The Surf Bus

Could not have been happier with this tour. Sam, our guide, was so friendly and knowledgeable. The experience allowed us to spend a full day on the north shore, visit the most famous beaches, swim in a waterfall pool, and go paddle boarding without having to find it all ourselves. This tour is very much an on-​your-​own experience which catered to our preferences however if you’re someone who wants to spend all day on a bus or in a guided group it won’t be for you. Sam explained all our options for activities, dropped us off and picked us up a few hours later. We couldn’t have been happier.

This is the best tour I’ve taken in Oahu. Harry is the best tour guide ever and will not let you down. He loves his home, the north shore and knows so many things about it. Also the activities are super fun and you do so much in 1 day and even get to spend time in the little surf town of Haleiwa. He’s also very accommodating and will alter the tour to the requests of his visitors. I definitely recommend this tour and chilling out with Harry!

Sam, our tour guide, was wonderful! He was very good at remembering names of all the people on the bus, and he was able to answer all the questions that we had. He gave us tips on what to do on the other islands and was very friendly and approachable. The tour itself was pretty good, lots of things crammed into a short amount of time, but we got to do and see a lot! Highly recommended!

Great tour bus!!!
The Expedia/​Surf Bus website is not completely clear. You can buy the full package that says «two activties», though you will not necessarily get two activites.
Morning is 3 hours total for the waterfall park, or snorkeling at shark’s cove, or beach time. Technically you can pick 2 activities in the morning, but then you are left with zero activities later (and your supposedly paid lunch counted as one activity). You are not allowed to to the waterfall park and snorkeling (which are both only in the morning), because the driver will say it is too complicated to drive you back and forth.
In the afternoon, you can use one activity for a shrimp truck for lunch, or do SUP, kayak, walking around the town, or beach time. It is $ 12 extra for an extra activity.
We did snorkeling in the morning, ate lunch at a truck on our own money, snorkeled again, bought t-​shirts. Then the bus drove us to the 2^nd place and we did the SUP down the river for an hour and then walked around the town for an hour. Got a pizza at Pizza Bobs and a beer. You drive by the Dole Pineapple Plantation and some coffee farming.
The snorkeling guy tells you that sunscreen is killing all of the coral in the area. Not sure about that, but we had just slathered it all over our hot and tight bodies before he told us. Then tried to sell expensive «non-​killing» sunscreen.
Storage areas were $ 5 for the morning snorkeling area, but free at the afternoon area.

I wish they would give us some more time during the tour. Everything was rush and rush. Also, they should have said on the brochure that it would cost more if you want to upgrade for the afternoon activity. Our tour guide Sam (?) was very cool and knowledgable. Overall the tour was great, but I don’t think it is suitable for children/​the elderly. You will be exhausted after all !

