By Mignon
Has anyone recently snorkeled Maui? We haven’t been there in seven years. We are going this fall and staying in Wailea. Can anyone recommend the best snorkeling spots? Are any of the snorkeling tours good and worth the cost?
Thanks for any info and suggestions you can provide. Aloha!
My partner and I visited Maui August 2024 and really enjoyed snorkeling Palauea on the left end. We saw several turtles, lots of fish, and interesting topography. The Maui eBook was very helpful for this hidden gem.
We also really enjoyed Black Rock north of Lahaina (off Ka’anapali).
A boat trip to Molokini offered fantastic snorkeling. We took Trilogy, and they were a good operator with an accessible boat. It was a rough, long ride back at high speed – motion sickness meds are your friend.
In Kihei, the Kamaole II and III beaches were a little better than Kamaole I for snorkeling.
🐠 Mahalo for the info! 🐡
We visited Maui in February 2025, June 2024, and June 2023. Snorkeling has gotten better, though winter currents were rough. Summer is much better; waters are calm and clear. If you’re staying in Wailea, we liked Ulua Beach. You’ll want to get there early if you want to find parking. The best spots are to the right of the beach from the parking lot.
At Wailea, we also did a tour with Maui Sailing Canoe. A bit pricey, but they were super nice and took us from Polo Beach to off Palauea. Incredibly clear waters; you can also swim out from Palauea Beach.
I’ll second Andi’s suggestion of Black Rock, felt like I was in an aquarium! I’d also suggest Kapalua Bay, about a 15-minute drive north of Black Rock. Turtles are almost guaranteed and the coral has gotten better too. Best spots are the far side of the beach as you walk from the parking lot. And also Honolua Bay, it’s a short, beautiful hike, but stunning spot.
Trilogy is our favorite operator on Maui. The crew is super nice and the catamaran is spacious. We did the Lanai tour, which is terrific. No turtles on Lanai, but tons of fish. I also recommend the sunset sail; nothing like a Maui sunset on the water. If you don’t feel like hiking to Honolua, they also have a West Maui snorkeling tour.
🐠 Mahalo for the info! 🐡
We just returned from Maui (July 3, 2025). We stay on the northwest side, so snorkeled Napili, Kapalua and Honokeana Cove everyday. Kapalua is terrific—always turtles and lots of fish on the right side as you walk in from the parking lot!
We also did a boat trip with Malolo to Molokini—terrific! And one to Mala Pier in Lahaina where we watched a turtle cleaning station with 9-10 turtles lined up. The Mala trip was with Terraluna. They went out of Ka’anapali, so you could do a half day with them and then walk up the beach to Black Rock. We wanted to do Honolua, but sadly ran out of time.
I know it’s preaching to the choir here, but Galen and Nicole’s Maui guidebook was really worth it. I highly recommend it to re-familiarize yourself with the best spots.
Like Andi, my partner and I also were in Maui in August 2024. I agree the left side of Palauea was solid. Just a little further down from Palauea is Po’Olenalena Beach. The furthest south part of Po’Olenalena has a spot that is brimming with turtles and I consistently saw white tip reef sharks there. Google names this part of the beach Chang’s Beach, but the locals don’t call it that anymore. The spot specifically is right in front of Makena Beach Resort.
When I was there, we tried every 4 and 5 rating spot from G&N’s guidebook. For me, these spots were ones that stood out that I did multiple times:
-***Black Rock*** – I’ll add my vote to Andi’s and Terence’s! Most consistent and the place we had the most “wow” moments (multiple sharks, rays, turtles, and one once-in-a-lifetime experience of a Hawai’ian Monk Seal in the water with us). This is the one snorkel spot I think is a must for any Maui trip. Go as early in the morning as you can, and be sure to round the corner to the right in the first little cove.
-Po’Olenalena – (aforementioned spot)
-Ahihi “The Dumps” Marine Preserve to Ahihi Cove Drift Snorkel – The underwater topography was spectacular. The walk to the entrance is through lava rock. There is really no other snorkel spot like this on the planet. Do the full drift to the cove and then walk back to your car. The walk back is very short.
