Hawaii Shark Encounters

Unfortunately– I didn’t get to enjoy the excursion– it was cancelled due to bad weather (booked for 6 June 2016). I’m giving it 5 stars because the online setup was flawless (booked the excursion for 2 and read & submitted the liability waivers, all online). The company was also great at keeping me informed of the cancellation– I received a phone call & email. Jason offered to rebook for another day but since I couldn’t, they happily refunded the cost. We were really bummed it was cancelled but in all fairness, a day earlier– there were whitecaps & the water was choppy (–safety 1^st!). I’m not trying to be the next national news story because our boat capsized in shark-​infested, waters. No thank you!
The fact HSE’d rather deliver bad news, than pocket the money & risk everyone’s safety is the reason why I’ll rebook with them, the next chance I get! (Thanks, guys– for keeping us safe!)

Definitely recommend this! Bring your gopros! I’m really glad I did this. On my last trip to hawaii my friends did a shark cage dive and saw a whale shark (so rare!!!), I skipped out and I really regretted it. So my next trip I was determined to do it. Found this deal on Groupon, and had no trouble booking. The experience was great. We booked the earliest time which was great because we spent the rest of day hanging out at north shore. We saw 3 sharks which doesn’t sound like a lot but when you are so close to them it feels like a lot. Maybe they were all sleeping in and more come out during the day? lol. We split into 2 groups of 4. When it was my turn to sit out, I felt a little sick and threw up. A shark came up and ate it haha. I’ve never been on a boat long enough to know if I get sea sick. now I know. Everyone else was fine. Overall great experience. I would do it again.

This was an unforgettable experience, there is another shark encounter place that I looked up that was right across from ours and made me so happy I picked Hawaii shark encounters! Looked that they had so many people you wouldn’t have any room in the cage to move around and the boat would have been super crowded! Our tour guides were very informative and made the experience every better. You are going out into the middle of the ocean so the waters were very choppy and i ended up getting up getting a little sea sick for a moment, but the tour guides were so helpful and sweet. Definitely didn’t affect the amazing experience and the amazing time I had on the tour and in the cage! 5 stars!!!

These guys are amazing. You can tell they really love what they do and they have fun taking us landlubbers out to see these incredible creatures.
Fyi the water is COLDDDDDDDD!!! And the waves might rock the cage around a bit, so be sure to hold on at all times. If waves make you sick, take 2 Dramamine before getting on the boat and you should survive. Bring extra on the boat just in case because the waves were so choppy the day my husband and I went, that I needed a third!
We saw 8 – 10 sharks that day. Those 30 minutes in the water go by quickly!
Fyi don’t breathe in too hard on the snorkel. Even though it’s designed to help keep water out, be mindful of how deep your head is in the water. Otherwise, you will force water in and you will choke! If you feel a little resistance with air, just come up.

If I could give 0 stars, I would.
Visiting Hawaii for 5 days on vacation with my family. On the first day, we booked for 5pm for the last day of our vacation because there were no other slots available.
So the day comes, and we were told to be there by 4:30 for check in we were there an hour early. The boat shows up late with the captain and others on board. Then he tells us that he actually cancelled the booking due to weather issues and supposedly mechanical issues as well. He was surprised to see we didn’t get a cancellation email/​call… Umm wtf? So my family and I came here for no reason? I then called booking only to be told they had no idea about the cancellation.
Seriously you guys are a business. Act professional! Wasted my time and sunscreen.

We saw a Tiger shark! A huge and beautiful Tiger shark!
Our guides were awesome, fun and informative. You can tell they really love their job and care about the sharks and their environment. We spent about 30 mins in the cage which was such a cool experience.
I recommend bringing a towel, water, sunblock, maybe a snack and a go pro! Bring some $$ for t shirts, koozies and stuff of that like if you want!

A great time! We actually only saw a few Galapagos sharks, with the biggest being 9 ft long. We saw a few fish and a clear jellyfish type of creature that looked like a ribbon. We did the 7am dive and was hoping to see a lot more sharks but it was still an exciting experience.

