Oahu Circle Island Snorkel Tour — Local services in Honolulu

Booking this tour was the best idea I've had in a long time! Cousin A was a remarkable tour guide, I was instantly at ease with him, even as a solo traveler. His sense of humor, stories, and knowledge was exceptional. I learned so much on the tour and I think he really honored the Hawaiian Spirit. Cousin A has a real talent for this, I can't wait to return to Hawaii and book more tours with him! I would unequivocally recommend this tour, and I can't speak for the other guides, but if you have the option, try to get on a tour with Cousin A, you won't regret it! The tour itself really gets you outside of the hustle and bustle of Honolulu proper. We saw whales in the distance at sunrise along the first stop of the tour, while eating the most delicious donuts. Lunch at Fumi's was an excellent choice! I got the lemon pepper shrimp option and I don't regret it. Cousin A pointed out a lot of really cool things along the way on our drive up to the North Shore. We even saw where President Obama lived as a baby! definitely upgrade to the snorkeling option, while we didn't see any sea turtles on this particular day, I did see a great deal of tropical fish and also an eel! Stopping along the way to see the famous endangered Hawaiian monk seals left me speechless. What a special opportunity. Cousin A shared so many moving Hawaiian legends and stories, I felt really connected to the land and waters that we were exploring. I could go on for days about how wonderful this trip was. It was the highlight of my...

I found this tour through Groupon and thought it was a great deal. Booking and confirming the trip was easy. The pick up location for us was easy to find because it was close to the hotel. John Jr was our guide and was very good. He knew a lot about the island that would be of interest to the tourists. I liked his ukulele playing, so did my Facebook friends as I was live streaming it. :) The lunch at Fumi's was delicious, they were also willing to accommodate me with no rice and just gave me extra salad.

The snorkeling was okay, not spectacular. But that's okay and it was beyond the control of the tour company. The water was a bit cloudy and it was hard to see anything. I did see a lot of fish and one urchin. Someone in our group did see the turtles. The lifeguard who was handing out snorkel gear was "meh." It didn't seem like he was really life guarding as he was handing out equipment. I liked that we could leave our belongings in the van and John Jr watched things. It made snorkeling less worrisome.

Dole was good, but it was just to shop. It would have been nice to have enough time there to even do just a "mini" tour. I can understand not enough time to do the maze and the train, but it really just an opportunity to shop. That being said, I wanted to shop at Dole while in Honolulu. :)

I recommend this tour as a good way to get an overview of Oahu and an extra bonus if you...

The tour was just OK and not one we would recommend to friends and family. We're glad we did an island tour but it's not the best tour we could have done. It seems good on paper but was not as good as it should have been.

THE GOOD: -We got to see the island, which is gorgeous. -We enjoyed the Dole Plantation, North Shore, lookout points, and coffee bean farm. -We learned a lot about the Hawaiian culture from the tour guide. -We weren't forced to buy anything we didn't want to but we were taken to some cute food places that were delicious.

THE BAD: -We paid for two hours of snorkeling but were only given one hour (and we were not offered a refund for the hour that we were shorted and the tour guide was unapologetic). -The snorkeling equipment that was provided was broken and the tour guide did not try to remedy the problem. -It says 16 locations but we stopped at only 7 locations. The tour guide only pointed out maybe 2-3 other locations that were on the list that we drove by, but the other locations that were listed were not stopped at or mentioned. -The company was 2 hours late picking us up due to poor planning on their end and were unapologetic about it. -The tour guide (Yuda) talked about himself too much and promoted his Youtube channel. -The lunch was expensive for...