Whales in Maui: Ma'alaea or Lahaina

[R&D'sNona]

DH and I will be on POA 3/20/10 (less than 3 weeks! Yay!). We usually book shore excursions on our own rather than through the ship. We will be 2 days in Maui and we're planning to drive Road to Hana day 1, sunrise at Haleakala Day 2 and after we come down off the mountain, we'd like to do a whale watch. The Pacific Whale Foundation has 2-hour cruises leaving from either Lahaina (which we'd like to see) at 11:30 and 12:30 or Ma'alaea Bay at 10:30 and 12:30. Which place would you recommend? Lahaina looks charming but it's almost 2 hours from Haleakala. Is there anything special in Ma'alaea to see? It's 1.5 hours drive.

 

We want to make sure we leave enough time at the other end of the tour, to return the rental car and get back on the ship. Recommendations anyone? NCL excursion is not an option, since that is offered on Day #1 only, and we want to leave the whole day for RTH and enough stops to hike.

 

Much appreciate your input! Thanks.

[sceptic]

I recommend Lahaina. It's WAY more fun and interesting than Ma'alaea. And it's only ten miles or so beyond Ma'alaea, most of which is quite beautiful. Ma'alaea is frequently very windy from noonish on, while Lahaina is much less so. And the only other point of interest at Ma'alaea is the aquarium - a very good aquarium, but really that's it. (don't worry about the "1.5 hours vs. 2 hours driving - those last ten-ish miles are really gorgeous!)

 

Just head straight to Lahaina after Haleakala. Don't worry if you're early; there's plenty to do in town before the excursion. Re parking - check out Maui Revealed. Heed exactly what the author says, because I've found it absolutely spot on, including the lots that are commonly less than full.

 

One other thing about whale-watching. You don't want a lot of whitecaps, which make seeing the spouts from the whales' blowholes much harder to see. Which means that the windy conditions off Ma'alaea make for tougher PM whale watching compared with the calmer waters off Lahaina.

 

I've taken excursions from both places, and I've figured out that AM snorkelling is much better from Ma'alaea, while PM whale-watching or the sunset-cocktail type excursion is much better from Lahaina.

 

Hey - either way, you're on a boat off Maui looking for whales. That's an awesome way to spend a few hours.

[R&D'sNona]

Thank you - I'm sold! Will book it now.

[Beach4me]

sceptic is spot on - Lahaina far exceeds Ma'alaea. If you want a really great whale watch, check out the Gemini (www.geminicharters.com). The boat leaves off of Kaanapali Beach. Our favorite whale watch...with PWF close behind.

 

Enjoy!

[R&D'sNona]

sceptic is spot on - Lahaina far exceeds Ma'alaea. If you want a really great whale watch, check out the Gemini (www.geminicharters.com). The boat leaves off of Kaanapali Beach. Our favorite whale watch...with PWF close behind.

 

Enjoy!

Thank you Beach4me - actually, before posting this thread, I had read your prior posts about Gemini and I was all set to book the tour, but unfortunately the timing doesn't work for us. The afternoon sail is too late to make it back to the ship on Day 2 and the morning sail is too early, since want to do sunrise on Haleakala. Day #1 doesn't work either because we are doing the Road To Hana all day. Your story about the DVD was a compelling recommendation and I'm truly disappointed we can't do Gemini. PWF is our second choice, but it fits in the schedule. We will take the tour from Lahaina at 12:30, giving us plenty of time to see pretty scenery driving down from the crater, walk around Lahaina town and return the rental car before getting back on the ship to collapse and sleep.

 

Aloha and Mahalo.

[vacruizer]

Definitely go with Lahaina. We are on our last day of 8 days of land vacation here in Maui - the whales are everywhere! You can't look at the water more than a few minutes without seeing them. Lahaina has lots of neat shops and restaurants - lots of charm to it.

 

The road to Hana and the Haleakala sunrise are both spectacular. We did them as a tour this week (used Ekahi tours each time) but if you are used to mountain roads you'll be fine driving. The pools and waterfalls are all dried up right now due to drought but it's still beautiful.

 

BTW - the locals here don't have very good things to say about PWF. They are apparently not what they claim to be according to several people we've talked to.