Spotlight Interview:

Wild Side Specialty Tours

Wild Side Specialty Tours on Oahu’s Leeward Coast offers exceptional ocean and marine life experiences. Their intimate boat charters – with just four to 10 passengers – feature dolphin and whale sightings, swimming with dolphin encounters, reef snorkeling, and opportunities to help in research and conservation efforts.  

Wild Side’s two vessels, Island Spirit and Alakai, are comfortable, environmentally friendly catamarans designed for enhanced dolphin viewing. Island Spirit hosts the Deluxe Wildlife Charter, the ideal family adventure, while Alakai gets underway with the Best of the West. While both excursions offer reef snorkeling and dolphin encounters, Alakai can travel further offshore in less time, and therefore offer year-round whale watching and wildlife sightings of seabirds and large fish.

With so few passengers, Wild Side delivers a unique guest experience that boats with 20 to 70 passengers simply cannot offer. "With four to 10 passengers, we’re like a family on each charter," explains Noelle Shaughnessy, lead crew. "You get to know everyone. In fact, many guests return year after year."

Smaller charter are also better for marine life. "I see changes in dolphin behavior when they are with larger groups. With small groups, they are more relaxed," notes Noelle.

Wild Side’s friendly, knowledgeable marine biologists and certified naturalists share their extensive knowledge of Oahu’s marine life plus Hawaiian heritage and history. Every part of the charter is guided from the dolphin swim to the reef snorkel. Guests learn about the dolphins and whales as well as the reef, its inhabitants, and the threats to this living system. "We also focus on the history of Oahu’s West Side," says Noelle. "We tell the stories of the first Polynesians who voyaged across the Pacific, were greeted by large schools of dolphins, and made landfall in beautiful Makua Valley."

Wild Side charters showcase a wide variety of Hawaii’s marine life species: spinner dolphins, sea turtles, tropical fish, and rays; rare species like bottle nose dolphins, pan tropical spotted dolphins, pilot whales, pygmy killer whales, false killer whales, and whales sharks; plus humpback whales November-April when they are in Hawaiian waters.

And passengers can take part in conservation efforts. For instance, Wild Side partners with Cascadia Research Collective sharing photo identification of rare target species and observed animal behaviors such as pod composition hunting and traveling patterns. Guests can share their own photos and help count species while on board. Wild Side also works with Hawaii Uncharted, a new non-profit focused on tracking and counting whale sharks. Guests can help with these activities and even swim with the whale sharks.

While Wild Side’s marine encounters are amazing, the team also hopes to foster a better appreciation for the ocean and its creatures. "No matter where we live, we can do something for our oceans," says Noelle. "If we lose our oceans, we lose ourselves. We want guests to enjoy wildlife and learn. And we hope they take away something they can share with someone else."

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Aina:

Land Adventures

Chef Jeremy Shigekane, owner of Chef Mavro

Hiking, cycling, waterfall swims, and off-road back country tours showcase Oahu’s breathtaking beauty and Hawaiian culture.

Bikeadelic Hawaii
Explore Oahu on two wheels with Bikeadelic Hawaii, Waikiki’s only bike-specific retail operation conveniently located at the Ohana Waikiki East on Kuhio Avenue within walking distance to most hotels. They rent all types of bikes— road, city, mountain, youth, electric assist bikes, and high end performance models — by the hour, the day, or the week. And they have all the equipment you’ll need including helmets plus a detailed map with five different routes. Bikeadelic Hawaii also offers guided tours, including sightseeing and fitness focused routes plus customized options.

Agritourism Hawaii
Recently launched Agritourism Hawaii showcases Native Hawaiians’ historic aloha aina – love for the land – at three culturally significant sites. You’ll visit Na Mea Kupono Learning Center, a six-acre taro farm where they use water sustainably to farm taro, the ancestral Hawaiian crop. In Waimea Valley, learn about the ancient, mountain to sea ahupuaa land division system in which Hawaiians lived sustainably for thousands of years before contact with the West. The tour concludes at 400-year-old restored Loko Ea Fishpond where you’ll learn about the sustainable aquaculture system of ancient Hawaiians. The tour gives you an opportunity to give back through malama aina (caring for the land) activities like clearing out invasive species at the taro farm and helping to gather stones to rebuild the walls and throwing nets to catch fish at the fishpond.

Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club
Like to hike? Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club (HTMC) welcomes visitors on many (but not all) their hikes. Research upcoming hikes on the HTMC hike page. Click on a specific hike to connect to a page with detailed information including hike mileage, difficulty rating (easy, intermediate, etc.), description, hike meeting place, and hike coordinator name and contact information. While HTMC hikes are scheduled group hikes with a coordinator, they are not guided hikes. All hikers are responsible for themselves and their own group. On the hike day, meet at the trail head with the hike coordinator who will describe trail conditions, any possible areas that require hikers’ attention, and the recommended time to turn around and head back. HTMC trails are well marked with pink ribbons.

Hawaii Forest & Trail
Explore Oahu’s scenic beauty and cultural riches with innovative new programs from Hawaii Forest & Trail (HF&T). On the Oahu Sunset on the Ridge, available exclusively from Ko Olina Resort, you’ll hike on private lands in the Palehua highlands, enjoying sweeping island views while hearing about the legends and history of Hawaii before watching the sun set. HF&T also offers private, custom tours from Ko Olina Resort. The Spirit of the North Shore combines Kahuku Farms, lunch at a shrimp truck, Waimea Bay, and time at restored Loko Ea Fishpond. On the North Shore Waterfall Swim, swim at Waimea Valley and then stop in Haleiwa for shave ice.

