I waited 5 days to write this, so it is not a reaction type review. I booked last minute, even so, it was during business hours, but no one reached out to me about location for pick up verbally - I had it in text. I still found my way and met up with some people who were also on the tour - though their times and information were all different than mine. Lots of confusion at the start.
After we were all picked up, the tour guide - Jake - started talking to us about the island. Mainly about gentrification (less than 1% of natives own home or land on the island, how there is not enough farms - drained to develop Waikiki - so now the island is dependent on food imports and if they were to stop only 1 of 4 people would live), water shortages (told us to use a bowl of water to brush our teeth and clean our tooth brushes and for us ladies to take that bowl in the shower and shave our legs and other areas), talked to us about respect for him and the land (someone got a call during this speech and he gave her the side eye), told us not to judge the homeless people because he too was homeless when he was a child, and took us to Obama's home so we could take pictures and then let us know that he wasn't going to answer questions about Obama, because he didn't want the tour to be political. To be fair, he did ask if speaking about the topics would offend anyone - but I for sure did not expect a lecture - it was like he was preaching.
We stopped at several places for 10 minutes to take pictures, but then we started stopping at stores and stands. The first was a fruit stand to use the restroom at a souvenir gift shop. He was in the stand helping his "uncle" cut up pineapple for the group to buy. We stopped at a fruit stand and he helped his "auntie" cut up coconuts for the group to buy - at least there was more than one stand to buy from here and other products.
We went snorkeling. Which was nice, but we were warned not to approach or talk to the locals because they would not appreciate it and they were dangerous. Which seems odd, but ok.
We were told a story about father sky and mother earth, and straight after were told to respect our mother earth - which I am not understanding as we were all adults and no one was chucking trash or anything else out the window, so why is a 26/27 year old lecturing the group?
Then we went to the Macadamia Nut Farm. We were guided in the shop and told very sternly before we got off the bus to use the thongs provided for the samples. There was no tour, or demonstration on how to crack your own nuts or where to crack them. We were also told to order lunch from the 1 stand that was there. Where lunch should have been in Kahuku with an assortment of lunch providers. I wasn't able to eat, by my choice because I have a food allergy and I could not be certain there wouldn't be cross contamination.
We also did not go snorkeling with the turtles - which was a let down, the reason given was the water was murky. It was, but there was just water and beach for our snorkel bit and I could have got that at Waikiki. We did walk over to the park where we were allowed to see the turtles in the water.
The Dole farm - we weren't there long enough to do a tour - just stand in line for ice cream and go to the restroom and shop.
The last stop was the coffee farm. They had trees, but again - it was just a shop - no tours, we had samples and were given recommendations on what to buy.
I felt like I was on a glorified shopping trip to places I would never shop at - except the fruit stand. He did let us know, I would say no less than 25 times that he works off of tips and where we could find an ATM if we did not have cash. I believe there were 3 along the way - and even told us where the last one would be so we could be prepared to leave him a tip when we got off the bus had we spent our cash or had not gone to the others. I would have liked to hear more about the Island's history and the kings and queens. How the state had developed. Culture.
If you like this sort of thing and it helps you connect - then this is the tour for you. For me, I was looking to spend my time on vacation - being on vacation - not worrying about the woes of the world. Enjoying the beauty of the island and the people.
Just so we are on the same page, Jake is not native, but he has lived here a long time and obviously takes pride in home. That is a wonderful thing. I did tip the man and I did pay for the tour - it wasn't free or discounted.
Just leaving a final thought for Jake, if you want to preach/lecture - try not doing it to a captive audience.