I wanted to try Surf Bus because per the brochure, you get 1 or 2 activities in the first half of the day and another activity in the second half of the day. We planned on using the bike rental and nature walk first and going stand up paddle boarding second. It also mentions cool stops such as shopping in Haleiwa and stopping at Sunset beach and Waimea beach. Well, that wasn’t entirely true.
First, the bus was late. But then we were told we’d be left if we at each stop weren’t on time. Second, the ride was bumpy & cramped. Harry, the guide, talked really fast and drove past all the scenic points. There were no photo ops. Then we were told we could only pick one activity and then go to Waimea Bay. We would have to pay $ 12.50 for a second activity.
We picked the Nature Hike/​waterfall which was average and then we rushed off to the beach. Waimea Bay was beautiful but there was no time to enjoy it or eat lunch. They don’t really factor time for a meal into the tour. Then it was off to the second activity. We were given three choices, kayaking, stand up paddling or lunch. After hiking and swimming, I was famished so I didn’t have enough energy for the other two activities. I chose lunch. But it’s not really their treat. You’ve already paid for it, they just subtract the money from the activity you didn’t get to complete. We were taken to Big Wave shrimp which wasn’t even good. Why not just give us $ 13 and let us find our own spot? Then I walked around the Haleiwa town. There wasn’t much time but it was nice. I breezed through a few cool art galleries, bought a cool ring from a jewelry stand and a tasty Acai bowl at Waialua Bakery.
But for $ 100, I basically got a glorified cab ride to the beach, a mediocre shrimp plate and a nature walk which only costs $ 15. Even worse than wasting money was the time that was lost. It was the longest nine hours of my life!
My advice, do the Aloha Hawaii Circle Island tour. We found it through one of the Activity Huts outside of the Waikiki hotels. Our driver Isaac actually went to cool places like the Blowhole, Dole plantation, Macadamia Nut farm and turtle viewing. We also went to the beach, Fumi’s shrimp truck and to a pretty unknown, cheap fruit stand which had excellent smoothies. Isaac gave us plenty of time to eat and we got to stop for photo ops. He even pointed out celebrities houses! He was funny and even bought us sweet corn! We learned Hawaiian words and culture instead of threatening us to be on time, the last person on the bus had to do the Hula!
If you don’t want to spend money, just rent a car and explore North Shore yourself. You’ll save a ton and have way more fun than riding on the Surf Bus.

Acey was an awesome guide! He grew up on the island and filled the tour with stops at local places AND all of the advertised places.
We departed at 10am and had to wait for a few people so he took us to a local bakery (Leonard’s) for their famous malasadas! We then departed for the North Shore and saw lots of beaches. You could choose from snorkeling, biking, and a waterfall swim. I chose the waterfall, but biking would have been awesome too. If you bring your own snorkel, I recommend getting the bike, you can then check out beaches AND snorkel. The waterfall was awesome, but 2 hours there was a little much. From there we went to have lunch and you could surf, kayak, or just hang out in town. Acey is great at recommending places to go to, so ask for suggestions! After our final activities, Acey took us to a beach the locals go to for turtle watching. It paid off because it wasn’t crowded, like Turtle Beach, and we saw a few turtles! We got back to our hotel around 6:30pm.
Don’t be hesitant to take this tour, all fitness levels can do it! It was also well worth the tour price! I’d do it again.

This tour was alright.
I think that the tour would have been better had we not been stuck with really stuck up, loud, and awful people on our bus. Obviously, that’s not the tour company’s fault.
Basically the way the tour is set up is that you have a morning block of activity and an afternoon block of activity. They drive up the scenic way to the north shore so you get views of Chinaman’s hat and other nice views on the way up to Shark’s Cove, Pipeline or Waimea area. Unfortunately, we found out after we got on the bus you can’t actually do snorkeling *and* Waimea Falls hike. It’s one or the other, due to time constraints. That was kind of frustrating, but because we had excellent weather/​water conditions we decided to do the snorkel in Shark’s Cove. The snorkel experience was one of the best experiences I’ve EVER had, so I absolutely would recommend you do that while on this tour if the conditions are appropriate (summer months). **IF YOU SNORKEL, DO NOT FORGET AN UNDERWATER CAMERA — there is SOOO much to see, I wish I had brought one.
Anyway, the Surf Bus takes you to whatever activity you decide to do for the morning and drops you off at it. So you’ve got to watch your own time, which is not a big deal, but plan accordingly on having to do that. It picks you up at the appropriate time and then you go to the town Haleiwa. Once at Haleiwa, you can pick a second activity (kayaking, stand up paddle board, or a paid lunch). ***I STRONGLY RECOMMEND NOT USING AN ACTIVITY ON THE PAID LUNCH*** the food was horrible and I was really sad that I traded kayaking for this food that I literally took a bite of and threw away.
That said, I think the tour would have been MUCH better in different company and had I not opted for the free lunch. I would recommend this tour if you are with a larger group (less likely to get stuck with people you can’t stand on a bus all day), and if you do go you can bring your own snacks/​food etc and do a second activity instead of the paid lunch.