This was such an amazing experience! From the very welcoming and tentative staff to the snorkeling!…read moreWe even got to see a turtle! The boat ride was also very nice and scenic. Would definitely recommend

Great time! Capt Todd and crew were fantastic hosts! The drinks, food, fish, sailing and yes …read more.. whales ... were awesome! This was our first time, and we'll definitely be back.

We got picked up at 7:15AM for a snorkeling tour. The guide was super friendly and patient when…read moreinstructing us how to snorkel. She took us all around the Hanauma bay and showed us many spots that would have sights of fishes. It was a bummer that we didn't get to see turtles (due to the tide) but it was still great. One of the many great things about booking a tour is that we got to skip the long line to enter the Hanauma Bay reserves. You do have to pay for your own fees to get in and up and down the beach (only 19 bucks for 2 ppl). My goggles kept falling off during the tour so I had to stop frequently to let the water to come out of the goggles. She saw that I was struggling so she stopped and swapped hers for mine to ensure that it was comfortable and safe for me the rest of the tour. After the snorkeling session, she gave us chips and water :) . Highly recommend this place!

*UPDATE* I was…read morerefunded in full after I was contacted back. Did not rebook a tour but thankfully the company took care of giving me my full refund. I ended up getting a shuttle and equipment to the bay without a tour.

One Day in "The Real Hawai'i"…read more One of our best experiences during our vacation in Oahu was the private day tour we booked with "The Real Hawai'i." The fee of $149.00 a person for six hours was a great deal, especially considering how most tours lasting more then 3 hours will cost you over $100.00 a person. The difference is that "most" tours are going to pile as many people as possible into a bus and take you on a regimented tour with no thought to the individuals. With "The Real Hawai'i" plan to spend a day with a private tour guide who assists you in coming up with a custom day of places and experiences with your interest in mind. They do all the driving, worry about the parking and even know the best "local" places to get fresh delicious food. Oahu is a beautiful Island with many cultural and scenic gems that easily could be missed. The people from "The Real Hawai'i" know the Island and all the fascinating beautiful locations that are not found in tourist pamphlets. What I loved about our tour is that we wanted to take a path less travelled, so Dan our tour guide took us to check out the beautiful views from Pu'u o Mahuka Heiau State Historic Site. Hiked through Waimea Park up to the falls. Watched in amazement as the huge waves crashed onto the shore at Ehukai Beach (AKA The Bonzai Pipeline). Walked through a magnificent Banyan Tree, that was used in filming Lost and Jumanji: Welcome to The Jungle. And ate delicious farm raised, fresh caught shrimp. Dan the owner paired us with a terrific tour guide who took pictures for us, gave us some great history of the island, and taught us about local traditions. Our day with Real Hawai'i was by far the highlight of our vacation! If your not sure what you want to see then check out their website www.therealhawaiitours.com where you can find a variety of ideas and prices to help you come up with your perfect day in "The Real Hawaii" You can also check out their FB page @therealhawaiitours. Or find them on YouTube @ The Real Hawaii

You will see two other companies with similar names to this one, but they are not the same as this…read moreone. Make sure you are booking with Dan! Dan is the guy who runs The Real Hawaii. I found him through TripAdvisor when I was seaching for a private circle tour. We were a group of two, and I wanted something small, custom and personal, over an impersonal group tour. If you are looking for the same, Dan is your man. Booking through the external sites is easy, but I recommend calling Dan and booking through him directly. He is polite and prompt in his service. He has a fleet of three vehicles: two jeeps and a van. We took a tour in one of his Jeeps. We scheduled a pickup at our Waikiki Beach hotel the day before. He picked us up promptly at 7am for our tour on the scheduled day. He was very professional, fun and a great conversationalist. He took us to some very beautiful spots of places with names I have trouble pronouncing. He will point out the spots of simple beauty, but also take you to places you never knew you needed to visit. Every place he goes, he has a story or experience there. He seems to know everyone, which makes your tour very efficient. He also adjusts your tour's pace to you, and you will never feel rushed. Some of the lookouts and beaches were so breathtaking. The Pipeline Beach area is a must. You would think places like that do not exist, but WOW. Even if you are not a surf fan, you will appreciate a stop there. The restaurants he takes you to are great! We stopped at Fumi's and Aoki's and I was impressed by both. The shopping area we went to on the North Shore was nice. Lots of photo ops, and Dan will even show you some filming locations from movies and tv shows. We got lucky and even saw quite a few whales during our tour! Overall, this is probably one of the best private tours I have been on in all my years of traveling. Dan knows his stuff, and we were super happy with our experience. Customer service, excellent. Driving, excellent. Tour stops, excellent. And Dan, excellent. Thank you, Dan!

