We researched dolphin encounters available on this coastline ("famous" for such) and choose to go out with Ko Olina Ocean Adventures which is the best company on the West side of Oahu, as they advertised passive, sensitive, in water encounters in which they follow consistently- and especially since they were walking distance near our Ko Olina timeshare. Ko Olina Marina is not was gorgeous, Ko Olina Marina is GORGEOUS especially the boats Ko Olina Ocean Adventures use! It was much nicer then the passable state boat harbor we previously used on a dolphin encounter with Wild Side Tours who we had the worst experience and would never ever use them again. My family were treated horrible and the harbor they use to depart out of was horrible...BEWARE OF THEM THEY ARE IMPOSTERS!!!!! The delight with Ko Olina Ocean Adventures continued while boarding the Pacific Passion boat. This excellent company's tour was geared to accomodate all passengers from across the world. We departed the harbor, The snorkeling area was beautiful. We saw so much unbelieveable underwater life. The Underwater portion of the Ko Olina Ocean Adventures tour was great..we saw turtles, reef fish and coral. I don't know what the other review meant by fumes off of the power plant. I think that other reviewer was probably smoking fumes because Ko Olina Ocean Adventures is about the underwater snorkeling experience, they aren't focused on whatever smells they thought they smelled.. We were definetly not concentrating on the smell around us on our tour with Ko Olina OCan Adventures. By the way WILD SIDE TOURS anchors at the POWER PLANT!!!!!! In case you forgot!!!! Our biggest and greatest experience was the "in water" portion with the dolphins. Ko Olina adventures had two boats working the 100-300 dolphin pod. What a special moment in time that Ko Olina Ocean Adentures gave to us. We observed while we passively flotated on top of the water dolphin's beautifuly interacting underwater. We took so many pictures... Ko Olina Ocean Adventures IS AWESOME!!! We felt that the BOAT behavior was ethical and very sensitive to the dolphins. Great Job guys!!! Ko Olina Marina is a beautiful harbor which Ko Olina Ocean Adventures works out of, we gained new appreciation for operators out of Ko Olina Marina expecially Ko Olina Ocean Adventures because they really cared about the marine life way more that the tour boat operators out of the state boat harbor which is alot farther down the road, and by the way alot of the slips out of the state harbor which is 15 miles further west from Ko Olina Marina has slips that are condemed. There marine tour operators are do not care about its marine life outside of there state harbor.

We drove to the site because the shuttle was booked and left before we decided to attend the tour. We arrived earlier than the tour bus and had some complimentary snacks. We were given quick info on the trip. The life jacket, snorkels, etc were better quality than ones we rented at shark's cove. We first went looking for dolphins. Not a bad siting. We did swim with the dolphins but we had to float in groups without moving too much so not to scare the dolphins. The site was pretty cool. We then went to snorkel with some fish. With fish food we purchased from the tour, we were able to lure hundreds of fish around us, just like the pics you see online. Pretty awesome. Howevere, sharks cove had more fish surrounding you without fish food. The downside to shark's cove was all the rocks that made it so difficult to snorkel. My family got cuts everywhere. Well, back to the snorkel part of the tour. We got to see turtles so that was cool. Saw sting rays and some more turtles at the turtle cleaning station. Turtles was limited and no cleaning of turtles were available. Overall, the trip was an 8. I thought it wasn't bad and people were nice. I would suggest this trip.

We researched dolphin encounters available on this coastline ("famous" for such) and choose to go out with Ko Olina Ocean Adventures, as they advertised passive, sensitive, in water encounters - and especially since they were walking distance near our Ko Olina timeshare. Ko Olina Marina was gorgeous! It was much nicer then the passable state boat harbor we previously used on a dolphin encounter with Wild Side Tours (who we greatly enjoyed). However, the delight stopped while boarding the Ko Olina boat. We were put on a tour boat with about 30 other passengers, mostly Japanese, and found this tour was geared to accomodate them, rather than the few Americans. We departed the harbor, bordered by Oahu's eyesore industrial area on one side and a huge landfill on the other! The snorkeling area was adjacent to a power plant, spewing chlorine smelling fumes, while sirens went by on the bordering highway. Underwater was great, turtles, reef fish and coral cover, but we were somewhat mindlful of the fumes channeled through our snorkels, from both the power plant and the upwind landfill. Our biggest disappoint was the "in water" portion with the dolphins. Ko Olina adventures had two boats working the 5 -10 (!)wild dolphins, with a total of something like 50 passengers. While it was true that we were not given fins and were instructed to lie passively on the water top with our group, I couldnt help feeling vulnerable, not only because we didnt have fins if an emergency (shark?) should arise - but because the boat also left us to drop and pick up other group members in the dolphins path. We did not at all feel the BOAT behavior was ethical or sensitive, the boat/s circling and dropping swimmers in the dolphins path, especially as the dolphins travel was clearly disrupted by the engine noise of the two boats. The boat/s engines could be heard under the water as they manuvered picking up and dropping of passengers - shifting gears and speeding from one swimmer group to other, and irritating not only to us, but to the dolphin school. While we were passive in the water, our tour boats were anything but. Swimmers who were avoided by dolphins were given "another chance" while the boat circled and dropped them again -until they at least caught a glimpse. What didnt make sense (besides the "sensitivity" claims) was that I'm sure all passengers on the boats could have seen the dolphins much longer and closer if they had stayed onboard! We spent roughly 45 minutes circling, chasing, dropping off and picking up people, for a brief underwater water glimpse. We spent most of the in water time waiting for the boat to return from chasing the dolphins. While the Ko Olina Marina was beautiful, we gained new appreciation for the state boat harbor further down the road, and its marine tours who cared.

This was possibly the coolest part of our trip. We took a ride on a 40 foot yacht and went snorkeling, saw dolphins, ate great food and generally relaxed while enjoying the incredible scenery and weather. It seemed a little pricey at first, but the experience was definitely worth it.