North Shore Ecotours
Discover Oahu’s pristine back country and private conservation lands with North Shore Ecotours. Native Hawaiian guides who are also professional educators, conservationists, and cultural practitioners share rare insights into Hawaiian language, history, and nature as you experience breathtaking scenery and views without the crowds. For one-of-a-kind fun, take the brand new Puaa Ahiu (the Wild Boar) tour – nicknamed the "hike on wheels." This exhilarating 4x4 off-road adventure aboard an ex-military Pinzgauer all-terrain vehicle scrambles up steep ridgelines, negotiates muddy trails, and offers amazing mountain, valley, and ocean panoramas.  

Kai:

Ocean Adventures

From surfing and dolphin encounters to stand up paddle yoga, and scuba, Oahu provides unbeatable bucket list activities.

North Shore Surf Girls
Learn to surf where it all began on your Oahu vacation. That’s right! Surfing was born in Hawaii thousands of years ago. North Shore Surf Girls offers surf and stand up paddle board lessons on the North Shore where there are fewer crowds than in Waikiki. Owner and founder Carol Phillips and her team (women and men instructors) offer lessons for children, women, and men. They will make sure you feel comfortable and safe in the water as you learn to ride the waves. Families are especially welcome and several instructors specialize in riding tandem to teach young children. While winter surf is serious on this coast of Oahu, North Shore Surf Girl teaches year-round. In winter, lessons are held at Puaena Point, a cove protected from the big breaks. In summer, lessons are at Chun’s Reef Beach.

Dolphin Quest Hawaii
Get up close and personal with dolphins on Oahu. Dolphin Quest Hawaii provides unique, interactive dolphin experiences with a pioneering organization committed to scientific research that supports the conservation of the species in the wild. Choose from any of 10 intimate (six or fewer guests) experiences at the Dolphin Quest Hawaii lagoon at The Kahala Hotel & Resort. On the Kids’ Aquatic Adventure, children ages five to nine learn about dolphins, whales, and sea turtles through games and out of water experiences before interacting with dolphins in the shallow water. With Dolphin Adventure, enjoy an educational component and then a high energy water session. The emotionally enriching and educational dolphin encounters are unscripted and highly interactive, enabling you to communicate with and ask the dolphins for specific behaviors.

Trident Adventures
Ready for high energy action? Trident Adventures at Ko Olina Resort offers adrenaline-charged activities designed by veteran Navy SEALS who have translated their old lives into fun and safe experiences. On the Helicopter Jump and Dive, enjoy scenic views as the doors-off helicopter flies over the West Side mountains and valleys before jumping out of the helicopter straight into the water. After the jump, Trident Adventures pros outfit you with scuba gear for underwater explorations. Try Sky Diving which involves tandem jumping with an instructor up at the North Shore’s Dillingham Field or Tactical Shooting at a private gun range. For the ultimate, Trident Adventures combines all three activities into the Exclusive Navy Seal for the Day. Scuba diving and snorkeling in the ocean or the protected Ko Olina lagoons are also offered. 

Yoga Kai Hawaii
For stand up paddle (SUP) yoga on the North Shore, head to Yoga Kai Hawaii. Classes are designed for all levels from beginners to advanced. Even if you’ve even tried yoga or been on a surfboard, owner and teacher Julie Fincher eliminates the intimidation factor some may feel. Most classes are offered at the North Shore’s Haleiwa Beach Park where the reef keeps the waters calm year-round. SUP Yoga classes are offered mornings and at sunset while SUP Glowga (night yoga on a glowing board) is available in the evening. Limited classes are offered in Honolulu at Ala Moana Beach Park’s Magic Island. Consider Yoga Kai Hawaii’s first ever Yoga Oahu Retreat Nov 1-5 — a multi-day getaway featuring yoga, guided meditation, SUP yoga, Hawaiian culture, a spa day, and sound healing.

Yoga Floats
On the South Shore, Kelsey Barden and the Yoga Floats team take a friendly, lighthearted approach to SUP yoga by making classes fun and accessible. Classes are open to all levels of experience and all activities are done in warm, shallow water. In fact, most students are first-timers trying the sport on vacation. The idea is to slow down, connect to nature and one’s self while experiencing the waves, the sun, and the breezes. Yoga Floats offers SUP Yoga, Intro to Stand Up Paddling, Light Up the Night (SUP Yoga with underwater colored lights), Flow and Go (SUP Yoga and Paddle Combo) and private classes at Magic Island at Ala Moana Beach Park.

Twogood Kayaks
Twogood Kayaks Hawaii’s new Kualoa Park Kayak Snorkel Beach Day is a fun fusion of sea and land adventures suitable for groups from 15 to 100. Spend the day at Kualoa Park enjoying snorkeling, kayaking, stand up paddle boarding, beach volleyball, croquet, and a catered picnic lunch. Trained staff are with the group all day. Lifeguards oversee snorkeling activities. And guides accompany guests who kayak out to Mokolii Island – also known as Chinaman’s Hat – where they can take a 20-minute- hike to the top for stunning views of Kaneohe Bay, the coast, and the Koolau Mountains.

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Malama Oahu:

Voluntourism Opportunity

Make a difference on your vacation by volunteering with 808 Cleanups — "Keeping Hawaii Clean from Mauka to Makai" (Mountain to Sea). This non-profit is dedicated to restoring Hawaii’s natural beauty by empowering volunteers to conduct group activities including beach clean ups, clearing litter and invasive species from hiking trails, and graffiti removal from sacred Hawaiian spaces such as heiau (temples). Check the website calendar page to choose a clean-up and download the app to connect with other volunteers. To organize a custom clean up during a trip to Oahu, join the 808 Cleanups Group on Facebook or email 808cleanups@gmail.com.

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