He was the first person in recorded history to note certain ecological features of the California coast such as the Monterey cypress forest at Point Lobos.

[citation needed] The commander of the Tres Reyes, Martín de Aguilar, became separated from Vizcaíno and continued up the coast to present-day Oregon as far as Cape Blanco and possibly to Coos Bay.

[1] Much of what we know about Vizcaíno's Pacific Coast voyage is from the diary of Antonio de la Ascensión [es] a Carmelite friar, chronicler and cosmographer who traveled with the expedition.

[7] One result of Vizcaíno's voyage was a flurry of enthusiasm for establishing a Spanish settlement at Monterey, but this was ultimately deferred for another 167 years after the Conde de Monterrey left to become Viceroy of Peru and his successor was less favorable.

However, diplomacy soured due to a rumor that the Spanish intended to use the Japanese Christian minority to overthrow the shogunate and take control of Japan.

In October 1615, Vizcaíno commanded 200 men at the port of Salagua against an attack by 200 Dutch pirates led by Joris van Spilbergen.

In 1888, botanist Edward Lee Greene published Viscainoa, which is a genus of flowering plants from Mexico belonging to the family Zygophyllaceae and was named in Sebastián Vizcaíno's honour.