Every year we look at the Hawaii operators listed on this site and recognise the ones doing the most for the people who book them. These are the 30 nominees for 2026.
Nominations are drawn from our own catalogue, not from a public vote or a paid entry. Operators are shortlisted on review standing, review volume and how well they fit a category we want to cover properly. It is an editorial choice made by this site — there is no panel and no public vote, and we would rather say so than dress it up. It is recognition from this site, not from an industry body.
Nominees and winners are decided differently. The list below is editorial. Winners are scored on the published rubric underneath it.
Every operator we list runs on FareHarbor, which means we can check something most review sites cannot: whether a tour is actually bookable right now, at the price shown. That check is the backbone of this rubric.
70% standing, 30% booking integrity.
Across the 99 operators in our network that publish a rating, the ratings run from 4.3 to 5.0, with a median of 4.9. There is no real spread to rank on, and the underlying numbers move: two readings of the same Tripadvisor listing on the same day returned 4.4 and 4.6. Ranking operators on a tenth of a star would be inventing precision that is not there. A rating has to clear our floor, and after that it does not move anyone up or down.
We check availability over the next eleven weeks rather than the next year. An earlier version of this rubric looked six months out and mistook unopened calendars for cancelled tours — plenty of operators simply do not open bookings that far ahead. Penalising an operator for a calendar setting would be measuring us, not them.
Catalogue size does not earn points. A single-boat operator running one trip well is not worse than one listing eighty products, and scoring breadth would just reward size. We report how many tours an operator lists; we do not rank on it.
Any operator we list can ask for their own score and the figures behind it, and we will send both.
Best Kiteboarding School
A wind-sports school that dates to 1996. It calls itself Hawaii's original kiteboarding school and says it was among the first to bring wingsurfing to the islands. The menu is kiteboarding,…
Best Kayak & E-Bike Tour
A Kailua outfitter that puts you on the windward side of Oahu in whichever way you like: a guide to the Mokulua Islands, a kayak to Popoia, a self-guided run to Chinaman's Hat or the…
Best Catamaran Sail
A Maui sailing name that dates to 1978, billed “The Highest of Royalty.” Two 65-foot catamarans, Ali'i Nui and the newer Ali'i Kai, sail from Maalaea for Molokini snorkels, turtle snorkels…
Best Boat Tour
The big boat off Kailua Pier. Kanoa II is a 65-foot catamaran with two decks, three restrooms, a full bar, a 20-foot water slide and a 15-foot jump, and the morning snorkel to Red Hill…
Best Dive Operator
A dive shop on Front Street that has kept going through the worst of Lahaina's recent years. Dive Maui is run by CJ Kessler, who learned to dive at the shop as a kid, and her partner…
Best Dive Operator
Kauai's south shore has one dive shop that says it only runs six-diver boats. Fathom Five Divers, on Poipu Road in Koloa, is a PADI 5 Star dive center owned and operated by Jeannette Val…
Best Sunset Sail
A catamaran company on three islands that says it runs the state's largest inter-island fleet. On Oahu the signature trips sail from Ko Olina: a morning dolphin and turtle snorkel with…
Best Eco/Wildlife Tour
Rafts, not catamarans. You sit a few feet off the water, which is the whole point when a humpback surfaces beside the boat or spinner dolphins ride the bow. Three rafts, 14 to 26 guests,…
Best Hilo Water Adventure
Most Big Island boat operators work from the Kona and Kohala side, where the water is calm. Hilo Ocean Adventures works the wet east coast, and the trip that sets it apart is the waterfall…
Best Sailing Experience
No harbor, no shuttle: you walk down the sand in front of the Outrigger Reef and climb the bow stairs. A 45-foot catamaran built for exactly this in 2015, with a bathroom aboard, a sound…
Best Kayak Tour
Kailua Beach has had a kayak shop on it since 1982, under three names. The current one keeps the same idea: rent a boat, or paddle out with a lifeguard-certified guide to the Mokulua…
Best Volcano Tour
