Shark Diving Oahu with Hawaii Adventure Diving and Deep Blue Eco Tours Review. I went diving with Hawaii Adventure Diving on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii and with Deep Blue Eco Tours!
I would recommend bringing the following to your shark tour:
– Towel
– Fins
– Sunglasses or hat (my hat kept blowing off my head in the wind, so I’d recommend the sunglasses)
– Sunscreen
– Bottle of water
– Snack (I brought a cliff bar)
– GoPro (if you have one)
– Hair tie (for those with long hair to put into a pony tail when swimming. My hair kept floating in my face and it was harder to see the sharks)
My top 3 favorite tours on Oahu!
Hawaii Adventure Diving Review – Oahu Shark Diving
We left from the Hale‘iwa Boat Harbor on the North Shore of Oahu. I went with two friends and the boat left the harbor at 7:30am. We got there about 15 minutes early to use the restroom, and make sure we had everything we needed. There’s free parking right beside the boat. My friend found Hawaii Adventure Diving online. Be sure to read the entire post to see if I’d recommend doing this again. I’m always totally honest with my reviews.
Pricing
Hawaii Adventure Diving is $150 per person, $125 for Hawaii residents, and $100 for ride along (swimming/snorkeling not included). This shark tour is 2 hours in duration.
We brought our own snorkel and mask and fins, but honestly their mask and snorkel they provided was better than mine! So I used their snorkel, mask, and my own long fins I got from Leader Fins! They’re the best fins I’ve ever had in my life. They’re incredible!
It’s about a 15-20 minute boat ride and you’ll be 3 miles away from the shoreline. There’s a chance to see other wildlife like dolphins or whales during whale season!
We saw this incredibly beautiful rainbow. The brightest rainbow I’ve ever seen!
When we got to the location, you can look down and see the sharks already swimming around the boat. The captain will run the boat engine so that it creates bubbles at the surface to attract the sharks. They let out a yellow rope that floats behind the boat, so those who feel more comfortable hanging onto it, have the chance to do so and view the sharks that way.
It’s important to pay attention to the safety divers while doing this activity. They teach shark behavior and what to do and what not to do. You don’t want to splash around, make crazy movements in the water. If a shark is swimming towards you, you want to make eye contact with the shark. You can put your fins out towards them to create more space if you want to feel more comfortable. In my experience, the sharks came no further an about 6 ft away from me, then they turned around.
Check out the video I created at the bottom of this blog to see how it was!
The day we went, the waves were pretty rough. So I chose to hold onto the yellow rope because the waves were strong and there was a current. Other people were comfortably swimming not holding onto the rope, so it’s a personal choice. There were two divers with us, one was a safety diver and the other was a professional photographer that offered to take our photos for $75 each. I had my GoPro, so I opted out of the photos during this activity.
The sharks were SO incredible to watch! We saw about 3-4 Galapagos sharks that were about 6-8 ft long. My friends saw a box jellyfish and a barracuda, although I didn’t see those unfortunately! I did get stung by another jellyfish called a Man O’ War. These stings barely hurt, and create small bumps on your skin that last a few days. The sting itches for a few days and it feels similar to a mosquito bite. It’s quite common to be stung by these little guys in Hawaii, so don’t let that steer you away from entering into the water! It’s very minor and manageable. This wouldn’t be an honest review if I didn’t include this event! 🙂
There were two people that got into the boat early because the waves were making them feel sea sick. If you do get prone to sea sickness I recommend bringing some peppermint oil or motion medicine just in case.
I’d highly suggest this company Hawaii Adventure Diving for your Hawaii shark adventures! It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to be swimming and relaxing with sharks. The safety divers and the captain were absolutely incredible and made us feel very safe and secure. They taught us all about sharks, their behaviors, and how they are being wrongfully killed for their fins! That’s so terrible! Stay away from shark fin soup… please! Sharks were never supposed to be eaten by humans. Just a single bite of their fin contains more mercury than we should eat in our entire life. It’s actually not good for us at all.
Deep Blue Eco Tours Review – Shark Diving Oahu
I took a shark tour with Deep Blue Eco Tours, and I can’t wait to share my experience! We took the early tour and left from the Haleiwa Boat Harbor. The staff was extremely friendly when we got onboard and gave us all kinds of information on the sharks that we would see, what to expect, and safety guidelines.
Pricing
Deep Blue Eco Tours are $150 per person, $130 for Hawaii residents, and $100 for ride along (swimming/snorkeling not included). The tour is 1 hour and 45 minutes.
It was a beautiful sunny day! The water was very calm and clear. It was August 2022 when we did this activity! The water was like glass. When we got in, I was the very last… lol. I was very nervous because this was my very first time swimming with sharks. I had my own fins and snorkel that I used. My husband had his camera and I had the GoPro. There was a safety diver with us, and a photographer in the water. They all made us feel very safe and were very friendly!
We saw about 4-5 Galapagos sharks! They loved when the safety diver threw a yellow rag into the water. They came to check it out, then swam away. We got to be up close to the sharks, and I was a little shaky but overall calm. It was so interesting to see the way the sharks moved in the water. They’re more quick than you see on social media or TV. A lot of times the videos are slowed down. They move very quick in real life, so that surprised me at first to see how quick they can dart around.
I didn’t want to dive down too deep, but I did go about 5-7 feet underwater. My husband went deeper around 8-10 feet under. You’re not supposed to go much deeper than that. Because you want to try to stay on the surface to see the sharks below you.
The shark tour lasted about 40-45 minutes swimming in the water. It flew by!
On our way back to the harbor, we saw dolphins! Like, 10-20 of them swimming alongside of the boat! They even let me sit on the very front edge of the boat with my feet dangling down. It was a once in a lifetime, dream come true looking down at my dangling feet to see dolphins swimming underneath me following the boat! It was all a dream.
Where to stay on Oahu? My top 3 favorite hotels!
- Royal Hawaiian (known as the pink hotel) Super cute hotel right on Waikiki strip!
- Four Seasons Ko’Olina (luxury and relaxing experience)
- Parkshore Waikiki hotel (budget friendly) with the best view of Diamond Head, it’s at the end of the Waikiki strip
Sharks in Hawaii
Sharks are highly misunderstood animals! They are beautiful creatures and we can swim with sharks on Oahu on the North Shore! Don’t miss this amazing opportunity if you’re visiting Oahu, Hawaii! 🙂
My recommendation between the two companies | Shark diving Oahu
Overall this is my recommendation between the two companies if we’re being honest here… Which I know you came for this honesty!
I can’t wait to do this again! The staff for both companies was amazing and their primary goal is to keep us safe at all times. Both companies excelled at this. They both made us feel safe at all times and both very extremely informative in terms of behaviors of sharks and safety guidelines. Overall I think I had a better experience with Deep Blue Eco Tours in terms of friendliness of the staff. The staff on the Deep Blue Eco Tours went a little bit more above and beyond in terms of making us feel special and getting to know us! 🙂 If you’re wanting to see the North shore sharks, consider booking with Deep Blue Eco Tours.
Be sure to check out my other blog posts for recommendations on 10 Best Things to Do on Oahu!
Thanks for reading my blog about shark tours in Hawaii!
