This was fun, great pictures and very safe. They pull the cage over next to the boat, six people in snorkel masks get in, then they let it out a ways. They aren’t chumming the water; they just rely on the sharks learned behavior of congregating around the crab traps when a boat pulls over because the crab fisherman throwback small crabs, octopus etc. so the sharks have learned to collect an easy meal from these fisherman and the shark snorkel tour coat tales on this shark behavior.
It’s just the bars, no plexiglass, so you can take really great pictures with a GoPro or similar. The water was a little choppy but that’s just how the ocean goes sometimes. They also offer where they put a GoPro underwater on a stick face toward the cage that takes footage you can purchase for about $75 I think. Imagine that footage was pretty amazing since the sharks were interested in the camera and approached it multiple times to see if it was edible.
We saw at least six large Galápagos sharks congregating in our area. There was also a barracuda that the sharks chased off a couple times. Overall, very worthwhile.
When I went in the end of April 2022, they were not offering transportation from hotel to pier, which was about an hour drive north from Waikiki for me in a rental car. But the parking there is free. It just means an extra early morning departure.
If you are looking to do something that feels exhilarating but is entirely safe, this is it. If you are looking to do something that feels exhilarating and is a little more edgy, do the cage-free version.