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Kona Wildlife Tour: Year-Round Whale Watching
4.8
28 Ratings
Kailua-Kona
Embark on a thrilling pelagic wildlife excursion in Kona, Hawaii. Join expert naturalists on a whale watching and ocean safari tour to encounter a variety of marine species year-round.
Embark on a thrilling pelagic wildlife excursion in Kona, Hawaii. Join expert naturalists on a whale watching and ocean safari tour to encounter a variety of marine species year-round.
Duration:
4 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Captain Zodiac Raft Expeditions - As Hawai’i’s original rafting company, this family-operated office is designed for checking in on each adventure. The office provides indoor seating, air conditioning, convenient restrooms, reef-safe sunscreen, children’s entertainment, souvenir shopping, and a friendly golden retriever to greet those missing…
- Captain Zodiac Raft Expeditions - As Hawai’i’s original rafting company, this family-operated office is designed for checking in on each adventure. The office provides indoor seating, air conditioning, convenient restrooms, reef-safe sunscreen, children’s entertainment, souvenir shopping, and a friendly golden retriever to greet those missing their furry friend from home.
- Honokohau Marina & Small Boat Harbor - As Hawai’i’s original rafting company, this family-operated office is designed for checking in on each adventure. The office provides indoor seating, air conditioning, convenient restrooms, reef-safe sunscreen, children’s entertainment, souvenir shopping, and a friendly golden retriever to greet those missing their furry friend from home.
- Kailua-Kona - Journey along the Kona coast, exploring the deep Pacific waters in search of resident dolphins or whales.
- Kailua-Kona - On the return trip from Kealakekua Bay, travel along the rugged shoreline with the agile Zodiac boats. Hear tales of ancient Hawai’i and the island’s formation while observing various geological features. The captain and crew are eager to offer recommendations for dining, sightseeing, or local events around Kona, so feel free to ask.
What's Included
- Rafting expedition
- Picnic snack including potato chips, cookies, sodas, and fruit juices
- Complimentary reusable water bottle
- All local taxes included
- Rafting expedition
- Picnic snack including potato chips, cookies, sodas, and fruit juices
- Complimentary reusable water bottle
- All local taxes included
What's Not Included
- Hotel pick up and drop off
- Gratuities
- Cameras, please bring your own camera and/or go pro.
- Hotel pick up and drop off
- Gratuities
- Cameras, please bring your own camera and/or go pro.
Additional Information
There’s never a dull moment in whale season for Captain Zodiac. Embark on an unparalleled journey into the great unknown with us! Relish a morning devoted to observing wildlife, steered by our skilled Captains and crew who harbor an intense admiration and concern for the sea and its denizens. Kona, home to an array of wildlife species throughout the…
There’s never a dull moment in whale season for Captain Zodiac. Embark on an unparalleled journey into the great unknown with us! Relish a morning devoted to observing wildlife, steered by our skilled Captains and crew who harbor an intense admiration and concern for the sea and its denizens. Kona, home to an array of wildlife species throughout the year, is among the world’s unique coastlines. We may come across 17 different types of resident whales and dolphins, seals, turtles, a variety of birds and so much more. Our sturdy Zodiac Hurricanes, identical to those employed by the Navy seals, will cart us across Hawaii’s broad submerged topography, presenting an oceanic adventure for the true thrill-chaser!
- Not recommended for participants with back or neck problems
- Pregnant women are not allowed on this tour
- Minimum age is 4 years
Location
Captain Zodiac Snorkeling and Whale Watching tours
Kealakehe Parkway
Captain Zodiac is located in the Honokohau Marina and small boat harbor, after turning onto Kealakehe Street make your first right then second left into a parking lot surrounded by chain link fencing and pink flowers with blue roofed buildings.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.8
(28 Ratings)
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P6842xomarks
Mar 20, 2025
Go on this tour! - This tour is amazing! Shelby, Marco, and DeVante are the best tour guides. We had so much fun from start to finish. They were extremely informed and taught us so much about all the wildlife we saw. The zodiac boat was so epic and felt so great to just be out on the water.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
603lovelyr
Nov 25, 2023
Awesome! - The tour was amazing! We saw whales and oceanic white tip shark! Captain Marco is very knowledgeable, funny, and did a very good job. What an experience! We'll definitely do it again.
-Lovely and Robert
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sheri_c
Oct 29, 2023
Awesome upclose whale experience - Our trip was awesome..".B" our captain was delightful. We had the privilegde of spending about 15 minutes with a pod of 4-5 beaked cuviet whales. It is a rare sighting,the best she ir anyone else on the raft had ever seen. They.came right up to zodiac to check us out..so close we could have touched them. Absolutely amazing. The rest of the tour was interesting and informative. It was obvious that there was every cobcern for our safety and enjoyment. Hoghtly recommended!
Review provided by Viator
Srikanthmuralidhara
Apr 7, 2023
A life time experience - Colin and Holly were just wonderful. I did not expect to see hundreds of melon headed whales and Fraser's dolphins. Mother nature showed up graciously and with glory. Words cannot express this awesome experience. Colin and Holly are great souls and cannot express my gratitude to you. You are the true guardians of our planet . They showed immense respect to these wonderful creatures and the dolphins followed our boat for quite a distance all around us !!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
188clarencec
Jan 14, 2023
Pelagic Adventure fun! - We (my wife, I, our friends Monica & Ron) had many humpback whale sightings (15-20), 3-4 different dolphin species and numerous birds. The crew was professional, informative and funny!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Thomas_n
Jan 1, 2023
We got to see a pod of... - We got to see a pod of Sperm Whales. Our guide Cory and Mia went the extra mile to get us to the pod of Sperm Whales even though our tour time was almost up. Excellent Service
Review provided by Viator
Terry
Nov 2, 2022
Doesn’t get any better! - 4+ hours on a beautiful day on the water. The trip exceeded my expectations. I’m was thrilled to find a Zodiac excursion that wasn’t snorkeling (although we did get in the water and had that option). We were lucky to see Turtle, dolphins and a whale along with beautiful shoreline.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
283rhondad
Oct 22, 2022
So many adventures with Captain Zodiac! - This has been the highlight of my Hawaiian vacation for many years! I have taken several excursions with Captain Zodiac over the years and ALWAYS extremely happy with the adventure!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lanamom
Aug 30, 2022
Amazing sites, great service! - We did their pelagic experience and then a private charter. For the pelagic tour we went out searching for, well, anything we could find, and then ended the tour with a snorkel in a quiet bay with barely anybody around.
Then we went on a private charter to celebrate my sons graduation (who didn't want a graduation party). I wanted to have a special lunch for him, and they went above and beyond creating a great meal, down to the personalized cake which we ate in a calm, secluded bay. As we were finishing a superpod of dolphins appeared to help in the celebration.
Captain Chuck took us to places we didn't even know existed, had an amazing snorkel in another pretty much empty bay.
All in all they really did a great job of making this special for my son who was incredibly happy and said it was the greatest party he could have imagined.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
38pt
Jun 28, 2023
No refund given after cancellation - Had a cancelation through phone message and email way before 48 hrs that is necessary and they will not refund me even with proof that this was done before the 48hrs that is in their policy. very dishonest.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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