 and felt it was overpriced. It was that bad of an experience.
Never again. We could have spent our money to better affect doing anything else.

We did the quick glass bottom boat tour, which was a great way to get young kids out to see a bunch of fish. The submarine looks pretty cool too, but a little bit more expensive. Fish food was a great way to get the big fish clusters under your viewing window, but plenty of fish have already been trained to come to the boats in anticipation of being fed, so not necessary if you’re not wanting to pay $ 5 a tube. Btw, you may be able to bring your own bag of frozen peas and feed them, and I doubt anyone would notice…

My wife and I came over with some friends to celebrate our first wedding anniversary and we were looking for something to do. Because we had a one year old in the group, we decided to do the underwater submarine tour. We bought our tickets, went sightseeing for an hour, and came back to board the submarine.
The tour was a lot of fun. No doubt about it. You will see fish and if you want to feed them, food is available for purchase (although it is a little bit pricey). They will take your picture as you board the submarine and souvenirs such as keychains, photos, and even mousepads are available for purchase. They will also offer a twenty percent discount if you want to purchase multiple tours. Just make sure to save your receipt if you want to do the tours on different days!
My only complaint (which took my rating down a notch) is that as we were pulling in to port, the captain said «for the love of Christ» pretty loud and started berating a few employees that were on the dock. If you are going to discipline someone, don’t do it in front of a whole group of people. Not very professional at all. If the people were doing something wrong, tell them in private!
Other than that, thumbs up to the crew for a great ride!

Semi-​submerged submarine.
This didn’t enjoy it as much as I was hoping I was going to. It was a last minute choice to do with my Fiancé. Personally, it should be a cheaper price for what you are doing. They didn’t really interact with you at all, you just sit down and look out of portholes.
You can purchase shots of food for the fish, but they will come up to the boat like crazy no matter what. If you want a little frenzy in front of you then try it. About 4 of the shots were not working as well. You can see a lot of fish, but only about 3 – 7 different types during out ride at least. You only go around the corner and come back. If you have nothing else to do, and want to kill about hour and half and spend about $ 70 for two people then go ahead. If you want more out of, I’d rather you go snorkeling, rent a golf cart and control what you do.
If you are terrified of the water and want to have «a underwater experience» have at it. I wouldn’t do it again, or probably recommended it. It was worth a shot though.

This review is for the Semi-​submerged submarine ride.
We weren’t sure what we wanted to do on our one-​day trip to the island.
It was super chilly and windy that day, so a Jeep tour got crossed off the list. The bus tours didn’t appeal to us. So we checked out the sea adventures. The only one operating that day (during the week) was the submarine. Okay!
We qualified for the Senior Discount which brought the ticket price down to $ 26 each.
A short walk over to the Green (can’t miss it) pier and we found the Seawolf waiting for us.
Being that it was during the week, there were only a few other people on the sub.
Great for all of us because we were all able to move around down there and go from window to window. I liked having the wide rectangular windows which afforded a better view. I was expecting those little round windows for some reason.
There were info charts above to help identify the various sea life we might encounter along the way.
There were a few short parts of the journey to and from the coral reef reserves where you don’t see much, but the crew made up for that by stopping the sub and tossing fish food to lure the fish over. Pretty cool feeding frenzies!
The hubby & I were licking our chops seeing all that bass up close. We’re Japanese and while the rest of you are squealing, «Oooooh, fishies!», we’re thinking, «Mmmm…sashimi!»
Overall, it was fun enough and helped kill a good hour and a half.

My husband and I took the tour on the Nautilus, semi submersible submarine. While we did have a good time, this tour is pretty much geared for kids. The fish food torpedoes release only a tiny amount of food, mostly air, though it does attract fish, there’s no variety of fish, so you’re pretty much seeing the same fish over and over. Our tour was full and on the way back when it came time to go on the outside of the submarine, it was so tight people were practically stepping on each other up there.

Was so much fun amazing fishes and Amanda the person who sold the tours was very helpful! Rode the nautilius for the submarine ride so cool!

This was legit — I wasn’t sure for a minute there (judging based on appearance). Glad we included this in our visit to the island. A visual marvel (Glad we did it at least once).

Took the sub tour, awesome. Will do it again for sure, costs extra to feed the fish but worth it, tour guide was excellent!!!

the Safari Island Adventure WAS AMAZING! What a fun way to get out of Avalon and see the beauty of the island. Our driver was full of fun information about everything. The weather was perfect, we got to see a few buffalo and learn about all the different hiking and camping areas on the island. The truck was BIG and actually provided a nice ride. Id totally take this tour again. And what ever you do, get the peanut butter oatmeal cookie at the airport, its delicious.
We also got tickets for the Nautilus.
What an awesome time we had under the sea! We purchased fish food and had a blast feeding all those hungry fish. The crew was polite and helpful. On our way back to the dock we all got a chance to go topside and see just where we had been.

