This was, without a doubt, my favorite excursion of the whole trip.
Seriously. Turtles.
We’d been snorkeling in the Bahamas last year (my first time snorkeling ever) and really enjoyed it (other than the horrific sunburn I got on my back from miscalculating the sunscreen necessary.)
When we scheduled this tour, we went back and forth about the Express vs. the Deluxe tour. We went with the latter, and I’d recommend you do the same. The company was the same as the one from the sunset sail the evening before – Kai Kanani.
While one of the guides did say that the fish activity at Molokini (big fat crater in the ocean that is, per their website, one of the world’s top-rated marine sanctuaries,) is better very early in the morning, we saw some pretty cool fish. And they’re right, the crater is pretty awesome. But I came for the turtles.
We arrived at the same location as the sunset sail we’d taken the night before, but more properly attired for the soaking that we again received upon boarding. They had breakfast foods and coffee set out for folks, and we promptly headed out to Molokini.
I’d purchased an underwater camera at the local convenience store, and I’m pretty happy with the results. Certainly not professional quality, but still very exciting to me.
They say:
Molokini Deluxe Snorkel Sail
We are confident that this is the best Molokini tour offered anywhere on Maui! You will be too when you step onboard the elegant Kai Kanani, and let our fabulous crew whisk you away to Molokini crater, one of the world’s top-rated marine sanctuaries. Snorkel, explore and swim in the heart of beautiful waters from our prime South Maui mooring location, only 15 minutes away from Molokini. We’ll serve you breakfast along the way, and make sure you’re fully-equipped – top of the line snorkel gear, flotation, expert instruction, breakfast, lunch, and premium bar – every need provided for, every expectation exceeded.
Snorkeling Molokini
We arrived at Molokini and I was surprised by how many other tours were there. Why I was surprised, I’m not sure… it does stand to reason – if it really is one of the world’s top-rated marine sanctuaries, there would be a rather large regular crowd there to see the sights. The tour to our right was a party on a boat, and we were pretty excited that we’d not chosen to sail with them… (though we may appear to be – we were propositioned by the New Yorkers on the zipline tour to come party – we’re really not party people.)
The snorkeling was pretty cool there – lots of fish to ogle. But also lots of people. That’s the one thing that our Bahamian snorkel tour had on this one – there were far fewer people.
Turtle Town
Ok. This was the part of the excursion that made the whole thing worth it. The turtles are wicked cool.
They’re huge. And they swim toward you. And you’re supposed to swim the other way, because they apparently have very little spacial sense, and get freaked out if they do swim into you… and since we’re in their house, it’s our job to get out of their way. All reasonable, in theory. It’s really not as easy as it sounds…. I had a challenging time swimming out of the way (in flippers, no less) of one that really seemed like he wanted to be my friend.
We really enjoyed this tour… relaxing and fun, with tasty food, a great crew and the same chill background music as the night before. And did I mention the turtles?
