Wild Side Specialty Tours

"This tour is amazing! Leah and Bethany were awesome, very friendly and knowledgeable and we were able to see dolphins, whales from a distance and colorful fish and a turtle! You never know what you're going to be able to see, and the guides are very good at what they do. It's amazing to be in such a small group as well, it feels like a private tour with only 8 people on board! I would absolutely do this tour again, it was fantastic. Lunch was provided and there is a bathroom on board. 10/10!"

"What a magical experience. I would absolutely recommend this if you are visiting Oahu. Being on a boat was extremely delightful to begin with ("I am on a boat!"), but watching flocks (schools?) of dolphins passing by was absolutely surreal. The brave in our midst – not me ;) –  even got to swim with the dolphins! What a delightful and memorable experience. A few other things: * their lunch boxes were absolutely delightful. * they have the option of them taking pictures, for a fee, and it was worth it, 100 times over. the pictures and videos we got from them were amazing, and knowing that professionals were on the case, we could just enjoy our time, and take pictures freely without worrying about missing something. (And I think the pictures of whales and dolphins that they took also contributed to some study program.) A great deal all around. * folks running the boat -- Melanie, Gretel and Connor – were absolutely delightful, knowledgeable, professional, friendly... just a delight to be around. * [for those of us brave enough to go swimming;] the folks running the trip made getting into water and looking at dolphins feel very safe and comfortable, and they also took amazing videos of the dolphins swimming underneath them (see the point about their "we can take pictures!" option) . * the "getting up early" part of the early morning trips might sound intense, but we really enjoyed starting out trip early, while the sun was still low. Anyway, I can't recommend this enough!"

"My experience on the morning Best of the West boat ride on 2/13/24 was terrific! The operators on the boat, Bethany, Micky, Leah, were all so kind, and knowledgeable and respectful of each of the sea creatures we came across. They did a great job of helping everyone understand the natural environment along the shores of Oahu. We saw humpback whales (i even saw one breach but my autofocus wasn't fast enough!), swam past a pod of pilot whales, and snorkeled at some reefs to see the turtles being cleaned by the fish. Unreal!"

"Went out with Conner and Leah on 2/12/2024 and it was amazing. They are both extremely knowledgeable. The trip was wonderful and they pretty much asked us what we wanted and were very accommodating. We saw a bunch of whales and when we snorkeled we had sea turtles. They made sure we were always comfortable and did whatever was in their power to make our trip memorable. Definitely will be recommending them to everyone that is headed this way. The lunch is yummy as well! Mahalo"

"There really are no words to describe this experience!! Captain Mel, Bethany and Conner were amazing!! We loved that it was just our family of 6. Not only did we see hundreds of humpback whales. We saw sea turtles, hammerhead shark, and the most beautiful sunset on our whale's tails and sunset sails Cruise. There was a huge concern that we weren't even going to be able to go out on the cruise that day as the weather had not been very cooperative throughout our state on Oahu. Somehow we were blessed and we were able to get out on the water. The crew mentioned that for the past 3 weeks that taking the boat out was hit or miss and very unpredictable. The boat crew was let in on a little secret that my daughter's boyfriend was going to propose on this excursion and they captured it perfectly with humpback whales in the background!! Although we have not received our photo package back yet as we just went on the cruise just a couple days ago. I highly recommend paying for the professional photos that they do. It allows you to live in the moment and experience all of the beautiful things that are happening around you. We were able to drop a microphone down into the water and I can't even tell you how many whales we could hear. Absolutely stunning!! This was a 10 out of 10 excursion and I would highly recommend it to anybody!! Photos added are just a couple that I was able to take until we can get our professional photos back!!"