Snorkeling in Kona or Lanai

[mommajo22]

Our group of 4 will be cruising in Hawaii in September. While I love to snorkel, others in our group are not as excited about the prospect so we are only going to do 1 snorkeling excursion. We are looking at either Kailua Kona, where our ship's excursion does a 4 1/2 hour trip to a protected marine sanctuary, or doing a trip to Lanai while in Maui, using either the ship's tour or possibly Trilogy. We only have 1 day in Kona and 2 in Maui. My question is what would be the best use of our limited time and where is the better snorkeling?

[CruiserBruce]

In our experience, Lanai has great snorkeling. Kona is fine, and perhaps logistically a little easier. But Lanai is better.

[Astro Flyer]

I agree with Bruce that Lanai may be better however it requires a much longer boat ride.

 

I've done scuba diving at both locations but not snorkeling I found that Kona was better for scuba. The boat rides are less than 15 minutes to most Kona locations & the variety of sea life during our dives was better. As I recall the boat ride to Lanai was about 30 minutes from Lahaina & once when returning the wind whipped ocean was very rough. It was so bad that the boat had to sail towards Olowalu (several miles south of Lahaina) to hug the more wind protected coastline.

 

Rough seas can happen anywhere but for my wife's mal de mer tendency, I would prefer the shorter Kona boat ride that sails along the coast versus the open water sailing between Lahaina & Lanai.

 

Whichever option you chose, it's best to go as early as possible before the winds kick up particularly in the channel between Maui & Lanai where afternoon whitecaps are the norm.

 

If you're renting a car for your 2 days in Maui, I could recommend my favorite snorkeling sites we enjoy from shore without requiring a boat ride. One location in the Makena area frequently has boat snorkeling tours to one of the places they call "Turtle Town" which I access from the beach. :)

Edited August 10, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[SailingSunsets33]

We will be cruising with Norwegian in June, and I was trying to make the same decision. I have decided (I think) that we will go on an early morning Trilogy trip to Lanai AND a Sea Quest snorkel trip in Kona. I think Lanai will be a fun adventure with some snorkeling/a beach visit/island tour, and Kona will be a fun snorkeling trip. My husband and I enjoy snorkeling, so I thought why not go twice? I know that this really doesn't help, but I wanted to let you know what we chose :)

[Astro Flyer]

We will be cruising with Norwegian in June, and I was trying to make the same decision. I have decided (I think) that we will go on an early morning Trilogy trip to Lanai AND a Sea Quest snorkel trip in Kona. I think Lanai will be a fun adventure with some snorkeling/a beach visit/island tour, and Kona will be a fun snorkeling trip. My husband and I enjoy snorkeling, so I thought why not go twice? I know that this really doesn't help, but I wanted to let you know what we chose :)

 

I've only read great things about Trilogy but haven't gone myself because of the price. Having lived (and still living part time in Maui), I have many days to explore the island something that visitors (and particularly cruise passengers) do not have as an option. ;)

Edited August 10, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[mommajo22]

Thanks for all the opinions - I will present these to my cruisemates. Still undecided what to do. If we don't snorkel in Kona, wondering what would be the next best thing to do? Seems like plenty to do in Maui if we chose not to snorkel there.

[Astro Flyer]

Thanks for all the opinions - I will present these to my cruisemates. Still undecided what to do. If we don't snorkel in Kona, wondering what would be the next best thing to do? Seems like plenty to do in Maui if we chose not to snorkel there.

We have lots of things for you to enjoy here on Maui! :D

[rjeffler]

We did a snorkel trip in Kona 5 years ago and it is still our FAVORITE tour of ALL time on 15 cruises!! It was through (now) Aloha Ocean Excursions. We were 2 of the 15 people on the zodiac and the only 2 from our boat. The others were staying on the island. They rushed us out as a pod of spinner dolphins was close. It was fascinating! I got a little panicky and got back into the boat pretty quickly but took some great pictures from there. Those in the water were soooo excited with the dolphin swimming and jumping all around us. We then did a short ride to do some additional snorkeling and sightseeing there and back. Saw so many different animals, it was great!! I highly recommend it. You can read my full review in my signature line! We are going back next April and going to do it again!!

[CruiserBruce]

There are large numbers of the 4 different kinds of dolphins in the channel between Maui and Lanai...that is one reason I recommended Lanai. When we most recently snorkeled there (last November ) we saw all 4 very close, plus one of the rare seals (can't remember the name of the species) hauled up on a beach on Lanai. Plus the snorkeling was awesome.

 

I would recommend a small boat vendor like Capt Steve's. Excellent.

[Astro Flyer]

There are large numbers of the 4 different kinds of dolphins in the channel between Maui and Lanai...that is one reason I recommended Lanai. When we most recently snorkeled there (last November ) we saw all 4 very close, plus one of the rare seals (can't remember the name of the species) hauled up on a beach on Lanai. Plus the snorkeling was awesome.

 

 

 

I would recommend a small boat vendor like Capt Steve's. Excellent.

 

Monk seal? I've only seen one swimming in a rocky lava point cove during our morning walk in Wailea.