My fiancée and I took a surf lesson with Massimo. We are total beginners, and while I am not a…read morestrong swimmer or super experienced with the ocean, my fiancée grew up near the beach and was excited to learn to surf. At 8:15 in the morning we marched up Waikiki beach to a spot away from a lot of the tourists with somewhat shallow reef waters. These waters had almost constant waves. Before we got in, Massimo chatted with us and explained all the fundamentals of surfing. We practiced some poses, popping-up, and how things were going to work once we were in the water. Massimo marched us out on a stone pier and helped us every step of the way out into the water. Some surf instructors keep students close to the shore where the waves are breaking lightly and they can't go far. That's not Massimo's style. He takes you out into reaf waters where the waves can push you far. He makes sure you are comfortable and as safe as possible (surfing is inherently dangerous) the whole time. My fiancée had a blast and even started popping up and trying to really ride the waves. I was very impressed with how quickly she got it under Massimo's guidance. Admittedly, I am a little heavier and less flexible, but I still rode some waves on my stomach on the board, and even rode a wave almost all the way back to shore. Be ready for a work-out, but it's totally worth it with Massimo's surf lessons!

We had the best time with Massimo and Riley. They took us to so many awesome spots. We will…read moredefinitely use them in the future. Thank you for the best time.

[From my review on TripAdvisor]…read more We went on a Thanksgiving cruise (Grand Princess) to Hawaii, roundtrip from San Francisco. Our cruise ship had an engine fire, and so instead of having 4 port days (one on each island), we only had 2 port days in Honolulu. I was so glad to have booked the tour with Akima and Bob. This tour definitely "saved" our vacation! I learned about Akima and Bob's tour company, Hawaii Real Nature, through Groupon, but I booked directly with Akima since I have a young child and also needed a non-hotel pickup (at Aloha Tower Marketplace, where the cruise ship docked in Honolulu). The price that I paid was just as good, if not better, than the Groupon price so I highly recommend that you book through Akima directly. We went on the 8-hour West Oahu and snorkeling tour. Including us (family of 3), there were 6 people on the tour; the other three people were a retired couple and a young man. Along the way, Bob and Akima took turns telling us stories about Hawaii's history and culture as we stopped at sacred sites and historic landmarks. Due to the small size of the group, it was like hanging out with friends. We stopped at various places such as Ku'ilioloa Heiau, Kaneana Cave, Makaha Valley and Yokohama beach. Akima took pictures for us and they turned out beautiful. =) You should check out her photograph website. Her passion is in underwater and wildlife photography. What really stood out for me on this tour was how Akima and Bob managed two beginners during snorkeling. The retired lady and my 5-year-old daughter were completely new to snorkeling and Akima was extremely patient in helping them get set up and feel comfortable in the water. She had a torpedo-shaped buoy with handles that really helped my daughter feel confident in deep water. As a so-so swimmer myself, I would not have been able to expose my daughter to the wonders of snorkeling if it weren't for Akima and Bob. They are both certified divers and life rescuers so I felt completely comfortable entrusting my life (and my daughter's) in their hands during the guided snorkeling tour. When my daughter returned to school, she was telling everyone that she did snorkeling (even though she really just wore goggles and dunked her head into the water whenever I told her there were fish right under; I was snorkeling besides her). She even showed everyone a picture of her with an orange sea urchin on her head. Akima dove underwater and found one, and we all took turns "wearing" our sea urchin and posing for pictures. Next time we return to Oahu, I will definitely be booking another tour with Akima and Bob. The quality and price sure beats the excursions from the cruise ship. PRO TIPS: (1) Akima and Bob provide all the snorkeling equipment, including fins, goggles and tubes. My husband wears glasses so he just brought his own prescription goggles. (2) Bring towels, especially if you are going to snorkel. (3) The first stop we made was at a plaza with McDonalds and a supermarket. So there is no need to pack food. (4) Bring cash for tips. Akima and Bob deserve it! Visited December 2015

The day with Hawaii Real Nature was great. Akima and Bob have fabulous passion and knowledge of the…read morewest coast. Snorkelling was fun with Akima and Bob pointing out fish and turtles. We were very lucky and sow a sea lion on the beach.

