Ocean Encounters — Local services in Hawaii

Horrible experience in the water. customer service ...yet, even worse.

The boat I was on "Ocean Encounters", departed later than scheduled which forced us to arrive at the site well after all the other boats had already anchored. Which from other previous reviews seems common with this company. This forced us to perform a "live boat entry" into the water. Entry was hectic enough, then the man 'o war arrived. After the first few people got stung there was NO ATTEMPT or OPPORTUNITY for people to get out of the water! We were told to basically suck it up that the pain would only last about 20 minutes. Eventually EVERYONE was stung.. multiple times!! It was a complete cluster f*#k! I was ready to swim to another closer, moored boat. Multiple times our "raft" swam towards our boat but due to the other boats too close in vicinity each time when we got close, our boat took off away from us. We were forced to stay in the water MUCH MUCH longer than we should have had to, leaving us exhausted and feeling powerless! There was obviously never a plan to get people out of the water quickly! A kid could be heard screaming from another raft, his screams were what we all were trying our best to keep inside to not panic and drown.

After making it back on the boat, in choppy waters to boot, the captain tells everyone to call the office the next morning. The crew were sympathetic to our horrible experience and sincerely seemed to feel bad for what we all had endured. They tried their best to treat everyone's wounds with hot compresses.

The following morning we call the office to have a young woman answer with absolutely NO sympathy for the passengers. She told me that they don't give refunds, that things like this are to be EXPECTED and that "people can't die from jellyfish"! That she has been stung before and to basically 'suck it up'. She told us that there were ambulances called in the harbour if we needed them when we had arrived back. I guess her reasoning was only if I needed an ambulance to the hospital should I be entitled to a refund. We were offered to go out with them again: #1 We don't have the time left in our vacation to do so.. #2 Are you joking? I wouldn't wish the experience on my enemies! What a joke of a company!

Do yourself /family a favor: book with another company that has your safety and experience in their best interest, this one does NOT! I should've had a clue when the name of their company is "Bite Me!". Pretty much sums up the woman on their phone.

edit: photos are from 2 days later. wrist still swollen and other arm covered...

This was a day for the books! When planning our trip I kinda randomly picked Ocean Encounters for our Manta Ray snorkel. I called to make the reservations as I had some questions (we had a group of 13 ages 7-78). I mentioned that we also wanted to do a whale tour. They told me with a group our size we could book a private "fishing tour" and have the boat with captain and first mate, for 6 hours to do EVERYTHING (for almost half price of doing both tours separately, what a savings!)!! And EVERYTHING happened! My elderly parents were concerned about getting on and off the boat, but the crew had no issues accommodating them. The tour started slow with NO sighting of anything and then the first mate asked if anyone had banana's aboard. (we brought our own dinner as that wasn't included). We did and he explained they were bad luck on boats (yay, sailor lore!) so the teenagers had so much fun throwing them overboard! Upon the disposal of the banana's we saw a hammerhead shark! Then we saw humpback whales! Then, way off in the distance we saw some dolphins! Right as we headed towards them our fishing line got a hit and we reeled in a 40lb Ulua (our 1st mate was so excited as he doesn't catch those often!). We caught up to the dolphins to find it was a pod of 300! We got to quickly swim with them (they are much faster then us) but they played in our wake for over 1/2 hour! I have never had such an amazing dolphin encounter. Our 8 year old on the trip was beyond excited in tears happy. The crew noticed her enthusiasm and made sure she had a great quick snorkel with them but taking her by the hand and getting her in the water quick! We had a short time for a quick snorkel before we headed to the Mantas. We ate dinner and watched the sunset (saw the green flash for the first time!) and then got ready to see the Manta's. We were all in the water and having no luck at our spot so our guide jumped in and towed our manta float over to where they were. We were graced by dozens of manta "barrel rolls" and everyone was over the moon! We returned to the dock and the 1st mate (Judas, was amazing) prepared our fish for us. Finding it to be safe he talked the crew through what he was doing. We gave half of the fish to him and took the rest home to our rental. We highly enjoyed the bonus meal of fresh deep water fish! I would highly recommend this company, especially if you have a large group and enjoy custom,...

Awful time. We were told we’d be able to swim with dolphins on the phone before booking. Every single person on our tour expected to swim with the dolphins and were told they’d be able to enter the water with them. Their website is literally called swimwithdolphinsandmantas.com. Right before departing on the boat the captain told us it was illegal to swim with the dolphins and we were not allowed to enter the water with them. The entire boat could not believe it. The captain claimed it was a $1,000.00 fine per person if they were caught letting us swim near dolphins.

Regardless he went up and down the coast looking for dolphins. After a few hours of wasting my valuable vacation time we found three other charters in a huge pod of dolphins. Everyone on their charters were having the time of their life swimming with dolphins. Our captained refused to go near them fearing to get a ticket. He said we could get out and swim to them. He parked 1/4 mile away from them and told us to swim, without life jackets. Like idiots the entire tour swam towards them in 50 feet of water, but they were long gone when we got anywhere close to them. The other tours moved with the pods.

He told us to get back on the boat. When we did he said there is no way to get near the dolphins. We watched as all three charters moved and got in front of this enormous pod of dolphins, then entered with them. You could literally see how much fun they were having as we drove off completely unsatisfied.

He then drove another 30 minutes and told us to snorkel in 30 feet of water with huge waves and a strong current. It was awful. Overall I paid $300.00 for my wife and I to take a boat ride and snorkel in rough water for 30 minutes. Since then they have ignored my emails and calls. Looking at all the other reviews I see there is no chance I will be getting a refund. If you want to swim with dolphins book another tour. If you want to swim with mantas book with Aloha Kayaks. We used them earlier in the trip and it was amazing and the staff was beyond friendly. Ocean Encounters are thieves and...