Big Island of Hawaii

Kaimana Ocean Safari

Name: Kaimana Ocean Safari
Brand: Kaimana Ocean Safari
SKU: 263256P1
Price: 185.25 USD
Rating: 5.0 (198 reviews)

Badge of ExcellenceBig Island of Hawaii, USA

4 hours
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

This "safari" style trip lets you avoid the crowds that are typical of many boat tours. In a small group, head out along the Kona coastline in search of marine life, including dolphins, sea turtles, sharks and whales. When the crew have found the right spot, you can put on your snorkeling gear, jump off board and explore the underwater world.

Snorkeling tour along the Kona, Big Island coastline
Small-group tour: A more personable experience
"Safari" style boat trip: Covers vast areas in search of marine life
Learn all about Hawaii's marine wildlife and reefs from your guides

What's Included

Use of Snorkeling equipment
Snacks
Bottled water

Towels, rash guards, sun protection are not included. Please bring reef safe sunscreen (zinc only).

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

74 Kealakehe Pkwy, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740, USA
Tours meet at Honokohau Harbor north side bathrooms 15 minutes prior to departure. Enter Kealakehe Parkway from Queen Ka’ahumanu Hwy, Make your first right & turn left after the gas station on your left. Park at the bathroom pavilion & meet staff.

Start time

08:00 AM

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Service animals allowed
Near public transportation
Not recommended for travelers with back problems

No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
We have a 4ft height limit for children
We have an in-water weight limit of 300 lbs- must be able to climb ladder
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 6 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Joshua_T

This was INCREDIBLE! Kay and Cam were amazing guides. Very knowledgeable and excited to share what they know. They even had fresh pineapple aboard the boat for after our last jump. The most amazing thing was seeing the white tipped shark and the manta ray! Oh and jelly fish! Swam with them all. We almost missed the spinner dolphins but Kay spotted them as we were heading back to the harbor and we got to see them lazily come up for air a couple times! 10 out of 10! Would HIGHLY recommend!

Reviews

5.0

198 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-10 of 198 reviews

Outstanding !!!!

Sandra_C, Feb 2024

had the most epic time!! Saw Manta Rays, and were able to snorkel along side endangered False Killer Whales. The crew were absolutely amazing and made sure the trip was everything we had hoped it would be.

Excellent, unique adventure for the family

Jennifer_S, Jan 2024

Fantastic day for the whole family! We had a great time exploring the ocean on this adventure. Thank you!

Fun adventure!

Kien_T, Aug 2023

Such a great experience for my family on this ocean safari trip. Kay, Olivia and Alice did a great job with taking us to locations to see and experience things we would not normally see or do. With their expert guidance, we were able to experience news things in a fun and safe environment. We were able to see and get into the water with some pilot whales on our back! Would recommend this to anyone but you would enjoy it more if you have some prior snorkeling experience to maximize the fun!

Great Small Group Experience

David_S, May 2023

Morri and Liv were amazing guides. We were able to swim within 10’ of Pilot Whales on our excursion!!!

They make sure to turn your day into a magical experience

Jacob_B, Jan 2023

Amazing is an understatement, the guides made sure we saw the most, informing us on all the local and rare wild life , thanks guys !

Best boat tour I have ever been on!

Hannah_T, Jan 2023

Really wonderful experience, we were so blessed by the wildlife we saw on the trip which although that is completely outside of the control of the amazing guides, i do believe we would have had an amazing trip no matter what. The small group setting let them be flexible in the animals we were looking for and they are all so knowledgable that it was super enjoyable to be around them. 1000x better than any other boating/whale watching tour I have ever been on, worth every penny.

Overall great trip. Cam...

Xiang_L, Dec 2022

Overall great trip. Cam filmed some great videos for us. We even saw as least three Manta-Rays today! Great experience!

A must!

Teresa_F, Sep 2022

Fabulous 🤩 Cam and his crew were wonderful. Very professional. We had such a great trip. Weather was perfect, we saw lots of interesting fish. Spinner dolphins were putting on a show. Just a relaxing easy ride, with caring lovely people. Enjoy

Response from Host, Nov 2022

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review. We truly appreciate it! Hope to see you again soon!

Loved it!

Vera_T, Jul 2022

Very knowledgeable group of young people who LOVE the ocean and all sea-life and protect it. We saw a couple of turtles, a manta ray, some spinner dolphins catching the wave, schools of fish, etc. Very pleasurable boat ride with good music. And it is a smaller boat with less people, we found it much more comfortable. Enjoy your ocean safari!

Best ocean tour

Kelley_l, May 2022

What a fantastic group of three knowledgeable tour guides. We had an absolute blast. The best part is they gave us options on what we wanted to see and do. And that choice ended up being one of the greatest highlights of our trip. Highly recommend this tour.

Fantastic!

Vanessa_G, May 2022

We had an amazing time! What a unique and memorable experience. Swimming with whales and dolphins all in the same day was an unexpected pleasure. They were very knowledgeable about all the ocean species that we may encounter and gave us clear instructions on how to behave in their presence. Conservation of the ocean and it's inhabitants was of foremost importance to the crew. We would definitely recommend this adventure and can't wait to join the Ocean Safari again!

First time snorkeling with whales! Wow!

