Wild Side Specialty Tours

09/04/2026

8/28/2026 Sometimes the life you dreamed of quietly becomes the life you’re living. For our guests and crew, this was one of those moments.

09/02/2026

This is the kind of Hawaiʻi we hope our guests take home with them.

Not just what you saw, but what you learned. The stories behind the coastline. The wildlife you met along the way. The questions you didn’t know to ask until you were out there.

There’s so much more to West Oʻahu than a checklist of things to see. Stay curious. Ask questions. Listen. That’s often where the best part of the adventure begins.

And we love being able to share a little of it from the water.

Photo credit:

08/31/2026

Even though this video was completely accidental it reminds us that here Wild Side Specialty Tours we don’t expect perfection. We embrace the messy, the unexpected and the moments we never planned. It turns out beautifully every time . Nature rarely follows a script, and neither do the best adventures. Do you want a real adventure? Come jump into the unknown, the uncertain, and find yourself.

08/31/2026

Somewhere off the Waiʻanae Coast, the ocean opened and let us into one of its rarest secrets.
She appeared from the blue, immense, ancient and impossibly gentle. Each time we thought she had dissolved into the distance, she turned and returned, allowing us a few suspended moments beside her. Every whale shark carries a constellation of markings found nowhere else in the world. A living map belonging only to her. On National Whale Shark Day, we honor not only the wonder of encountering these extraordinary beings, but our responsibility to protect the wild places that still hold them. Some encounters end when we leave the water. Others remain with us.

08/30/2026

SWIMMING WITH A WHALE SHARK? GET THE ID SHOT. 🦈

Whale sharks have unique spot patterns—like fingerprints—and your photos can help researchers identify and track individuals.

If you’re lucky enough to encounter one in Hawaiʻi:

📷 Photograph the LEFT side, just behind the gills and above the pectoral fin — this is the key ID area.
📷 Shoot straight from the side, close enough for the spots to be sharp.
📷 Take several photos, plus a wider shot of the whole shark.
📍 Note the date and location.

Never chase or touch—let the shark choose the encounter.

Rare encounters like these are exactly why we document what we see at Wild Side. Your vacation photo could become a valuable piece of citizen-science data.

See it. Photograph it. ID it. Report it. 🎥 Angela H. w/ Alex Moe and Bethany King

MarineConservation

08/27/2026

This is one of the reasons citizen science has always been such an important part of what we do at Wild Side.

Of the 25 previous records of these three endangered whales, only 9 came from dedicated research efforts. The rest came from citizen scientists—primarily Wild Side and Dolphin Excursions.

That means photos taken during ordinary days on the water can become part of the long-term record scientists use to understand this endangered population: who is still here, who they associate with, where they travel, and how the population changes over time.

We've been contributing our sightings and photo-identification images to researchers for many years, and it's incredibly rewarding to see how those individual encounters add up. Research vessels simply can't be everywhere, every day. Tour boats and people who spend their lives on the water can help fill in some of those gaps.

It's a good reminder that wildlife watching can be more than simply seeing an animal. Done responsibly, observing, photographing, documenting and sharing what we see can contribute to understanding—and ultimately protecting—the animals we're so fortunate to encounter.

We're proud to be part of that effort, and very grateful to the researchers who turn all those individual sightings into knowledge.

Needless to say we are always excited to encounter false killer whales. At 7:07 this morning, on day 7 of our Kaua‘i project, we came across a group of false killer whales moving quickly east along the south shore of Kaua‘i. We were able to deploy two depth-transmitting satellite-linked tags, and get ID photos of three individuals in the widely-spread group, before the seas became unworkable.

This afternoon, Sabre Mahaffy, the curator of our false killer whale catalog, was able to ID all three individuals - all are members of Cluster 3 of the endangered main Hawaiian Islands population. The three whales encountered, HIPc367, HIPc650, and HIPC914, are part of a rarely-seen subgroup of Cluster 3, and were all last photographed in 2024. This is the first time we’ve deployed any tags on Cluster 3 individuals since 2022 (the last tag on a Cluster 3 individual was also deployed off Kaua‘i). Both tags were depth-transmitting SPLASH10-F tags – in addition to providing information on locations (24 hours per day), these tags also record and transmit dive depths and durations. Tomorrow will be our last day on the water but we are hoping the group will come back into our range so we are able to collect more information on this group.

These tags were deployed as part of the U.S. Navy's Marine Species Monitoring Program. If you want to see where these individuals go, we have a live-map (with a one-day delay) on the project web page at https://cascadiaresearch.org/hawaii-update/august2026/

07/12/2026

A moment beneath the surface.

Two short-finned pilot whales glide effortlessly through the blue.

Despite their name, pilot whales are actually one of the largest members of the dolphin family. Highly social and deeply bonded, they spend their lives surrounded by family, caring for one another and communicating with an astonishing variety of clicks and whistles.

Encounters like this are never expected and never guaranteed—which is exactly what makes them so extraordinary.

Every day on the ocean is different. Nature writes the itinerary, and we're simply grateful to be invited into their world, if only for a moment.

📷 Captured during a respectful encounter off Oʻahu's west coast by

07/12/2026

Dolphin cuddle puddle
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Physical behavior is a big part of dolphin social communication. Nuzzling and brushing fins are signs of strong social ties. Biting, pushing, and kicking can also demonstrate aggression or dominance, particularly among males.

07/12/2026

18 s***m whales above vs below
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Yesterday we had a rare and welcome encounter with the ocean’s largest predators, s***m whales! These giants are always present in Hawaiian waters, but unlikely to venture close enough to shore to witness most of the time. A pod of pilot whales also joined the encounter and briefly interacted with the s***m whales. Mindblowing for a species we recognize day to day as “big animals” to be completely dwarfed. The weather turned quickly but it was a top tier encounter nonetheless!
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***mwhales

06/16/2026

The endangered whales' numbers are still trending in the wrong direction. Researchers just found a new piece of the puzzle as to why.