Kona Diving EcoAdventures — Local services in Hawaii

We booked a trip with them to do the dolphin and reef tour.

After getting an instruction on how to handle being in the water with dolphins we set out. It was apparent after about an hour and a half that the crew was not going to be able to find dolphins. But they continued searching anyways for the next hour and a half still with no luck. So we ended up spending $300 to sit on a boat for 3 hours and get a grocery store lunch. Once they decided for sure that they we weren't going to be able to find dolphins, they set us down next to some rocks where there were some fish and we spent about 30 minutes there before then heading back to the port. This "reef tour" was horribly sub par compared to Sea Quest's reef tour which was nearly the same price and was an amazing experience. Which let me add that the reef they set us down was simply nearby to the port and was clearly not popular due to the lack of coral when compared to other nearby reefs.

We then got a speel about how this never happens and has only happened 2 times out of 600 tours. They then offered to give everyone a free tour the next time we were conveniently in Hawaii. Which quite frankly is somewhat absurd and manipulative considering the fact that most people come to Hawaii as a vacation only a few times in their lives. Let alone within 5 years apart.

We then tried to get a refund or at least a partial refund because what happened was "extremely rare". Still they refused and wouldn't even give us a partial refund! Which should of covered operating costs. So all in all they refused to concede any money (which quite frankly should happen occasionally because businesses make mistakes and given a worst case scenario, it makes sense a business should accept a loss for the sake of the company's success and public perception) and overall it wasted half of one of the few days we spent in Hawaii.

We did end up reserving our spots the following day in case we decided to go because there was still plenty of space left on the boat (they were not filled up) and we didn't want it to be a total loss. But even though we reserved our spots the previous day mid-day, we somehow "took other peoples spots" when realistically the boat can seat 22 people and there were only 6 passengers on our tour the previous day!

Do yourself a favor and choose a different touring company. We did 3 water tours in totality, and this was by far the worst...

This was absolutely amazing! The crew was fantastic and were very friendly and went out of their way to find us some amazing sea creatures! We were able to swim with the dolphins in the ocean which was amazing since they would get close and seeing them in their natural habitat was great. The calls that the Dolphins made to each other would put you on edge since you didn't know where they were coming from. After we finished swimming with the dolphins, we started to look for whales but were unsuccessful but it turned out to be very okay since we heard the radio say “whale shark”. The captain immediately turned the ship towards the location of the whale shark and we found it. They took us in two at a time to snorkel with this beautiful creature and it was life-changing. We then went to a reef and jumped off the top of the boat and swam around. This was my favorite excursion I went...

This was a great outfit to dive with! Very friendly and knowledgeable staff (I went with Brooks, Danielle, Jarrad (sp?), and Patricia). I am a novice diver and I never felt out of place or uncomfortable amongst them. The gear I rented was what I felt to be of great quality, and in perfect working order. After talking with one of the owners for a while, I left with a feeling that this was an operation with a passion for diving, while based on values, trust, and integrity... a family-type atmosphere, if you will; and, something I find very comforting and important. I will definitely be diving with Kona Diving EcoAdventures again, and it can't come soon...