Fantastic experience with Yovo and Carly. Yovo had a ton of energy and infectious enthusiasm for…read moreevery sight we saw. We started at the Hilton on Waikiki and worked our way up to the industrial area, downtown, financial district, and back. Some of the sights -- waikiki beach, wall art and all the stories behind them, the King Kameamea statute and imperial palace, the first missionary church built here, the Aloha tower, and the state house. We covered a ton, and it was fun to see so much of Honolulu. Yovo brought water and pineapple, which he carried around in his running backpack for the first hour! He knows a lot about the city, answered a bunch of our questions, and was great at making everyone comfortable. Carly is a guide-in-training, and she was awesome, too. Yovo was very thoughtful about asking if we were ok, wanted to keep going, and of course we kept just saying yes, so we ended up covering ~8 miles. I'm sure another tour would be less or more, he was being accommodating and we were up for it! Pace was easy, and we started an hour earlier than scheduled to beat the heat, which I appreciated!

I'm an active Yelp member who attended a sanctioned Yelp event called, "Yelp Kicks Butt: City…read moreRunning Tours," held on August 9, 2015 here in Honolulu, Hawaii on Oahu & I'm sharing my experience about what it was like. Here goes: I am not a runner or an all-out fitness person but I am an exerciser (haha for making that word up!) from time to time either regularly or periodically depending what I'm doing in life. The Yelp event (there's a selection process) sounded like a such an interesting way to exercise bc it included seeing the sights around town within the Downtown Honolulu to Ka'kaako area. Instead of taking a bus, train, car, truck, or tour bus, we Yelpy exercisers would go green & do it by foot! Duration of the run normally goes 1-1.5 hours to cover about 4.5-5 miles. I read the link to the vendor's site (in my Yelp announcement email) and thought, "Hey, why not?! How often does one get to do that?" What a cool & absolutely novel idea! :) I was excited to try it out! Wahooo!!! Well, our group did it in under 2 hrs! Yes, indeed, some were faster! YAYs to either case?! Teehee Yelp Kicks Butt: City Running Tours! I did get to see the downtown sights & see things that I normally just pass by in a moving vehicle. Awesome! Did it kick my butt? Yep! Hehe It was a great workout! I've got my running and walking in for the year! Haha jk! Hopefully not! :/ Here's my explanation of our route: 0- Every good runner knows to stretch first to let the body know it's gonna do something strenuous. Yovo led us thru two sets. Then we ran a little loosely at first to warm up. 1- Pace was good for me at the beginning thru Ka'kaako past BJ Penn/Sweat & Soul where we stopped for a tour explanation. I ran right behind Yovo along with other Yeeps also so I could hear what he was saying. 2- Crossed the street at Fisher Hawaii to cut thru the now former Eat the Street parking. Just before the ETS lot, we snapped a shot in front of a small painted bldg. 3- We continued thru the ETS lot past the Fire Station to stop briefly for a tour talk, 4- then headed on Queen St. past the school/church, cemetery, to Kawaiahao Church for a quick talk & pic. 5- After that we went on King St. to see Honolulu Hale at the water feature & front doors for quick talk, 6- then across to the Mission Memorial brick building, looked up the center of the huge black art object just before the Frank F. Fasi Municipal Building, & cut thru turned left just at the cemented path before the State bldg which leads to the back side of the Hawaii State Public Library. 7- After the street light turned green, we continued running toward King St. & crossed the street to see King Kamehameha's statue where we did a brief talk & snapped a cool pic with our famous King. Say, *Cheese! :D * for the King! 8- Next, we crossed back (King St.) going thru Iolani Palace for quick info talk, 9- the State Capitol building where we saw Queen Liliuokalani's statue & did a quick info talk, 10- Ran along Beretania to Richard Street & to Alakea to cut thru the park area on King Street. I started slowing down (long story-my knee has pain but isn't injured) into a brisk, walk-sometimes-short-runs just after the park to Aloha Tower. 11- At Aloha Tower, we took the elevator in groups up to the observation deck. How cool. It was my first time there! We got a couple group pics & had opportunity to use the restroom & refill our water bottles. 12- After admiring the beautiful views in each direction of the observation deck, we went downstairs to head around back near the pier & ran back out past the boats back on to Ala Moana Boulevard. It was during this stretch that I walked w/some other Yelpers. Yovo checked on us just before taking off to head the majority of our group. 13- Yovo then loyally returned to check on us just as we passed Cooke St. TY, Yovo! Just after reaching Ward Ave, he took a fun picture of us doing a jump. Haha! Too funny! :) 14- Back at Jamba Juice on the corner of Ward Ave, we received our celebratory Jamba Juice from Maka K. Woohoo! TY, Maka! I needed that cold blast! ---- Who attended: IDK! Really! Well, ok haha It was a nice-sized group of running/non-running Yeeps! :D Not good enough? (Sorry for the brief list! :/) I would have chatted with more Yeeps (=Yelpers) except that quite honestly it's not as easy for me to talk while running a brisk pace (sorry, Yeeps!) .) Nonetheless, I was able to get in brief conversations w/some of our group during tour guide explanations or just after taking off for our next run hehe :D Thank you to Emi H., Maka K., Yelp Hawaii, & City Running Tours for allowing me to join in this creative, invigorating, & fun exercise event!! Thank you, Yeeps, for keeping me company on this long (unusual for me bc I usually just do 4 times around a track = 1 mile!) run!! Maybe I'll be in body pain tmrw (which turns out I wasn't :D Yay!) but, hey, it was alllll worth it!! :D