-Honokeana Cove – protected area so one of the few spots you can do in the afternoon. Lots of turtles, but not the easiest entrance for people with the least bit of mobility issues.
Honolua Bay is gorgeous and one of the top spots but such a far drive from Wailea that I think it’s a calculated risk to attempt it. Drive all that way and have it be too wavy to have a good snorkel is really frustrating. I also did not care for Ulua. It’s supposed to be one of the best spots on the island but the coral health didn’t seem great to me, and definitely not enough fish for me, and it was crawling with people. I guess if I was at a hotel right there and it was easy to access I might feel different but…meh. I stayed right at Kamaole 2 and thought I’d like having it as my “house reef” but Kamaole’s 1, 2, and 3 were also all “meh” in comparison to other places.
We only did one tour with Maui Snorkel Charters. We did Molokini with them and then hit Po’Olenalena afterward. I chose them for the type of boat they use (inflatable) which meant they could get to spots faster and smoother. Conditions were good so they also took us to the Molokini Water Elevator, which was *really* cool.
My one other takeaway from my trip is to have low expectations for visibility in Maui in mid August, and to go at the absolute crack of dawn. All the Maui spots were miserable by about 11am due to waves and decreasing visibility.
🐠 Mahalo for the info! 🐡
We did Maui and Hawaii four years ago. Buy the guide from Galen and Nicole. It’s invaluable.
🐠 Mahalo for the info! 🐡
Honolua Bay, Kapalua Bay, Kahekili Beach Park, all in west Maui, Ahihi Bay closer to where you are staying. Maui Snorkel Tours is a fantastic shore snorkel tour option, we have been out with them many times.
🐠 Mahalo for the info! 🐡
We were in Maui March 2025. We came across The Snorkel Store website that gives a daily Maui snorkeling conditions forecast and we signed up for the daily email report.
We snorkeled at Black Rock but our favorite was Ahihi-Kinau Natural Reserve. The lava rock is somewhat treacherous to enter but the snorkeling was incredible. You will need a credit card for $5 parking.
🐠 Mahalo for the info! 🐡
We’re also just back from Maui and snorkeled daily there from June 23-27, 2025. We stay on the north side in an Airbnb on Honokeana Bay (Napili Point Resort) and could see 6-8 turtles on the water surface at any one time. Underwater we saw many more. It’s turtle heaven, fair for tropical fish but poor for coral.
Our favorite snorkels were:
– Honolua Bay – excellent for fish and corals and we saw several eels and a white tipped reef shark
– Kapalua Bay for fish, coral and turtles and its divine beach to relax on
– Kahekili Beach Park – this easy reef parallel to the beach has come back a bit since our last visit in 2023
We also use Nicole and Galen’s excellent Maui guide. We didn’t make it to the south side this trip. We recommend to snorkel around 8am before crowds and the wind pick up. That said, we snorkeled Honolua Bay as the weather changed to pouring rain and it was still enjoyable.
Thank you so much Nicole and Galen for the Divevolk SeaTouch 4 mobile phone housing recommendation. I bought one from your affiliate link and absolutely loved what I could shoot underwater on my Samsung S22 phone.
Wonderful Marion, we are glad you like the housing for your phone!
🐠 Mahalo for the info! 🐡
I just got back from Maui and went out almost every day for a week (northwest part of island), with my teenagers who are very into snorkeling. I will second all the comments about Black Rock – it was the highlight (eagle rays, seals, an absolutely massive school of fish about 40 ft off the reef, and much more), with Mala Wharf a close second (many turtles, a four feet plus long whitetip reef shark, and more). Honolua Bay a close third – the large reef on the right side had tons of varied species including a baby octopus and as many as seven sea turtles together at once. Note that Honolua can be difficult access-wise for older folks, its all rocky.
We also did the “mother reef” at Mile Marker 14 that starts with an O and while we didn’t see anything as interesting (besides turtles which we saw almost everywhere), it was still spectacular and in about 75 minutes we probably only saw 15% of the reef. Kapalua Bay was also excellent.
In all cases we accessed from the shore though in many cases we saw boat snorkel trips in the same area, you don’t need to take a boat trip for any of the above, and there was always some parking.
