Dolphin Discoveries

My husband and I went on the manta night snorkel and had the most awesome experience! The captain and crew were very informative and helpful. We felt completely safe the entire time. I will absolutely do this trip with this company again on my next visit.nnUpdate...Did the dolphin snorkel this morning. SO AMAZING! The pods swam all around us and watching them play, jump and spin out of the water was so exciting. Again, the crew and captain were very knowledgeable about the mammals' behaviors and careful to preserve the pod's natural integrity. I can't say enough about the professionalism of Dolphin Discoveries!

While the dolphins weren't where they 1st thought, we found them eventually and saw a manta and a turtle and got some reef snorkeling time in too. The snacks were a nice touch and the crew was friendly and engaging with some cultural/historical facts to boot. All the gear worked well and the crew were safety conscious by keeping the boat between us and any potential water craft traffic when necessary. We had a mix of ages and though I would have liked to have spent more time in the water, we had alot of boat time trying to find the dolphins and then getting back. Still it was a fantastic experience swimming near something in its natural environment that you only see on TV nature shows. Very much worth the time.

Our captain, Shelley, was very knowledgeable about Hawaii, dolphins, and whales! He taught us how to respect their natural habitat. We saw a few pods of dolphins and were able to snorkel with them but unfortunately they were not super engaging the day we went. But Shelley said most of the time they will engage and swim right by you! He also took us to Captain Cooks bay to snorkel and that was beautiful! LOTS of fish and coral! They also provided packaged snacks and super yummy fresh fruit and drinks! Great day!

Had multiple dolphin encounters this morning! Captain Shelly is very knowledgeable and takes care to ensure encounters are ethical. Snorkeling in the reef after the dolphins was amazing. We particularly enjoyed his extensive knowledge of Hawaiian history and language!

We were not lucky with dolphins. We went to about 5-6 shallow bays first without finding dolphins and ended up finding dolphins in deep water two hours later. While in water, I saw one group of four dolphins swim by for about 3 seconds and in other location I saw group of 6 swim by for about 3 seconds. The rest of my family saw little bit more but it was not possible to observe dolphins in deep waters (as I expected to be able to) - you are lucky if you spot them swim by for couple of seconds. Not even whales showed up on our way back. We did not have time to go to Captain Cook, we spend most of our 4 hour trip riding full speed along the coast to various locations. Captain mentioned they usually don’t have to go that far to find dolphins and he worked hard to find them (together with many other boats that we saw). I understand this is experience with wild animals and it’s matter of luck to see them in more favorable location and have a chance to observe them for more then few seconds. Just want to share my experience, so expectations are realistic. Mine were not so I ended up disappointed. If I ever go again, I would not hesitate to use Dolphins Discoveries again, Captain Shelley was great, with tons of knowledge and experience and company provided overall great customer service.