Great experience on the North Shore! My bf and I booked this excursion with an $ 80/​person groupon. We reserved our time and date on the website and we were set!
When we got to the dock, we actually went to North Shore Shark Adventure instead… Please note that you are going to Hawaii Shark Encounters, which is literally on the opposite dock across the water!!! Thankfully one of the crew gave us a call and we ended up in the right place. We went on the boat with our guides, Philip and Khaleo (oh gosh i’m probably spelling that wrong) and a group of 8 others. They were really funny and explained everything clearly. Snorkel gear is provided, but you can always bring your own if you have it.
They warned us that the waves were rough that morning, but I didn’t realize it was thaat rough. We had a few people get seasick and even start throwing up. Lucky for us, sharks like throw-​up (LOL). We were split up into groups of 5 and each group got to go in the cage for 30 minutes (or less if you wanted to get out). Getting into the water was not bad. We were 3 miles from the shore and the water temperature was 74 degrees! I didn’t feel cold at all. Seeing the sharks underwater was really cool too. We saw galapagos sharks and even some fish! The hardest thing about the excursion was probably being thrown around in the cage by the waves. You really do need to hold on to the rails, and be sure not to get your snorkel gear too deep underwater or else you’ll be swallowing sea water!
Remember to bring a towel, and get a waterproof baggy or bring a waterproof camera/​gopro so you can record underwater! You will definitely get some cool shots! My bf brought his gopro and the sharks kept nudging it with their noses; apparently the gopro gives off a frequency that the sharks are attracted to!

Wow! What an exhilarating experience. The goggles and snorkel provided by the crew worked very well. Had exceptionally clear visibility. The sharks came up really close to the boat as well as to the cage. They appeared non-​threatening. I was actually more afraid of sucking in water and not being able to breathe than I was of the sharks.
As such, I would recommend that people practice snorkeling beforehand so they stay calm and relaxed in the water. This would have allowed me to spend more time underwater than fussing with my breathing. But I did get some awesome shark pictures.
One last note, the cage is a lot deeper than it appears. I didn’t quite make it to the bottom. I was hanging onto the railing most of the time. But it all worked out well. Very pleased that I went and I would totally go back and do it again!

First time in Hawaii and wanted to make sure to do as many water activities as possible. Booked a reservation with Shark Encounters. It was about 2 hours and was worth the money and time (the drive out there and especially the time in the water). The group that I was with was about 9 people, and you go into the cage in two separate groups and spend about 40 mins each (but can get out earlier if you don’t want to be in there the whole time). If anyone I know was to go to Oahu, I would highly recommend this company to show them an amazing time. The staff is extremely nice and accommodating. They were even using themselves as ‘bait’ to draw in more sharks for us to get the full experience with sharks around the cage.
One note: If you are a person to get motion sickness easily, I do not recommend this experience. The boat ride out to where the cage is is pretty far and when I went, the swells were pretty intense. So, when you have to wait for the other group to be done, you can get pretty sick. But don’t worry, you can just ‘feed the fish’ over the side of the boat.

This was one tourist activity I was soooo glad to experience!
First, I’d like to say that the crew was very friendly, knowledgeable, and accommodating. I have never gotten sea sick, but bobbing around in choppy water definitely put a hurting on me (and a few others). The crew was super understanding about it, and made me feel like less of a baby. They were also enthusiastic about the adventure, which was refreshing because they probably get tired of chartering tourists out to the same spot three times a day.
The shark encounter itself was just amazing. They got so close to the cage, and I got to see first-​hand just how intimidating and beautiful these animals really are. I definitely recommend it.

Loved my experience with this company! Upon my husband and I’s first visit, we didn’t know what to expect. After a safety briefing, we rode out into the water to go swim with the big fish. Alas, when we finally got in the cage, we only ended up seeing 1 lonely shark from far away. The captain tells us apologetically that because of the helicopter accident a few weeks ago (RIP), it seemed to have scared away the sharks. They offered us a chance to try them out again (with no charge) because we did not get the full experience. Luckily for us we live here (unlike a few of our out of town guests) and managed to rebook a month or so later.
Fast forward to this past weekend… Same deal but met two new crew members. Very nice guys. The captain made his safety briefing and warned us that the waves were rocking, so we were in for a choppy ride. He was right! We definitely did not stay dry, but it wasn’t as bad as we thought due to his expert boating skills. His first mate, was super knowledgeable on sharks and answered any and all questions we had. I loved that I learned so much about these creatures. Before we got in, sharks were already swarming around the boat (they are attracted to the boat sounds). I said «It would make my life if I saw a real life fin out of the water»… lo and behold, not a minute later I saw SEVERAL splashing around a foot or two away from us! AMAZING! In the cage we were rocking and rolling (due to the current being strong) but it was still such a great experience seeing these creatures SO CLOSE! I even made eye contact with one, and it was a total Avatar-​connection-​with-​nature experience.
I definitely recommend doing this if you’re on island (resident or visiting). Some tips: bring a warm towel, if you have your own snorkel gear bring it (otherwise you can borrow theirs), bring a go pro or other meant-​for-​water sports camera (don’t risk losing your phone!) Can’t wait to do it again!
#nosharkfinsoup

