When looking for adventures in Oahu we found a 3 hour tour to Gilligans Island/ AKA Coconut Island / AKA The Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology. Since the tour was around a peninsula and our boats of choice would be kayaks, we felt we should be pretty safe and not experience the same fate as the 3 hour tour featured in Gilligan’s Island. The opening scene and many of the scenes from the show were filmed here, but there was no sign of Gilligan nor his ship mates when we arrived. Though the property would now be a dream Island for the professor as this is home to the Hawaiian Institute of Marine Biology.
Our guides were Natalie and Zoe our first visit and Joe the second visit, all three were excellent and had a tremendous knowledge of the area and the local marine life.
We kayaked from the mainland to the Coconut Island, along the way seeing beautiful reef, huge turtles and a variety of fish.
Once at the island we were able to snorkel for about and hour, again having the opportunity to see beautiful exotic sea life.
They provide guests with dry bags to carry anything you don’t want to get wet. Wear a bathing suit if you want to swim, bring a towel, change of clothes and sunscreen. We purchased a special sealed dry pack for my phone so I could use it to take pictures without worrying about water damage (most of these pictures were taken with my phone inside this pouch.
After a fun day of snorkling and kayaking we returned to the mainland where we were served a delicious lunch of salad,rice, fresh pineapple along with BBQ chicken and pork.
The cost of the tour is 129.00, the price included transportation from our hotel.
We loved it so much that we have returned 2 years in a row!
Pink Hat Gypsy 