Michaela_W, Apr 2022

Kay and Cam shared their knowledge and love of the ocean and it's inhabitants and provided a safe and wonderful experience. We were blessed to see so many amazing creatures-beaked whales, pilot whales, manta rays, spinner dolphins, tiger sharks, green sea turtles and myriads of fish species. Great vibes on the boat-professional and fun! Would highly recommend for a top notch time on and in the water.

total disaster 100% waist of money

Noe_R, Apr 2022

maybe our expectation were to high, maybe the young captain was to unexperienced or maybe it was just bad luck… we decided to book this trip to get a different experience from the “mainstream snorkel tours” and it turned out to be a complete desaster. before starting the crew showed us picture of all possible animals that we may see and explaned us how to behave. Since we have not seen anyhing it was useless. we stopped at a place but did not get in the water because it was “not clear enoigh” and they want to go to a better spot. we then navigate to Makako Bay for a so calles “warm-up dive” the snorkel spot was awful with almost no corals and very few fish (tho worst snorkel of our hawaii trip). The focus on the crew was to get nice diving picture for those who paied the extra service. After that we went off-shore” to try to see the bigger stuff. we stopped in 3 places in the middel of the ocean without seeing anyhing. The last desperate move was to search for Mantas and we went to the most commercial spot ever, exactly in fron of the Spot where all the boat leave for manta Tour. Seeing mantas there is basically 100% granted. what i found ridicoulus was the fake exitement that the crew was showing, trying to make us belive that we have been lucky to see Mantas. snorkel was also not pleasent. the captain was shouting all the time from the boat such as “there is a big fish here” or “oh there may be spinner dolphins” even if the spot was totally safe we had to stay close to our guide. this tour is a waist of money

Response from Host, Apr 2022

Aloha! It’s unfortunate that you are choosing to write a bad review and negatively affect a small family owned business due to something so out of our control. We cannot guarantee that we will see anything specific as it is nature and again beyond our control. Majority of people will be very excited to see “only” 6 manta rays and one spotted eagle ray in beautiful Hawaiian waters. The educational briefing at the start is for education & not a guarantee that you will see every animal on that list. It does sound like you did in fact have too high of expectations. The “young” captain you refer to is myself the owner at 34 years old & 10 years of experience. We support women in male dominated fields. You should use more open minded judgement & have reasonable expectations on nature. Mahalo

Authentic Pacific Experience

Kaitlyn_A, Mar 2022

This was so cool! I was self conscious at first because I was paired with some more experienced divers but the Kaimana staff made me feel comfortable. We were able to see a sea turtle, bottlenose dolphins, a large bait ball, and manta rays! I was a bit sad that we didn't get to see any sharks or anything in the open water locations but I could tell the staff were doing their best and the odds just weren't in our favor that day. They are wild animals, after all. We still saw a lot closer to the coast! I sprung for the photo package where one of their guides uses their camera to take underwater photos of you and mine turned out super cool. It was $100 and well worth it in my opinion. I just wish I had more time on the island so I could do this tour AGAIN! Thank you Kaimana!

Good Excursion

April_H, Mar 2022

The ocean safari was enjoyable. The boat ride was smooth. The crew was friendly and knowledgeable. Beautiful day on the big blue ocean.

Yes! This is the one!!

Brad_S, Feb 2022

The most amazing experience! Kayleigh and Cam are so knowledgeable about the ocean and ocean life. We could have listened to them talk about ocean life for the whole tour. We were blessed to have three manta ray visit us! The Hawaiian gods gave us a pod of dolphins. Kayleigh said “let’s go!” Before you knew it we were ahead of the pod, jumping into the blue bliss, and swimming right alongside a pod of wild dolphins! Can’t say enough about this trip! Please note… this truly is a wild safari no guarantees on viewing mantas or dolphins. I can guarantee you will leave with lots of knowledge about the ocean.

Awesome

Joseph_D, Feb 2022

Amazing experience we dove with, Manta Ray's and a shark. We also saw dolphins and hump back whales highly recommend.

We got to safely view...

Michael_L, Jan 2022

We got to safely view oceanic white tips and silky sharks, along with getting to snorkel along a reef and see lots of beautiful fish and even an eel. There were humpback whale sightings along the way

Kaimana Ocean Safari

Rachel_S, Jan 2022

This was the best excursion I have ever experienced! Kay and Cam were so knowledgeable about the ocean, the land and all the fish and animals we encountered. We snorkeled at Kealakekua Bay and then were lucky enough to swim with 3 sharks in deeper water. Kay and Cam were very diligent about safety the entire trip and teaching us about shark behavior before getting into the water. We also got GoPro footage of the trip the day after which I thought was amazing! Whenever we return the the big island we will absolutely book another trip with Kaimana Ocean safari!

An amazing trip with an amazing crew

suzansaninosaka, Jan 2022

The surf was rough the day we went on the tour so there was a chance that the tour would be canceled. But because of the skillful maneuvering of the boat, we were able to get out of the harbor for an amazing day. On the way out, we were able to see whales. Though the snorkeling locations were limited, we were able to go to Kealakekua Bay. On the way back, we encountered melon headed whales, a kind of dolphin, which we were told are rare in HI. They came incredibly close to the boat. We were able to jump into the water to see them in the distance. I would highly recommend the Ocean Safari experience with Kaimana. Since the tour was limited to 6, we were able to have a personalized tour. The icing on the cake was that they posted underwater videos for downloading, an unexpected momento of the trip.

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