Let me start by sharing my embarrassing experience of getting on the WRONG BOAT (wrong company)! Yes, we were almost stowaways on the competitor company’s boat. Luckily, the guys hollered out to our correct boat across the other dock just in time for us to not miss our tour. Hawaii Shark Encounters also called my cell phone as both boats were about to leave. I booked so many things during our vacation that I just lost track of the company name!
An amazing, intimate experience. This company takes you out on a smaller boat than the North Shore shark company (they all go out from the same docks), and you view a smaller number of sharks. That doesn’t really matter because you’re with a smaller group of people; I’d imagine that the other company had to have their customers wait in line longer to fit inside the cages (unless they had multiple cages).
We saw Galapagos sharks, and they got pretty close. They even swim up right to the GoPro cameras!
I know that these shark tourist excursions have been quite controversial, but I had to do it. It’s so affordable, at about $ 100 a person to snorkel with SHARKS!!! If this is something you’ve been wanting to try, I suggest you make plans to do it before it gets outlawed.
Side note: the boat crew are fishermen and tour guides, not marine biologists. Some things they say can be inaccurate, but give them a break.

This review is for people that are scared or havnt done anything like this
Trip was august 2015
It was my fiancé first time going to Hawaii and I wanted to be very adventurous. We did the 4×4 trip already as well as other adventurous activities. Almost running out of things to do we decided to go on this shark adventure. She was scared about it and thought it might be sketchy. We ended up going with only 4 other people so we got super lucky.
1) not scary at all, the guide is very professional. He was on time and gave you a lot of info about going out there before heading out
2) the staff was great and helped all of us out who was new. The equipment you needed to put on, they helped with.
3) the cage was very very safe, the sharks were pretty calm. One hour flew by like it was nothing
4) water was pretty cold but when your adrenaline is up like that, you can’t really feel the cold
Overall it was a very fun, safe way to excite your adventurous needs in hawaii

Went on this tour with my husband summer 2015, and what an experience!
We actually had to go out twice, because the first time there were no Sharks. Luckily, we live on Oahu, so were able to re-​schedule. The families that were on vacation opted for the refund, felt bad for them! Second time we went, there were tons of sharks! The staff was great and the views while waiting on the boat were beautiful.
The reason for ⁴⁄₅ stars is that I hoped the staff would be a bit more forward with how choppy the water will be. I asked them if I should take a motion sickness pill when I got on the boat, and was told it will be fine, so I didn’t. Sure enough, about 1.5 hours rocking back and forth on the boat I was not feeling so good. Once I got into the water with the sharks, it was actually worse since it feels like you are in a bit of a washing machine, but I managed to keep everything «inside» and had a great time, regardless of how my stomach felt. So– if you tend to get seasick– take something before the tour!

Phillip was such an awesome tour guide! I got a deal off of Groupon for this awesome experience. I actually look forward to going again someday. =) It’s completely safe and we saw tons of sharks. Also spotted a few whales and dolphins on the way back. Very cool and awesome experience that everyone should do while they’re in Hawaii.
Oh and no need to know how to swim!

Well, my friend totally convinced me to do this because she thought it would be a once-​in-​a-​lifetime opportunity. I decided to go for it because I thought I wouldn’t be able to do this kind of thing once I am back in Seattle.
My friend and I bought Groupon for this activity. The prices were very good. You would need to schedule this activity on the website. If you want transportation from wherever you are, you would have to pay extra because the activity is about 50 minutes away from downtown Waikiki. That’s why you’d have to pay extra. Yes, you also need a waiver signed because you’re involving yourself in possibly unexpectedly dangerous activity. Just like skydiving, really…
On the day of the dive, you’ll need to show up early or on time because you don’t want the boat to leave you behind. Note that the sign for Hawaii Shark Encounter is located on the other side and next to the wooden 2-​story house at the location, so don’t get confused with North Shore Shark Encounter. The company sign is kinda small, but you’ll find it easily.
The crew of 2 people will pick you up at the dock. You’ll need to hop on and enjoy the ride to the diving location. It is about 2 – 3 miles out? May be. I enjoyed the beautiful view. Phillip told really funny stories and was super friendly. When you get to the location, the cage will be set up, and you’ll get to borrow the basic snorkeling equipment. It is scary at first to get down to the water, but who cares? You can hear whales humming and see dolphins jumping. Sharks will circle around you, but they’re mostly minding their own business.
After the dive, you’ll get some fresh water shower by the hose. Make sure you get sprayed well.

