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Dolphin Excursions
Rating Details »
Waianae Boat Harbor
Waianae, HI 96792
(877) 257-5579
Waianae, HI 96792
(877) 257-5579
7 reviews for Dolphin Excursions
When I was younger I've always wanted to swim with dolphins in the ocean and not in a marine park and during my recent trip to Oahu I had the chance to do it, thanks ot Dolphin Excursions and it was definitely one of the most memorable things we did during our trip.
We were picked up by the Dolphin Tour van from our hotel around 9am that morning and from there we were driven to the harbor where the Dolphin Excursion boat was docked. The trip to the harbor took approximately and hour so it's a good time to catch some zzz's before a day out on the water and in the sun.
After arriving and signing some waivers, we boarded the boat (which reminded me of a big banana boat) and was cheerfully greeted by Captain Jenna and her team. Since we were the 10:30am group and Captain Jenna knew approximately where the dolphins were hanging out after she found them for her 7:30am group, we had a head start and just headed out to that site. After a little while, we found them, Hawaiian dolphins, near the power plant often seen around that area.
It was soo cool...the dolphins were much smaller than the bottlenose ones you normally see at places like Marine World and they were so active. Capt. Jenna was filled with interesting facts and shared them and stories with us as we were heading out. Did you know that dolphins are nocturnal and swim in pairs during the day because their partially asleep? Weird!!
Anyways, we finally got our snorkel gear on (mask and fins which were provided) and got to actually get in the water with the dolphins. That was so awesome because you got to hear the dolphins making their sounds in the water and also have them swim under, around and next to you!!
Also during the snorkel we saw sea turtles...I was THISCLOSE to a sea turtle when it came up for air and many fishes.
On the boat we were provided with snacks such as granola bars, water, soda, fresh fruits, string cheese and other to keep us energized.
After the fantastic trip trip out at sea we headed back to the harbor, got in the van and headed back. Thank goodness for the van for I totally passed out on the way back from the full day of activities.
Awesome job Team Jenna...we had a blast!
BTW: For those that want to save a lil $$ especially in today's economy, if you get a Hawaii entertainment book, there is a coupon for 25% off the price for 4 people. Fab deal if you ask me!
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This was one of the activities I was looking forward to the most on our Hawaii vacation. Swimming in the ocean with majestic wild dolphins... dream come true, right? Yes...unless it's the dolphins' day off.
*We didn't see any dolphins*
On the boat ride over from Waianae Boat Harbor to the snorkeling area, we all had our eyes peeled for dolphins. Didn't see any. The view on this side of the island isn't the best either. The big old power plant kind of ruins the scenery. A competitor, Ko Olina Ocean Adventures, was already at the same snorkel spot with a group. We snorkeled around for a bit. Saw some turtles. Not too colorful a location though.
Heading back towards the harbor, we looked hopefully into the waters for any sign of dolphin movement. The captain, Jenna, was trying desperately to find some dolphins for us, but she admitted that even if we found any there wouldn't be enough time to swim with them. The other crew member didn't appear concerned at all. She was more interested in sunbaking, napping, and chatting with an old high school friend. That was irritating.
The morning started off with an excited group giddy with anticipation and ended with dampened spirits. Some of us even fell asleep. We arrived back at the harbor feeling dejected and defeated. Jenna seemed genuinely apologetic we didn't get the full dolphin experience. She even told us she wasn't expecting a tip since we didn't see anything. The other chick, however, just robotically told us about the vouchers they'd be mailing out to us. No "thanks for coming", no "sorry it was a bad day for dolphin watching", no "please come back and give it another try"...nothing to make us even want to use them again.
A couple weeks later, we received a voucher for a dolphin excursion which is good for another 3 years. Transportation not included with the voucher. This voucher will go unused. If we go to Hawai'i again in the next 3 years, it won't be to O'ahu.
The boat ride and snorkeling was all right, but I paid for a "dolphin" excursion not a "boating & snorkeling" excursion. Their website doesn't even address the possibility of not seeing any dolphins during a tour. The only thing mentioned is that once dolphins are spotted, their in-water program (what they call "The Drop") is successful 80% of the time.
If you want to try a wild dolphin tour on Oahu, I suggest Ko Olina Ocean Adventures. They offer a dolphin guarantee upgrade for an additional 20 bucks. If you don't see any dolphins, you get a full refund. An extra 20 bucks I would have gladly spent if that was even an option. Another company is Wild Side Specialty Tours. There is no similar offer, but at least they clearly state on their website that dolphins are seen 90-95% of the time and interaction is not guaranteed.
If we had seen dolphins, this review probably would have turned out differently. But seeing as we didn't, we got to experience how the business handles dolphin no-shows and we weren't impressed.
The 2 stars are purely for Mr. Honu allowing me to swim beside him.
We've been in Oahu now for 8 days, and have done tons of activities: snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, Kailua Beach and Electric Beach in Ko' Olina, gone to a luau, gone on a catamaran sunset cruise and stand up paddle surfboarding... but THIS was by far the best money spent!
