Santa Barbara Adventure Company offers a fun, challenging and rewarding place of employment for people who love to be outside and share our region’s natural, beautiful places with our guests. We offer a huge variety of activities in and around Santa Barbara; imagine sea kayaking the Channel Islands one day, biking down the Santa Ynez Mountains the next and then facilitating a corporate team building trip the following day. This variety of work is one of the main reasons our guides love this job so much – they never get bored. In our 21st year of operation, we pride ourselves on our reputation as the biggest and best outfitter in the region and we are only looking for the best guides around.

Interested individuals should have these qualities:

• Love being outside
• Enjoy sharing beautiful places around Santa Barbara with others
• Are active & physically fit
• Can adapt their teaching style to different personalities
• Enjoy a fast-paced work environment
• Can think on their feet
• Take having fun seriously
• Enjoy a fun, tight-knit workplace that celebrates success

Desired skills for becoming a guide with the Santa Barbara Adventure Company:

• Outstanding customer service
• Excellent communication and teaching skills
• Leadership/Group Management skills
• Commercial Guiding experience is a plus but not required
• Team building Facilitation
• Interest & desire for Environmental Stewardship
• Interpretation skills and knowledge of local human and natural history
• First Aid/CPR certification, WFR, and WFA preferred
• Commercial driver’s license preferred (can get after hiring)

Prior skillsets that are helpful for becoming a guide with the Santa Barbara Adventure Company:

•  Sea kayaking experience
• Team building experience with kids or adults
• Experience leading surf or SUP lessons
• Ability to ride a bicycle
• Knowledge of the local area
• Experience driving trailers

Work Season: Our busy season stretches from February – October with our peak months being June – September. Generally, new guides must be available for training beginning in February and be available to work until October.  Guides must have flexible schedules; generally, we prefer to hire full-time guides vs. part-time guides. We are open year-round and there are a few select positions available for those looking for full-time year-round work. We operate day trips out of Santa Barbara, CA & Ventura, CA and multi-day trips in the Southern California area for outdoor education as well multi-day runs at the Channel Islands National Park.

Want to Learn More? Check out our company on our social media platforms to learn more about us:

LinkedIn and Youtube

Facebook: Santa Barbara Adventure Company / Channel Islands Adventure Company / Santa Barbara Wine Country Tours

Instagram: Santa Barbara Adventure Company / Channel Islands Adventure Company / Santa Barbara Wine Country Tours

Ready to apply?

How to Apply: Fill out and submit our online job application.

We recommend that you also drop an email to our hiring department, introducing yourself with a resume. Please describe any relevant guiding or leadership experience you have in your intro. attached

Typically we hire most of our new guides in JANUARY, then training begins in February. Our outdoor education season runs from March-May then from June-August we are sold-out almost daily with public day trips and from September-October, we have more outdoor education trips as the season quiets down. We accept applications year round.

The post Employment Opportunities with SB Adventure Co appeared first on Santa Barbara Adventure Co..

Adam at Machu Picchu – on an adventure.

Name: Adam Sachs
Age: 25
Birth place: Los Osos, CA
First car: ’98 Chevy S-10–And she’s still goin’ strong
Favorite place for lunch: Los Agaves on Milpas–chicken mole enchiladas!
Favorite hiking spot: I’ve been enjoying the trails around Mission Canyon lately

How did you find you way to SBACo? Do you remember your interview?
My old college roommate at UCSB had briefly worked for Santa Barbara Adventure on a couple specialty trips, and recommended that I check it out. Since I was already spending most of my free time surfing and kayaking it seemed like a good fit. My first “interview” was when I showed up to work as a lifeguard for SBACo. during a large surf trip. I stood on the sand for a few hours watching the water until the owner came down to talk to me face to face.

Do you remember your first time visiting the Channel Islands? Tell us about its impression on you.
I first visited Santa Cruz Island in the spring of 2007 when I was getting my bareboat captain’s license from the Santa Barbara Sailing Center. My roommate and I were on the boat with two other guys and our instructor, Rob Bollay. We set a course towards Painted Cave near the west end of the island and I was in awe when Rob expertly backed the 50ft sailboat deep into the cave. I also remember marveling at the vertical volcanic cliffs and wondering how they got so ferocious looking. I’d never seen anything like it before.