My husband and I took a tour in the semi-​submersible boat and thought it was pretty cool. It’s $ 30 for about 45 minutes, and if you have AAA there is a small discount so mention it if you do.
The boat itself was roomy. I tend to get motion sick on boats but the ride was easy. Not much to see until you get to the «feeding spot», and the fish are so trained that the big yellow boat brings food that you don’t even have to buy the fish food, really. We didn’t buy any (it’s like $ 6 for 4 shots with the little fish food torpedo) and we didn’t see any less fish than the next guy. In the end, I kind of wished that the fish would move out of the way so we could see the rest of the reef! Haha.
I would say worth it as a one time experience, once you’ve done it you probably don’t need to do it again.

We booked this online. There are two different glass bottom boat tours on the island. When I heard glass bottom boat I assumed the whole bottom was glass. The one we went on only had five large tubs that you looked into. It was a little bit of a strain to look down the entire time.
The boat ride was smooth and you could walk around. The staff was very friendly. They take your picture before you get on the boat and the price to buy it is very responsible! Not sure I would do this again, but I would recommend it to people who never have done this.

This place seems to be pretty well organized. Our underwater submarine adventure was just fine. On board, they give you the option of purchasing food to blast out to all the fish, which my kids wanted to do. We paid $ 20 for, I believe 16 blasts. So… just to let you all know… the fish will come with or without your $ 20. The fish know that the submarine is coming and want food… so they all crowed around, in hopes of a huge food blast. Now, I swear on everything… with our blaster, I never saw anything but huge gusts of air bubbles come out, no food, so part of me thinks that the fish feeding food blasts are a semi-​scam. We paid $ 20 to blast out air and trick the fish in to coming super close in a crazy frenzy.
Anyway… the fish are not pretty fish, they are rather boring and kinda ugly. Definitely not a «beautiful view». BUT, I will say that my 7 year old and all the other kids of the sub, seemed to really enjoy themselves.
I traveled to Catalina on Carnival. From what I gathered, Catalina Adventure Tours are in some sort of contract with Carnival and are not really supposed to sell private excursions to ship guests. So if/​when you call CAT directly, they will ask who you’re with. If you tell them no one, they will sell, if you tell them Carnival, they will say that you need to book thru the cruise ship. You can also book direct thru their website (which I did, after calling and being denied) and the tickets are wayyyyy cheaper than what Carnival was selling them for. Now… Carnival offers the price guarantee, but if you read the fine print… Carnival always wins. I really do suggest buying direct from CAT.
All in all… we were on vacation, expecting to do random stuff and spend random money. We even bought a photo in a heart snow globe souvenir. So I don’t regret anything about this adventure and for a family with children, I would definitely recommend.

If for some reason you won’t be snorkeling out in Lover’s Cove (inconceivable!), a tour in the semi-​submersible Nautilus is the next best way to see the wonderful fish of Catalina.
I went into this ride not expecting much for my $ 30, but it held a lot of appeal for the kids, so…
It’s a deep boat with round, glass windows, not an actual submarine. Surprisingly, you can get some great views of the shallower areas around the island, especially the kelp «forests» of Lover’s Cove, and all those great fish. My son spotted an eel. There was a cheesy prerecorded sound effects and «computer» narration going on during the beginnings of the dive, meant to simulate something science fiction-​y, but after that, our actual human tour guide took over and it was both informative and interesting. I’d say the kids and the adults on our tour all had an enjoyable time.
Toward the end of the tour, as we were heading back into the harbor, the passengers all got to come out on the upper deck. The sun and pleasant weather during the final ride back was awesome, and made me wish I’d chartered an actual boat ride. Next time, that’s what we will do.
If you’ve done this once, you probably won’t need to repeat it; but for a one-​time experience with the family, it was worth it.

I went to Catalina Island in January 2014 with my wife & daughter & while we were
Enjoying the great weather there the hotel
Hostess suggested we try this under water
Semi-​Submarine tour.
It’s about half an hour around Avalon Bay
Where you get to see the marine life through
The thick glass windows and at the same
Time the Captain explains about all the fish
Types around the Island.
We did enjoy the tour especially the part where you get the chance to feed the fishes
Some food through small tubes & they start
To come around the windows to eat and you
Get a chance to take rare under water pictures :)
The crew & captain were nice & I think they
Patient & kind enough to answer all the
Questions the passengers had!
Keep in mind this the only submarine service provider in the Island & they are busy all day long & my advise is to get the
Tickets few hours earlier.
Have fun.

the bf and i had an expired groupon for the submarine ride. they honored the value of the expired groupon and we paid the remaining balance for 2 tickets. the process to make reservations over the phone was cake.
the submarine travels out of the harbor and around lovers cove. we came across 4 or 5 different types of fish. there was tons of giant kelp all around. fishies swim right across your porthole… great photo ops.
the fun part of the trip was feeding the fishies! each porthole had a fishy food torpedo launcher. for $ 6, you get 4 feedings. they stop 2x so guests can feed the fish. engaging a feed was the fun part… watching the fish either scatter away from the launch then quickly returning when they realize food’s just been released.
for me, this tour was very reminiscent of disneyland’s old submarine ride (now known as the Finding Nemo ride)… a ride that was my favorite until they replaced it. i was secretly hoping we’d come across a giant squid or the remnants of the lost city of atlantis! (i miss the submarine ride at disneyland very much)