This phenomenon is largely due to the large dolphin populations along the Waianae Coast. This coastline is easily accessible from both Waianae Harbor and Ko’Olina, both of which are within an hour’s drive of Waikiki. To make that commute even easier most of the dolphin watching companies will even pick you up in Waikiki and take you out to where the tours start from.
The amazing part of these tours is that the pods of dolphins can so readily be found and observed from the vessels but also in addition they seem to be so easily agreeable to swim with snorkeling humans. A large part of this amazing success in being able to engage with them so well has to do with the remarkable discipline and restraint exercised by the various boat charters who ‘observe’ but do not disturb or interfere with the passage of the dolphins through this area. Great effort is expended by all the charter boat companies attempting to explain the ‘no touch’, ‘no interfere’, and ‘no distract’ policies instituted by these companies regarding their interaction with the amazing dolphin populations. It’s likely that you will want to enjoy a snorkeling experience while you are in Oahu and these tours provide a great way to enjoy some snorkeling along the reef with the extra and much more rare experience of actually swimming with wild dolphins. No tour will guarantee that you will be able to swim with the dolphins, as these dolphins are not in captivity and do exercise their own ‘free will’ but as it turns out the vast majority of the tours we send out do give you this amazing experience.