Nomad Sailing
Nomad Sailing
5
Boat ToursWater SportsBoat RentalsDolphin & Whale WatchingNature & Wildlife Tours
9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Monday
9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Sunday
9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Full view
About
Nomad Charters specializes in family friendly sailing charters. Our private sails, for up to six passengers, include wildlife and whale watching, offshore and coastal sailing lessons, sunset cruises, corporate and team building activities, afternoon sails, swim support for open ocean swimmers, and custom sailing trips to meet a wide range of interests.
Santa Cruz, California
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
5.0
12 reviews
Excellent
12
Very good
0
Average
0
Poor
0
Terrible
0
Jet559454
Walnut Creek, CA5 contributions
Aug 2020 • Family
When my family vacations, we usually try to do a boating trip of some type. With COVID, we stayed close to home and spent a long weekend in Santa Cruz and signed up to do the Wildlufe sail with Nomad Santa Cruz. Brian and his first mate, Adyline, were fantastic: safe/socially appropriate, and personable/friendly. The trip was terrific, Brian Gabe is the choice of which type of trip we would like and steered us down the coast where we saw more Sea Otters (and babies) then we could count. He took us right to a spot where he hypothesized there were great white sharks and to my unbelief we saw 2 swim next to the boat and at least 3 others close by (yes, Great whites but also we now have a respect and understanding that these guys are eating anchovies, not people).
The trip was great, hands down the best value of any boat rip we’ve done - basically the boat to ourselves and a custom charter at the same price we’ve paid to be amongst dozens of amboxious people. I highly recommend Nomad and Brian!!
The trip was great, hands down the best value of any boat rip we’ve done - basically the boat to ourselves and a custom charter at the same price we’ve paid to be amongst dozens of amboxious people. I highly recommend Nomad and Brian!!
Written August 10, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
travelbug424244
San Francisco, CA28 contributions
Jul 2020
In the middle of a worldwide pandemic nothing is better than sitting on the front of a sailboat, with the wind blowing in your face, while watching the beautiful Monterey Bay go by. We saw a shark, otters (including babies), and birds feasting on anchovies.
Brian, our captain, made us feel totally comfortable. He is a skilled seaman, and had a high degree of awareness about health safety. I appreciated the care he took to sterilize the surfaces on Nomad, and his easy willingness to use good mask protocols.
We are a family of four with two teens. Everyone in the family enjoyed the sail. We look forward to sailing with Brian on Nomad again.
Brian, our captain, made us feel totally comfortable. He is a skilled seaman, and had a high degree of awareness about health safety. I appreciated the care he took to sterilize the surfaces on Nomad, and his easy willingness to use good mask protocols.
We are a family of four with two teens. Everyone in the family enjoyed the sail. We look forward to sailing with Brian on Nomad again.
Written July 16, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Petra
Fairfax, CA1 contribution
Oct 2020 • Friends
Krista and Addie took us on amazing Halloween charter! They were super friendly and ran that ship like the boss ladies they are. They even let us hoist the sail! They were determined to find some wildlife for us to see and didn’t give up until we did. The families of sea otters were super cute, but the highlight of the trip was seeing two different types of whales popping up out of the water to say hello! I can’t say enough nice things about this duo. I highly recommend Nomad Sailing!
Written November 2, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helen G
Cambridge, UK38 contributions
Jun 2024 • Couples
Absolutely out of this world. We sailed with Captain Brian and his mate Sam. The experience was just awesome from start to finish. Brian and Sam were not only knowledgeable but really friendly and easy going company. We saw Sharks, Dolphins , sea otters to mention a few. I could not highly recommend the Nomad experience enough. Just a delight from start to finish and by miles the best value. The boat ride on its own would have been enough , but the wild life , well that was a bonus
Written June 28, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Passenger227643
4 contributions
May 2024 • Family
I would recommend Nomad to anyone. It’s a beautiful boat, a perfectly curated tour of the coast, and our captain was wonderful. This is a much better experience than going out on the Chardonnay. I will definitely take more visiting friends and family out on this charter in the future. Thank you Nomad!