Two Los Angeles corporate refugees started KapohoKine by planning itineraries for visiting friends, then began meeting cruise passengers in Hilo with a Suburban and a handmade sign. Today…
Best Kohala Coast Dive Operator
A dive shop at the north end of the Kohala resort coast, in business since 1984. Kohala Divers runs a 46-foot custom dive boat, Namaka, from Kawaihae Harbor, and the two owners who run it…
Best Land Adventure
Eight lines strung across the 22,000-acre plantation that grew Hawaii's first sugar, ending on a half-mile run over the Waita Reservoir. Groups of twelve, guides who teach the tricks, and a…
Best Manta Night Dive
The Kona dive operation that swept all seven categories of Scuba Diving magazine's Readers' Choice awards: a two-tank manta ray night dive with free nitrox, hot showers on a 46-foot Newton,…
Best Dive Operator
Look for the boats with octopus tentacles painted on them. Captains Danny and Laure run a small outfit at Honokohau with three boats, mixed groups of six to eight, and a schedule that…
Best Luau
A luau with a script. Luau Kalamaku stages a story of a voyage from Tahiti to Hawaii, with hula, chanting, fire poi and fire knife, at Kilohana Plantation outside Lihue. Dinner comes from…
Best Private Charter
Six guests, a captain, a mate and a catamaran, from Ko Olina on the west side or from Waikiki. MANA was founded in 2017 by Jacob Kahiapo and Mash Hatae, and calls itself Native Hawaiian…
Best Kayak & Snorkel Tour
A South Maui paddling company that says it has been at it since 1991. Maui Eco Tours meets guests on the beach at Makena or Wailea rather than at a dock, puts them in a touring kayak and…
Best Boat Tour
The west-side way to see the Na Pali Coast: 35-foot power catamarans that carry 18, run two boats per departure, and go into the sea caves when the ocean lets them. Spinner dolphins near…
Best Wildlife Encounter
The first shark cage tour in Hawaii and still the plainest: a twenty-minute boat ride three miles off Haleiwa, a floating aluminum cage that sits two feet out of the water, a mask and…
Best Six-Guest Boat
A one-boat operation with a wellness angle. The yacht Ocean Therapy carries six guests at most, and the company's tagline is “Wellness on the Waves.” Alongside sunset and fireworks cruises,…
Best Whale Watch Operator
The biggest name on the water off Maui is also a charity. PacWhale's five boats belong to Pacific Whale Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1980, and the profit from every Molokini snorkel,…
Best Island Sightseeing Tour
The long-running land-tour company on all four main islands. It began in 1977 as a van sightseeing outfit in Waikiki and still sells the classics: Pearl Harbor, the Oahu circle-island loop,…
Best Sailing Experience
Most Maui catamarans motor. Sail Maui's three boats are built to sail, and the crew puts the engines off and the sails up on every trip the wind allows. Paragon, a 47-foot John Conser…
Best Snorkel Tour
Fourteen to eighteen people on a rigid-hull raft, not a hundred on a catamaran. Sea Quest has been running the South Kona coast since 1988: sea caves and lava tubes on the way, the Captain…
Best Wave Pool
Oahu's wave pool. A machine-made wave breaks on a standing barrier in Ewa Beach, 100 feet wide, with 30, 65 and 100-foot channels sized to your skill. Around it sits a 52-acre lagoon with a…
Best Private Charter
A Waikiki charter company built around the private boat. Tradewind's fleet is three yachts: a 43-foot sailing yacht for six, a 40-foot sailing catamaran for twelve and a 50-foot motor…
Best Waikiki Beach Experience
Waikiki's beach boys have taught visitors to surf here for more than a century, and Waikiki Beach Services is the company that still holds the hotel beach in front of the Royal Hawaiian and…
Best Guided Land Tour
The Big Island is the size of Connecticut and the volcano is on the far side from the resorts. Wasabi's answer since 2006 is a fleet of Mercedes Sprinters with thirteen seats, a guide who…
Nominees are welcome to use the badge on their own site. Paste this wherever you want it to appear:
<a href="https://wanderhawaii.com/golden-lei-awards.html">
<img src="https://wanderhawaii.com/images/golden-lei-award-2026.png"
alt="2026 Golden Lei Awards Nominee" width="180" height="180">
</a>
Nominated and want to add yours, or think we have your tour count wrong? Email info@wanderhawaii.com.