[CruiserBruce]

Monk seal? I've only seen one swimming in a rocky lava point cove during our morning walk in Wailea.

 

Is monk seal an endangered species? If so, that's the one...

 

We are big Maui fans...will be there again (probably 15 visits now, never less than 9 days) in November. Was going to go to the Maui Classic, but unless you want a 3 day package, the tickets are limited until 7 days prior.

[Astro Flyer]

Is monk seal an endangered species? If so, that's the one...

 

We are big Maui fans...will be there again (probably 15 visits now, never less than 9 days) in November. Was going to go to the Maui Classic, but unless you want a 3 day package, the tickets are limited until 7 days prior.

 

Yes, monk seals are an endangered species but I was expecting to something like photos I see of smaller seals but the one we saw was big!

 

We've been fortunate to have enjoyed Maui for the past 35 years as visitors, residents & currently part time residents. Hawaiian Air recently began an airfare sale which from LAX is $498 but from OAK only $358 non-stop to OGG in a wide body A330. For us Hawaiian is our preferred airline because of their frequent-flier program and the great benefits included in their chargecard.

Edited August 11, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[CruiserBruce]

The one we saw was pretty good sized. Used to seeing seals in the SF area, this was definitely bigger than any of our seals by a nice margin. Almost black in color. Our boat captain (Captain Steve himself ) was very excited, and on the radio with anybody who would listen.

 

We fly United out of SFO regularly. Have status with them....in Paris right now, free First for DW, upgraded from business for me.

 

My Mom was born in Hawaii, she was 2 on December 7th. They were living in Kaneohe on December 7, overlooking the base during the attack. Grandpa was a land based navigator for Pan Am Clipper ships in 1941.

[cccole]

I am a huge fan of the zodiac type boats, like Captain Steve's on Maui as previously mentioned. You mention Trilogy which is larger. The only limitation on a zodiac is it is not recommended for those with back problems. They really are fun though and rjeffler gives a good recommendation for Kona.

[Astro Flyer]

The one we saw was pretty good sized. Used to seeing seals in the SF area, this was definitely bigger than any of our seals by a nice margin. Almost black in color. Our boat captain (Captain Steve himself ) was very excited, and on the radio with anybody who would listen.

 

We fly United out of SFO regularly. Have status with them....in Paris right now, free First for DW, upgraded from business for me.

 

My Mom was born in Hawaii, she was 2 on December 7th. They were living in Kaneohe on December 7, overlooking the base during the attack. Grandpa was a land based navigator for Pan Am Clipper ships in 1941.

We've enjoyed using miles a couple of times on long international flights to fly business or first...it's nice!

 

With your Mom being born in the Territory of Hawaii before statehood, your Ohana's roots are firmly planted in the Islands. Being in Kaneohe during the attack must have been a horrific experience & as I recall it was where a Japanese mini-sub beached itself & the crew became the first POWs of the war.

 

I've read the excellent book "At Dawn We Slept" so have studied that date which will live in infamy. My first time arriving in Hawaii was from the flight deck of the USS Midway arriving at sunrise in Pearl Harbor when it was possible to circle Ford Island to honor all of those who made the ultimate sacrifice on December 7, 1941.

 

I bet you're Grandpa had some great experiences during his time working for Pan Am. My Dad was a career aviation mechanic...first for the Army Air Corp repairing B-17 bombers before a career with AA.

Edited August 12, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[mommajo22]

As the OP, thought I would come back and tell you what we did in hopes that it might help someone else. We originally chose to snorkel in Kona, and due to our later arrival time, decided to go with the ship's excursion. Body Glove was the tour operator that was used and they did a great job. The boat was very comfortable, equipment nice and lots of friendly, knowledgeable workers. There was some doubt whether we would be able to snorkel, due to possible storms in the area but the skies cleared out and we were taken to a marine sanctuary about 30 minutes from the town. This gave us almost 2 hours to snorkel. The main concern we had was that the water was pretty deep, so you couldn't get very close to the fish. All in all, a great day though.

 

For one of our Maui excursions, we had originally booked the Iao Valley tour, which was changed due to some roads being washed out. We switched to the Lanai snorkel tour. The ship used the Pacific Whale Foundation tours and we loved the fact that it is a nonprofit group and all marine biology/biology majors working the boat. It took us about 90 minutes to get to the site, as the first place they often go was not as clear as the captain would like and the bonus was that we got to see a pod of 30-40 spinner dolphins on the way - an unbelievable site. The snorkeling area was much better than Kona, with clearer water, more fish and coral and a little shallower but we only had about an hour to snorkel there. The main problem here was the trip back. Since it was after noon, the water coming back was very choppy and felt like we were on a 1 1/2 hour roller coaster ride. About a third of the participants were either puking in buckets or lying down on the seats moaning. Fortunately we never got sick, but still not a pleasant ride back to shore.

 

Bottom line - both places are great for snorkeling, both companies did a great job. Kona - more time to snorkel but a little less to see, easy ride to and from site. Lanai - less snorkeling time, more to see, potential for very rough seas if you can't get out early enough. Hope this gives a little insight to those who have the same questions about where to snorkel that we did!