Top Shot Spearfishing — Local services in Hawaii

Not sure how these guys have a five star rating... pretty hokey operation from my experience. We met in the back yard of a church where we had our orientation for the day, an intro on how to use the spear guns, and a vague description of the fish we would be searching for. We then had to follow the guide in our own car to the beach access on the side of the road where we put on the provided wetsuits. The masks/snorkle and swimming fins provided were sub-par at best and clearly not sanitized since the previous use. The fins left my toes blistered after only about an hour of use, and were about 11/2' long so they really didn't make swimming much easier. In fact I took mine off about half way through. The "guide" was a nice guy and all, but was acting more like a minimal effort employee of a guide service than an actual guide. If the tour was more structured, he could have actually been able to teach us how to spearfish, but instead he chose to "set us loose" with the very limited knowlege he'd given us prior to getting in the water while he hung on his bouy playing lifeguard, and de-fogging our masks from time to time since we had to take them off repeatedly due to them leaking. The one and only time I shot the spear gun I shot an illegal fish. I blamed it on my poor eyesight, but really it was due to the lack of description he gave while explaining the fish we were looking for. Maybe best to ask for pictures and size regulations before hand. If you want a true spear fishing excursion, this is not the place for you. It was clear that the guide has a spot where he knows there will be small, legal fish like Kole and King Kole which are appearntly the targeted fish for these group outings. It is unlikely you will be shooting anything much bigger than your hand. If you are looking for a VERY brief intro to spear fishing, learning how the spear gun works, and then swimming around with the spear gun pretending to spearfish, and maybe taking a couple shots just to see what it's like, then this place may be right for you. Do be ware though, that you will likely be fighting your mask the entire time, the fins are uncomfortable, the guide is pretty hands off and not a great instructor, the knowlege and technique shared with you is limited, and you will be treading water for all 2.5 hours your in it. Also, for my group there was only one fishing location. Which I'm sure is generally the same for all outings and we ended our trip about 45 minutes early due to all the reasons above. Spend your money wisely! I would love to have nicer things to say, but these are the facts of...

I cannot say enough good things about our Top Shot (Kona) spearfishing trip! We were a group of 4 adults and elected for the private trip. Myself, my husband, my brother, and my father. This was BY FAR our favorite part of our trip.

Booking and communication were incredibly easy - from online booking to electronic waivers to informative emails with directions and extra information.

We were so pleased to meet Jeremy, who is the owner of Top Shot. It's not very often that you get to go out with the actual owner of a tour company! He is incredibly knowledgeable about everything and it was easy to tell that spearfishing is a true passion of his. He has a kind, easy-going manner and really is a good teacher. His explanations are step-by-step and build logically and completely. By the end of the shore instruction, we all felt ready to jump in! Once we got into the water, my Dad got pretty anxious. Jeremy was able to get him completely calmed down and settled in a kind and professional manner. Jeremy certainly never pushed any of us out of our comfort zone but gave us the freedom to try all the different skills. We felt safe and comfortable the whole time.

Spearfishing is SO FUN! With the techniques Jeremy taught us, I was able to easily free dive down about 15 feet and wait for a few moments to try to spear fish. My husband, who normally has a hard time equalizing the pressure in his ears, was able to use the techniques taught by Jeremy to relieve the pressure and was able to dive for the first time ever!! While out, we saw tons of fish, a sea turtle, an eel, and an octopus!

We actually speared fish!! I was able to spear two and my brother was able to spear three. Jeremy cleaned them for us and gave us instructions for how to cook them. They were so delicious!

Seriously, this is a fantastic activity and you should do it. We will certainly go out with Jeremy again next time we...

I woke up in the morning with an awkward amount of anxiety. So many questions so much going on. I arrived at the market early (again a bit anxious) sat down on some benches and waited for others to arrive. Jeremy drove up and greeted us with a smile and got setup for our roughly 90 minutes of classroom.

Jeremy quickly established credibility and outlined the day: intro session on land, 2nd intro wet session in the water, then onto the hunt.

Land session was everything you needed to get going, a bit of fish lore, a bit of getting to know everyone, breathe techniques to spend time under water (which worked and doubled my expectations of how long I could hang at the bottom), how you're supposed to actually hunt fish, and of course how to use the aimrite speargun (which I ended up purchasing and going out solo(ish) later in the week).

Wet session was entertaining. When we jumped into the water he threw in the guns and they sank to the bottom. I thought the water was pretty deep, and no way are a bunch of n00bs going to dive that deep. Well... After reviewing breathing, it was onto the diving mechanics. Had zero problems getting to that depth later in the day.

The hunt, I got 5 but was going for variety and testing out methods to get questions answered by the expert. If I was just trying to tally up fish, 15-20 no problem. ProTip: Listen and follow the techniques he talks about. You can't chase the fish. Hide and they come to you.

I saw tons of fish, turtles, octopus, and made a few friends.

(I booked the group the lesson early on during my week long stay. If I could do it again I would've booked the same group lesson followed by a private lesson later in the week.)

10 out of 10 I would recommend this to a friend.  Hopefully I'll be able to circle back one day for...