Visibility: during the last week of July, typically in the water between 9:30 and noon, was between “clear” and “shockingly clear” for the first five days of our trip. The last few days coincided with a tsunami that took place across the Pacific after the sixth largest recorded earthquake in history and likely contributed to very mucky water (though oddly, the clearest day of all did happen the morning after the tsunami).
🐠 Mahalo for the info! 🐡 We were wondering how the visibility was after the tsunami. Happy everyone in Hawaii was safe!
We snorkel Maui most years now in preparation for more farther flung locales, and stayed in Kihei in April of this year. The snorkeling conditions were better in the Kihei/Wailea area than in West Maui due to the swell and winds, whereas in other years, the opposite is true. As you likely know, conditions vary depending on when during the year you go. We sign up for some of the local snorkeling reports and check them daily for several months before/after our trips to Maui to get a sense of which part of Maui has better snorkeling conditions at different times of year, since it’s a long drive between West and South Maui and we want to be in the water by 7 AM ish.
As others have said, Nicole and Galen’s guide is terrific! Over the years it feels like the number of fish is decreasing and coral health not as strong, but if you can’t get to Indonesia or the Red Sea, Maui works!
Early on in our stay we took an early morning (6:15 or so) catamaran sail out to Molokini from Wailea, and loved the lack of crowds. We were pretty jet lagged, so the early start was an advantage. Professional and safe staff. It was worth the cost since you can’t swim out to Molokini. 😉
Aloha Cammie, which local snorkeling reports did you sign up for? We are 5 hours ahead of Hawaii, so the early morning trip to Molokini from Wailea sounds interesting. Is there a company you recommend?
🐠 Mahalo for all the info! 🐡
We went with Kai Kanani for the sunrise snorkel.
The Snorkel Store offers a daily snorkel report. It came too late in the morning to be of use for us and we didn’t always agree with the report when we were there, but to get an overall sense of conditions, it was useful.
🐠 Aloha, Cammie!
😊Thank you for your reply and the info! I just purchased and downloaded Nicole & Galen’s Maui guidebook.
Kai Kanani is the catamaran company that leaves very early from Maluaka Beach in South Maui. We were the first boat to Molokini. I viewed two reef sharks first thing!
🐠 Mahalo, Ruth, for the Molokini info!
I was in Maui June 2025, Honolua Bay is paradise to snorkel. I got daily info about conditions at different snorkeling spots from Boss Frog’s Vacation (just join the email chain). It was fantastic!
Hi Mignon,
We were in Hawaii from Aug 27th to Sept 15th, 2025 for our first trip to Hawaii with snorkeling a primary objective on Maui (Wailea) and the Big Island (Kona) and other items on Oahu. We used the eBook and found it very useful for locations, entry and exit, parking etc.
We may have missed or misunderstood the weather conditions but were generally disappointed with snorkeling conditions with poor visibility and a general lack of coral unless you found the ‘sweet spots’. We did all snorkeling in the morning as suggested.
Molokini Crater was an exception with wonderful clarity and fish. We also took an early boat and whilst less crowded than later trips it was still quite crowded and we were limited to a relatively small area around our boat. All the other locations we visited on Maui had poor visibility from Slaughterhouse Bay (recommended by a snorkel shop and not too bad) to all the locations around Wailea.
Kona on the Big Island was better with good snorkeling at Two Steps although crowded and poorly upkept. Kahaluu Bay was OK and Captain Cook was quite good, although again busy and no chance to explore. The Manta Ray night snorkel was disappointing and again may have been bad luck, the sea was choppy and for some reason our boat had to moor on the edge of the mass of light rafts and as such we saw few rays and not close. I have snorkeled with oceanic rays in Fiji and it was a much better experience.
On the plus side we saw turtles at almost every location even with sometimes very bad visibility which was a surprise to us.
Overall, whilst a good holiday overall, I would not visit Hawaii again for snorkeling unless I understood and had a better solution for the visibility. We saw some neat fish and large schools but generally it was a frustrating experience.
Hello Ray (and Mignon), we are coming from Australia for this time next year also primarily for snorkeling. What would have made the snorkeling a better experience do you think? Was it the time of year? Or just bad luck with the weather? Or the places that you visited? Thank you.