Pacific Offshore Expeditions
Channel Islands
The Full Story
Pacific Offshore Expeditions is owned and mostly operated by Capt. Ryan Lawler. Captains and Crew from the Newport Beach operation also join in on staffing trips departing from Channel Islands Harbor.
Capt. Ryan grew up in a boating family, where a recurring monthly activity was to anchor at White's Landing Catalina for the whole weekend aboard his dad's Bertram 31' or 38' sportfishers. Fishing, snorkeling, and island hiking have been the standard pursuits since the summer of 1995. With a love for Catalina stoked over the years, Capt. Ryan began exploring the frontiers of the rest of the Eight Channel Islands of California. The rugged and remote beauty and individual charm of each one of the islands inspired a desire in him to share them with others. As of 2024, Capt. Ryan is proud to be among the few people who have actually visited, by land and sea, every one of the eight islands.
Pacific Offshore Expeditions formally began operations in the first half of 2019 with 8 hour whale watching trips departing Newport Beach for Catalina Island. Our specialization is in intimate experiences with ocean wildlife on small but seaworthy craft, mostly made of former military boats utilized by the US Navy or Coast Guard. The attributes of the Zodiac style boat allow for superior photography opportunities and emotional connection with viewing the animals at water level. In this setting, dolphins and whales often turn on their side while bow riding or playfully investigate a stopped Zodiac and make eye contact with us.
Why "All Day" Trips?
We're doing this to chase magical experiences with ocean wildlife. Our hope is that you will have just as much fun in that process as we do. For 10 years Capt. Ryan has built a business centered around 2 hour duration whale watching tours. Those short trips serve tourists and wildlife enthusiasts alike with a small slice of ocean in a day otherwise full of different activities and plans. While short trips pay the bills and pass the time, what we're really looking forward to is seeing what's out there with the people who want to, in the remote wilderness of the ocean. Behind the islands, middle of the channel, out west to Miguel or down east to Malibu. It all takes a significant investment of time to explore and be rewarded. We are seeking like-minded individuals who understand and enjoy this process of discovery in nature.
When we start an All Day trip around 8am in the morning, we typically have the benefit of calmer weather. We need to search out areas we guess will be productive, and not stop until we find them. 25, 50, 75 miles from the harbor we travel and search for ocean wildlife. By noon we hope to have made some sort of discovery to enjoy for the next several hours. Then it's time to turn (hopefully down swell) and travel back all the miles to home. You really have to risk it for the biscuit, putting time on the water and turns on the prop in order to have those life experiences in nature that are unforgettable. That's why "All Day". The only thing we can guarantee is we'll try our hardest for you. And a majority of the time it works out to a pretty great day in nature.
The duration of an All Day trip is minimum 8 hours, but be prepared because this isn't scripted. You're paying for 8 hours, but you could very likely get a bonus 1 to 3 hours of our time at no additional expense as we work to serve you. In acknowledgment of this, gratuity toward the crew is always appreciated.
Reservation and Cancellation Policy
Important things to know:
1. Please double confirm your booking date while checking out, and again when you receive the confirmation email. Sometimes the calendar will jump to the next *available* date if the date you select is sold out. It is your responsibility to ensure the date that appears on your confirmation email is the date you are committing to join us on. Please contact us immediately if you do not receive a confirmation email. This is often due to the fact that people misspell their email address or omit the correct punctuation, ie @gmail.con, @hotmail,com
2. Because the Channel Islands are subject to rough weather, we do have a significant rate of cancellation. We do not want to take you out for a bad and unsuccessful trip. Often times the weather is not truly known until 24 to 48 hours in advance. Keep in mind, this is mostly related to WIND speed on the water and not general storminess or clouds. We are very good at knowing the impacts of certain forecasts on our trip. Please leave the weather speculation to us. If you have questions or concerns about a specific weather event, please do reach out and we will give you our analysis. A full refund or reschedule option will be provided to you in the event of us cancelling due to weather.
3. If you back out of a trip within 24 hours of the departure time, we will reluctantly offer you a 50% refund, or a reschedule to a future date with a 40% fee added to your original ticket price. For example, if you pay $199 for a ticket, and give notice within a 24 hours that something came up, we can transfer that reservation for you for an additional fee paid of $79.60. If you want to abandon your reservation with notice given within 24 hours you will receive a refund of 50% of the ticket price. If you "no call, no show" with no notice to us, you will forfeit your entire ticket and it becomes dead and NON-TRANSFERRABLE to a future date.
4. There will be a minimum passenger requirement that must be met for the trip to operate, or we may have to cancel and refund or reschedule your tickets. Generally speaking on a Killer Whale Quest trip this will be 4 people, and on a 8 Hour Channel Islands Zodiac trip this will be 5 people.
Please note that there is considerable expense in operating this type of trip, and it is a delicate balance between profit and loss. The captain and crew drive 2 hours from Orange County and pay for a hotel room. The boat operates sometimes 100 or 200 miles per day and burns 60 to 120 gallons of fuel. Because of the small capacity boat, every ticket sold covers a substantial portion of expenses.