I wanted a personalized tour of Honolulu and the area around it during my first visit to Hawaii. My…read moreinterest was in the history and cultural influences that shaped the community there. Our guide, Luz, provided all that and so much more. I am disabled and my wife requested a vehicle that would be accessible to me and accommodate transporting my manual wheelchair. Luz picked us up at our hotel in a Toyota Sienna Minivan. She obviously had experience dealing with disabled clients not only loading my chair but she also gave me helpful tips for the easiest and safest way for me to enter and exit the vehicle. The sliding entry door on my side had a power window. This turned out to be a nice feature since this was an all day tour. I had the option of rolling down the window to take pictures. An unexpected benefit was that Luz is also a registered nurse. I cannot express in words how much we were impressed with her knowledge of history and her ability to customize our tour on the fly. It was a highlight of our vacation. I highly recommend Tropical Hawaiian Tours.

Highly recommended!! The owner made the planning of our tour so convenient and easy. I love the…read morefact that they pick you up from your hotel. Plus having "D" (Danny) as our tour guide made it even the best tour ever. He's very knowledgeable and awesome. They gave you enough time to take pix and shop as well as eat along the way. Plus you get a lei and a gift bag full of snacks before your trip. Cold water was available as well. Thanks D for sharing the Hawaii history with us and for making this tour amazing. And made friends along the way. P.S military friendly

Had such an awesome tour yesterday!! Wade and his team were amaing great sites & food and local…read morespots!!You easily forget your on a tour because they make you feel your traveling with your 'ohana. Cant wait to come back, I will never do a big tour again ... only Jeep for us

Want a unique and personalized Hawaii experience? Then…read moreWayde's tours are where its at! Wayde promptly picked us up for the 6-Hour West Side Jeep Tour from our hotel, and we were on our way! In his open door Jeep, Wade showed us some of the most stunning beaches that were relatively untouched by tourists. We had the opportunity to swim in some of the clearest and warmest waters, I also had to chance to forage sea salt off the rocks! Following, we went off for a quick hike that had us scaling a volcanic cliff for some magnificent views (be sure to bring a good camera/charger for your phone). We finished the afternoon off at a wonderful local farm to table joint called: Monkey Pod Kitchen. Consensus from the family said the tour was truly one of the highlights of the trip! We all appreciated his extensive knowledge of the local culture, the socio-political environment, and Wayde's down to earth nature and flexibility. Highly recommended! Pro-Tip: bring extra sunscreen + hat, extra water (although he does supply every member of your tour with 1 bottle, some snacks for after your swim