Written June 1, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
kfbandy
Los Gatos, CA11 contributions
May 2018 • Family
I found Brian Thom and his Nomad sail boat on-line when looking for a personal charter for some visiting family. My aim was to share the beauty of CA without packing them on a chartered motor boat...what better than a sail boat. The Nomad is beautiful and sailing quietly down the coast from Santa Cruz towards Capitola was thrilling. Brian is an amazing captain with just a love for sailing and sharing his knowledge of the outdoors. However, site seeing is hit or miss and on this day we saw otters, some cuddling babies, and dolphins a plenty, but no whales. Still the first was Brian knew where to take us to see juvenile great whites!!! 6-8' long juveniles. It was amazing to coast quietly seeing these amazing animals swimming slowly under the bow. A first for me and my guests.
I am booking the Nomad again for a birthday dinner cruise. A few couples, wine and sailing down the CA coast at dawn...my new go to experience for visitors and just a good quite night thanks to captain Brian.
I am booking the Nomad again for a birthday dinner cruise. A few couples, wine and sailing down the CA coast at dawn...my new go to experience for visitors and just a good quite night thanks to captain Brian.
Written June 23, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Catherine M
Fairview, TX20 contributions
Aug 2019
While in Santa Cruz last week [August 21] we went on Nomad Charter's Sunset Sail. The weather was perfect and the sailing was extraordinary! We saw dolphins, otters, sea birds and a humpback whale. Our host was so familiar with the habits of the birds and fish! He was an expert in moving our boat toward the whale without spooking it. A delightful evening.
Written August 29, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Catherine, that was a great evening for wildlife. It is such a treat to see the Sooty Shearwaters on their annual migration. Glad you got to experience it.
Captain Brian
Written September 18, 2019
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Lynn G
Minneapolis, MN110 contributions
Apr 2019 • Couples
Brian to the rescue!!
We had a yacht lined up to have our wedding ceremony on and at the last minute, they bailed leaving us stranded. Brian was amazing, he changed up his plans on our behalf to make sure this happened for us, despite it being Easter weekend...he stepped up and provided the sailboat so we didn't have to change everything up last minute.
He was a fabulous host and a fabulous skipper!! We sailed for a couple of hours afterwards and enjoyed the beautiful Santa Cruz coast/Monterey Bay.
Thank you Brian for everything...our knight in shining armour!!
He really came through for is and it was incredibly appreciated. Everything went off just fine.
We had a yacht lined up to have our wedding ceremony on and at the last minute, they bailed leaving us stranded. Brian was amazing, he changed up his plans on our behalf to make sure this happened for us, despite it being Easter weekend...he stepped up and provided the sailboat so we didn't have to change everything up last minute.
He was a fabulous host and a fabulous skipper!! We sailed for a couple of hours afterwards and enjoyed the beautiful Santa Cruz coast/Monterey Bay.
Thank you Brian for everything...our knight in shining armour!!
He really came through for is and it was incredibly appreciated. Everything went off just fine.
Written May 17, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Lyn,
What an honor to be a part of your ceremony! We appreciate you trusting us to host your special day. Your group is full of fun and energy.
All the best,
Brian
nomadsantacruz.com
Written May 22, 2019
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Erin H
Durham, NC2 contributions
Oct 2018 • Friends
We had a beautiful day on the bay sailing with Captain Brian. He is professional, kind, experienced and hospitable. We saw whales, otters and dolphins. Our group felt very comfortable and well taken care of. A total dream! Must do while in the area!
Written October 23, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you Erin!
Written September 18, 2019
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Taylor P
1 contribution
Sep 2019 • Couples
Sadly we had to cancel our trip mere hours before the scheduled time due to food poisoning. However, Brian was AWESOME and understanding of our situation. It was no problem to get a full refund. We will definitely be sailing with Nomad on our next visit to Santa Cruz!
Written September 24, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
No questions have been asked about this experience