Snorkeling on Maui

You can snorkel on Maui and easily see many beautiful fish, whether you walk out into the water from a beach, or have a boat take you farther away from shore.

If you go on your own, be sure you are a good swimmer, go with a buddy, and find out where it is safest to go.  You can get maps and advice on snorkel areas where you rent your snorkel equipment.  It is a lot less expensive to rent your gear at Maui Dive Shop or Boss Frog's in local shopping strips, than to rent from the booths right on the beach or in front of the big hotels.  Some popular snorkel spots include Baby Beach, beside Black Rock (Sheraton Kaanapali), Mile Marker 14, Kapalua Bay, and Makena Landing.

If you would like help with your snorkeling, snorkel equipment included, plus a boat ride and food, you can take a snorkel boat cruise.  These boats may bring you to Maui beaches you might otherwise not find, or take you out to the tiny island of Molokini where there are even more fish to see.  Boats leave from Lahaina Harbor (west side) and Maalaea Harbor (closer to Kihei).

See below for a discussion of some of the companies offering snorkel boat cruises daily from Maui.

Trilogy   888-225-6284
This is the oldest sailing company on Maui and was voted #1 in a Maui News readers poll.  Trilogy is a first-class company.  Their boats are modern 50-foot catamarans and they limit snorkel trips to 50 passengers or less.  Rates are seldom discounted.  The west side trips depart from Kaanapali Beach and the Molokini trips depart from Maalaea Harbor.
Trilogy website

Pacific Whale Foundation   800-942-5311
This company is best known for its winter whale watch cruises, but they also do snorkel trips to Molokini year-round.  Snorkel trips depart from Maalaea Harbor.  Most of their boats are two-level, double-hull, very modern, and larger than boats from other companies.  These boats can carry up to 140 passengers.
Pacific Whale website

Maui Classic Charters   800-736-5740
This company has two catamarans that both do daily snorkel trips departing from Maalaea Harbor.  The Four Winds II is a 55-foot double-wide that takes 130 passengers, boasts the longest stay at Molokini of any of the tour boats, and even has a glass-bottom viewing room.  The Maui Magic is a 54-foot single-wide faster boat that takes 45 passengers, and snorkels along the south Maui coast in addition to Molokini.  Both boats offer the option of snuba, as well as snorkeling, on all tours.
Maui Classic Charters website

Gemini   800-820-7245
This is a smaller company than the above three.  Their 64-foot catamaran is slightly larger than Trilogy's.  Maximum 49 passengers.  Their snorkel trips depart from Kaanapali Beach and go to Honolua Bay, Olowalu, or other nearby areas off of West Maui.  You can often find a discounted price by shopping from various activity sellers.
Gemini website

Pride of Maui   877-867-7433
This company only has one boat, a 65-foot catamaran that can hold up to 149 people, but they usually don't fill it that full.  They do a 5-hour early-morning snorkel trip to Molokini, and a 3-hour afternoon snorkel that sticks closer to Maui.  Discounts are available online and from sales booths on Maui.
Pride of Maui website

Lani Kai   888-983-8080
This is another one-boat company, with a 53-foot double-deck catamaran, to which they have added a fun water slide.  Maximum 69 passengers.  They do two snorkel trips per day, morning 5 hours (from Maalaea to Molokini and Turtle Town) and afternoon 3 hours (Maalaea to offshore Maui).  Discounts online and from some Maui activity sales shops.
Lani Kai website