Every trip is different when you are guiding – the weather, the people, the waves. What is the most memorable trip you have had so far and why?
The most memorable trips are usually the ones where things don’t go according to plan, but they always make the best stories when you retell them.  One day last Fall we arrived at the beach to run a school program for over 100 students on a day when the swell was pumping. Several other guides and myself spent much of the day swimming back and forth with our fins in the impact zone to prevent kayaks from capsizing during the launching and landing. It was physically exhausting but also very rewarding to have the state park lifeguards come over at the end of the day to compliment us on doing a great job of keeping the kids safe.  We also got some great bodysurfing rides throughout the day.

March 2011 at the foot of Cerro Fitz Roy outside town of El Chalten in Argentinian Patagonia.

Can you give 3 tips for someone interested in guiding?
First, treat each trip like it’s your first one. Be enthusiastic and smile. In reality it might be your 97th of the season, but for your guests it might be their one day to relax and have fun.  Make it special for them.
Second, keep things in perspective. Can guiding feel like a grind sometimes? Sure, but show me a job that doesn’t.  When I start to feel that way I remind myself that Santa Barbara is one of the most beautiful places in the world, I enjoy the people that I work with, and I get paid to do something I love.  Not many people have that opportunity.
Third, let go of the bad days. Not every trip will be the best day ever, and things will happen that are out of your control. Learn from those experiences and move on.  Remember that each day is a new trip.

And don’t forget your sunscreen.

Any other adventures of your horizon?
I’m always looking forward to my next trip, even when I don’t know where I’m going. I’d like to spend more time with friends down in Baja this winter or a few weeks spearfishing someplace with warm water, clear water, and big fish. Hopefully both if I’m lucky.

Thanks for taking the time to share with us Adam.

Adam with the crew traveling to Painted Cave, Channel Islands National Park

If you have been on an adventure with Adam please share in the comments section below. I am sure he would love to hear from you.

The post Adam Sachs: Surfer, Kayaker & Incredible Guide appeared first on Santa Barbara Adventure Co..

Where did you grow up? And how did you find Santa Barbara?

I grew up in the Bay Area, in a town called Novato in Northern Marin County. I came to Santa Barbara to attend college at UCSB and graduated in 1984.

What inspired you to create Santa Barbara Dining and Destinations?

My girlfriend and I left Santa Barbara for Seattle in 1988 and lived there for eleven years. We got married and had a couple of children and returned to Santa Barbara, where for all of our sanity, the children could be outdoors instead of indoors for nine months out of the year. When we returned to Santa Barbara, we went to a few of our old favorite restaurants with fond memories. Unfortunately, either our memories were not so accurate or new owners had taken the restaurant in a different direction. Also, our sleepy little town of Santa Barbara had become much more metropolitan and there were so many more restaurants. Hence, we figured that other people were also overwhelmed in finding the right restaurant for their evening.

My husband’s birthday is coming up and he loves great food. Where should we go?

I get this question frequently and my answer is different and similar each time. I often need to ask a few qualifying questions to narrow down my answer. So since your husband’s birthday is a special occasion, and I am not able to ask you more qualifying questions, let’s go somewhere memorable with varied settings to match your personal taste – Boathouse, Jane, Sly’s, Lucky’s, Brewhouse, Holdren’s, Arch Rock Fish, Tre Lune, Blush and Zen Yai. Cheers!

Where can people go to subscribe to Santa Barbara Dining and Destinations?

To subscribe go to our Dining and Destinations website.

Thanks for catching up with us Phillip. Sounds like I need to make some reservations! I notice you also have a great bi-monthly newsletter that visitors can sign up for and lots of great information on your website.

If you have a question for Phil, our local expert, please leave it in the comments section below. I’ll send the best question some great Santa Barbara Adventure Company schwag!

The post Santa Barbara Dining and Destinations appeared first on Santa Barbara Adventure Co..