Forget snorkeling at all those other places I went to, today, I got to swim with a pod of 9 dolphins in the ocean, saw sea turtles, and spotted at least 3 whales from our boat. One of them came up to our boat and was only 20 feet away!
Our excursion was led by Megan and Captain Jenna, and they were totally sweet and cool. You can just tell how much they love what they do, and how could they not? Waianae was such a beautiful spot, and they took us out to the northwest point of the island. They really took their time and took us all around to make sure we saw as much as we could.
We spent about 5 hours on this excursion, and it was so much fun. For about $100/person, I would definitely do this again the next time I'm in Oahu and highly recommend you book this for your vacation too.
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This is absolutely fantastic! We swam with a pod of about 25 dolphins in the wild -- they were all around us, swimming under us, surfacing and jumping. It was amazing.
In our party was a 7 year old (who cried at the idea of snorkeling yesterday) and 2 grandmothers who refused to even put a toe in spectacular Hanaumua Bay. The weather was lousy -- at least for Honolulu. Cloudy, rainy at times, in the 60s -- we all snorkeled and we all loved it.
This is one of those vacation memories to last forever. The captain and skipper were excellent. It is a small boat and intimate setting. Can't say enough good things about the trip.
i was going to wait until i get back to sf to write any reviews of hawaii but i just had to share this experience.
ive been looking forward to this ever since ive read connie cs review. you see, growing up, one of the many things i wanted to be was a marine biologist. watching the voyage of the mimi as an impressionable youth, i pictured myself snapping pictures of humpback whales flukes.........
yesterday, i got to live this fantasy.... along with swimmng fifteen feet above a pod of 40 or so spinner dolphins, swimming within 10 feet of four adult sea turtles and a little baby honu.
absolutely the best 100 bucks ive ever spent in my life.
they will come pick you up at your hotel. after a short 40 minutesish ride to the west side, we were getting on your boat. they provide fins and mas and snorkel. the lovely ladies, krissy and jenna got us on whales almost immediately. sure they were a bit far from us, about 100 feet at least, but unless you are lucky and they come towards you, you really cant do much about that. after a bit of playing chasing the whales, we were on dolphins almost right away. we jumped into the water at this point. amazing. top it off? we went to a coral reef area where sea turtles like to hang out.
100 bucks for all this? a steal!
the highly unlikely case you DONT see anything, they do offer a coupon for a free trip, good for three years. apparently, about a dozen or so trips a year, they get skunked. two trips a day for a year and only dozen skunked trips? thats some good odds.
thanks connie for the heads up and thank you dolphin excursion for an amazing outting.
oh and fyi, theres a camera guy with you, with the fancy zoom lenses and underwater case...... 40 bucks for a cd of the trip... so worth it..... but dont forget your OWN disposable underwater camera, you WILL get close enough to snap some great pics of your own.
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thanks to connie's rave review of this place at a yelp party, i went ahead and booked it. $100 didn't seem too steep of a price to pay for the dolphin swim especially since it was $250 in Cancun. of course, upon some research, it wasn't exactly the same thing. in cancun, you're in a large pool with trained dolphins and here, you pretty much get in a boat and go look for them. we almost didn't find any which would have sucked but in the end - about 2-3 hours in, we did. the first 3 hours were not uneventful. we did some whale watching which was interesting. got some cool pix of whales up close. we then went to a snorkel site and snorkelled around in the ocean. not sure what's stopping sharks from coming along and taking down a couple snorkelers but whatever.
then when we ran out of other things to do, we looked in one last spot and, on cue, there was a school of some 20-ish dolphins. we all got on the side of the boat, Navy Seal Attack Style and we all simultaneously dropped in the water as they under under us. they went pretty slow so the faster swimmers were able to keep up with them (barely) but, shockingly, those little dolphins could swim faster than us when push came to shove. i managed to zero in on one that looked like it was coming up for air and it surfaced only about 12 feet from me, looked around and blazed off. about a half dozen more then swam underneath me. pretty interesting to see these dolphins swim along while you're swimming around too.
snorkeling wasn't as cool as in hanauma bay but hanauma doesn't have dolphins so there you go. all in all, pretty sweet. i think i will reserve the right to retract one star when i get the pictures from the photographer. i didn't have an underwater camera with me so i didn't get any pix of the dolphins so i paid the $40 for the professional guys pictures of the trip. hopefully he got some good ones....
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I made a list of things-to-do-in-Hawaii before leaving for Iraq last year, and included the dolphin excursions. I left thinking this is hands-down one of the must-do things in Hawaii.
You get taken out in a boat in the morning (they have afternoon, too, but morning is supposed to be better for finding the dolphin pods), cruise around the western coast looking for the pods. When you find one, you pop on your snorkel gear and get dropped into the water. The pods are actually going to be about 20-30 feet under you, and you just try and follow them along. It's still a pretty cool experience. They then take you to a snorkeling spot, with all kinds of fish. We also had a sea turtle there, and my friend came literally nose-to-nose with it (you're not allowed to touch the sea turtles).
So where else are you going to say you went swimming with dolphins and sea turtles?
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