Snorkeling Kona or Maui? Tour or On Our Own?

Which would be the better island to try some snorkeling. I am a strong swimmer and have snorkeled before. The DW is a beginner, but an OK swimmer. Should we book a tour or just rent some gear and go on our own?

the one advantage to booking a snorkle trip with the ships excursions is that you get the early Tender Tickets.... the wait to get off the ship into a tender and over to the pier really eats up the time.

If you are going to drive anywhere... you need to look into the Enterprize car rental or dollar car rental. They are the only 2 companies that rent cars near the pier. (All the other companies are at the airport which is 30 minutes away)

Theres a little place right next to the Place of Refuge. You can get alittle culture and snorkle too.

(do you know about Snorkle Bob's, I think that is the name. you can rent snorkle equipment for a week at a time... from the basic snorkle/mask/fins $12 I think up to the really good stuff at $32 per week

Thanks for the info. I think we will do everything on our own. I have rented a car from Dollar in Kona and I think we will pick up our snorkel gear from "Snorkel Bob's" DW & I wear glasses and they offer masks with corrective lenses. It is only about $45 for a weeks rental and you can drop them off on any store on any Island. Plus they give you a bag to carry all the gear in. This way we can snorkel on all the islands whenever the mood strikes us :D

Thanks for the info. I think we will do everything on our own. I have rented a car from Dollar in Kona and I think we will pick up our snorkel gear from "Snorkel Bob's" DW & I wear glasses and they offer masks with corrective lenses. It is only about $45 for a weeks rental and you can drop them off on any store on any Island. Plus they give you a bag to carry all the gear in. This way we can snorkel on all the islands whenever the mood strikes us :D

An excellent idea and one I recommend for cruisers who don't own their own gear, but who want to snorkel several times. If you snorkel just twice, you'll have practically paid for the week's rental (over individual daily rental on each island). Plus, you don't have to waste time on each island going to rent gear.

Enjoy.

beachchick

I have my own equip but do not know the best beach to go to in order to see some great underwater life. Any suggestions?

An excellent idea and one I recommend for cruisers who don't own their own gear, but who want to snorkel several times. If you snorkel just twice, you'll have practically paid for the week's rental (over individual daily rental on each island). Plus, you don't have to waste time on each island going to rent gear.

 

Enjoy.

 

beachchick

Ok, beachchick I know this sounds stupid, but if you rent on one island and finish on another...how do you return it.:o :confused:

I believe it is Snorkle Bob that rent equipment ranging to the basic to top of the line snorkle equipment. They have stores on all or most islands and can return your equipment to any location.

Ok, beachchick I know this sounds stupid, but if you rent on one island and finish on another...how do you return it.:o :confused:

Not a stupid question at all. It's a new concept for most people. So, here's the deal with Snorkel Bob's: They have locations on all the islands; you can rent at one location and return to any of the other locations on any of the islands. For example, you start in Oahu and rent at a Honolulu/Waikiki location. Your last day is on Kauai, so you return your gear to one of the locations on Kauai. No worries; they do it all the time.

Animal 57: I'll give you a quick list of our favorites. North-west would be Honolua Marine Preserve (including Slaughterhouse Beach one cove south and part of the preserve); Airport Beach; Kapalua Beach (north side is best; snorkeling can be marginal to quite good); Ka'anapali (Black Rock in front of the Sheraton). South-west from Wailea to Makena there are several good locations. The beach in front of the Maui Prince (Maluaka?) is very good. There's also La Perouse Bay, which is a marine preserve, but (for our tastes) a bit of effort to get to. Go in the morning--especially for the southern beaches.

Best bet is to do an advanced search for "maui snorkel" and "maui excursion" and "maui beach" going back only about 3 months to start. This question comes up frequently and there are several quite detailed threads about the various snorkeling locations on Maui (and the other islands as well).

If you want to do an excursion, there are several to Molokini. It can be very good, but it's not the absolute best (IMO). Still, we've enjoyed our trips out there. We use a company that has only small boats and does a mid-morning trip in between the morning and afternoon trips of the bigger boats, so it's not wall to wall snorkelers. (If you're only going to do one commercial excursion in the islands, I suggest you do Kealakekua Bay on the BI.)

beachchick:)

Re snorkel spots on Maui:

What Beachchick said!

Honolua is wonderful!

A couple of lesser known but very nice snorkel spots:

The only other place in West Maui I'd suggest is rarely mentioned by anyone. It's Honokeana Cove, which is immediately south of Napili Bay - a wonderful beach, btw. You park for Napili Bay, then walk around the south side of the bay (on the grass of the Napil Shores complex (very nice place to stay!) and you come to Honokeana Cove. Often great visibility. There is no real beach to speak of, but a very easy rock entrance just by the grass of the Napili Point complex - it's the buildings just S of Napili Shores. There's a cute little "inlet" with a couple places to sit in the water and just scoot in. Exit is also easy.

And in South Maui I'd also suggest Po'olenalena beach, which is amazing - almost 1/4 mile long and we've often been the only people on it! The snorkelling around the north (right) side is terrific.

Other than those two additions, Beachchick's list is spot on.

We rented a car in Kona. I had actually made 2 reservations- one as a back-up. The dollar and Thrifty seemed convenient because they're right next to the pier, but the line was LONG! (1 desk for both companies in the King Kamehameha Hotel).

I had another reservation at Enterprise (not the one right there, but the other one in town). I called them when we got to town, and they came to pick me up. Only 2 people in there waiting!

I think sometimes it seems like it would be more convenient to rent right there, but then everyone else has the same idea!