Super friendly staff and great tour. Nice advantage is that they are willing to take you out and guarantee sharks. If you don’t see any you can go back out or get some kinda refund. As we saw a huge Galapagos shark, I stopped listening. Lol. Philip & Chris helped us out on our voyage on 1.11.16 and it was super amazing. Knowledgeable about the area and about the Sharks in the area. Don’t be afraid to ask! Give them a try you won’t be disappointed. Must try in the North Shore!

One of the highlights of our trip. Diving in shark infested waters! Even though I got a little seasick after being in the cage because the water was choppy, I had a great time.
I think what really made this trip was our guides — Phil and Kaleo. Knowledgeable and funny guys. They gave us a great experience. Kaleo was able to get a giant Ewa bird to swoop down and eat a fish from his hand. He also used our GoPro and shoved his HAND in the shark infested water to get the coolest video ever. The Galapagos sharks actually swam up and touched our camera. These guys knows what they are doing. And you can tell they’re passionate. Phil climbed on top of the boat to get pictures for us in the shark tank… and then took selfies with Kaleo. Just saying — if you guys get this message and want those pictures for your facebook profile or something, feel free to contact me. HA.

If you haven’t done this yet, I HIGHLY recommend that you do!
This is a very long over due review!
This was around 2007 – 2008 maybe … I told you it was long over due!
One of my best friends from Colorado had decided to throw me a birthday weekend party with bar hopping at nights and fun activities during the day.
After our first night of partying at Señor Frogs and up till 3am. We all had to be up at 4am to make our reservation time which was at 6:30am. And did I mention that we opted to drive all the way to Haleiwa from Waikiki instead of getting a shuttle. That was stupid. Don’t ever do that! I was hanging so bad lol! But, I was excited! First time I’d do something like that!
On the drive there, I dozed off and on. I was so hungover and super anxious! I wanted to get there faster!!! I really don’t enjoy the drive to Haleiwa from town … I get bored :/​Dunno why …
We got there exactly at 6am where we met up with our other friends. I don’t remember how much we all paid. But, I do know that we got a deal since we took up the whole boat. think there was 10 of us (?) I could be wrong … My girlfriend booked everything. Although if you are not going into the cage but would still like to take the boat ride out, you still have to pay the same price as everyone. But why go if your not going in to see these majestic creatures?
** side note … there are two different shark adventure tour companies at the harbor. Make sure you know which one your booked with: D
We all climbed on the boat and once we hit the ocean sea, I was loving it! Breathing in that ocean scent … my hangover was gone and I wasn’t even tired anymore! The water was a little choppy … I remember that. I swallowed a large amount of water, but that’s for later in my review: D
They go over safety requirements and a little bit of education on each shark. Very informative.
We get to the location spot and one of the captains started throwing chum into the water to get the sharks to come our way. Within 2 minutes, you could see them swimming toward the boat. It was so awesome!
They separated us, 5 to a group to go in separately. And being that I was the birthday girl, me and my girlies got to go in first!!! I was nervous! Excited! It was finally happening! They supply you with the mask and snorkel. You do not need to have any scuba experience what so ever. The top part of the cage is surrounded by poly glass, so you can see them perfectly with out them trying to swim into the cage … safety barrier for you and the sharks. They advice you to not hold on to the cage where there are no poly glass, you wouldn’t want to get nipped by a playful shark now would you? lol
You get about 15 – 20 minutes in the cage … and it goes by really quick! You can take a waterproof camera with you to take pictures. But, don’t waste your time trying to get the ‘perfect picture’ … you’ll miss out on all the sharks that swim by. Plus, for a little extra fee they will video the whole experience for you! I still have the disk.
Let me tell you … my heart was racing! BUT … when you get in the water and see
them so close to you … it was the most beautiful thing ever!!! I loved it!!! Just watching them glide through the water was just so amazeballs. I did mention earlier that the water was a little choppy right? I’m not sure if it was my excitement of being there or the choppy water o.0 I’ll blame the water! I swallowed tons of ocean water! Through the snorkel! Hahahaha! I wasn’t complaining :)
I wish we had stayed longer in the cage … It was an amazing feeling.
Our second group went in … and while they were sending the cage back out with them in it. the captain let me throw some chum over!
This activity was one of the best ones I have done here in Hawaii. It is well worth the cost, and time!
You leave feeling so exhilarated by the whole experience! It was one of the greatest birthdays for me.
I will definitely do this one again … 7 – 8 years later and it still has a lasting memory for me.