Hawaii: Dolphin Quest at the Kahala Hotel and Resort in Honolulu

For those of you not only planning a trip to Hawaii but love marine life and conservation too, you have to check out Dolphin Quest at the Kahala Hotel and Resort in Honolulu.

Recently I offered a Hawaii vacation giveaway to my followers—and I was able to take 22 couples to Honolulu for a six-day, five-night vacation of their dreams!

I loved traveling with this group and exploring one of the most beautiful tropical locations with them. I think it’s safe to say that one of the highlights for all of us was the Dolphin Quest experience!

Dolphin Quest at the Kahala Hotel and Resort offers a one-of-a-kind interactive experience with—you guessed it—dolphins! Our group was able to swim with Hoku, Hua, Kolohe, Liho, Lono, and Nai Noa, and learn about these amazing animals from the marine experts who work with them every day.

About the Dolphins

One of the coolest things about the whole experience was getting to see first-hand how intelligent and charismatic these animals are. I mean, an animal has to be pretty smart to recognize themselves in a mirror and figure out how to use “tools” like sponges and conch shells to catch prey, right? The trainers even showed our group how to give commands to the dolphins to see all the different jumps, flips, and tricks they know.

They’re also pretty playful and chatty! You might know about echolocation, the way animals like dolphins and bats find the location of something using sound. But they communicate for social reasons too! Dolphins make different sounds like clicks, whistles, and squeaks as they swim and play together. Experts have even figured out that they use distinct whistles as “names” for each other. How cool is that?

Now, I don’t know if we heard our dolphins use their names during our Dolphin Quest experience, but our group did get a chance to hear all of the different sounds they use as we swam and played with them!

Incredible Care

Overall, I would say the best part of the day was seeing how happy and well taken care of the dolphins were.

The Dolphin Quest team includes so many people—specialists, veterinarians, behaviorists—who advocate for marine life conservation. From the moment we got there, we could see how much they really care about the dolphins. It was encouraging to see, and I know it was from the team’s example that our group gained an appreciation for these amazing animals and the ocean as a whole. 

We also appreciated the beauty of the lagoon we spent the afternoon in! One of the biggest and most natural dolphin habitats in the world, fresh seawater is pumped into the lagoon. It’s so crystal clear that you can see more than 100 feet away. It mimics the type of habitat these animals would have in the wild and even includes other animals like fish and green sea turtles. So cool!

Having the chance to swim and play with these animals in this environment definitely made this dream vacation for our winners even better. I know they had a blast, and I have to say that I did too!

So, if you’re planning a trip to Hawaii, don’t miss out on the experience of a lifetime. They offer a variety of interactive, family-friendly programs for ages 2 and up, as well as group accommodations, so make sure to check out Dolphin Quest at the Kahala Hotel and Resort in Honolulu!