On the last day of our Maui trip, we went on a snorkel adventure to the Molokini crater, just off the shores of the big Maui island.
Originally, the trip had been canceled, due to early afternoon flights, but we managed to shoehorn it in with some help from Blue Sky Tours (http://www.blueskytours.com/) and the Maui Visitors Bureau (http://www.gohawaii.com/maui).
One of the bigger summer swells that Maui’s seen in a while had just happened a couple days before the snorkeling day, so the water was still a bit choppy and rough. However, inside the crater’s protective walls, the water was a cool, refreshing paradise! The one change to the normal Play Paradise (http://www.playparadisehawaii.com/) snorkel tour was the visit to Turtle Town. Typically, a calm haven for honu (sea turtles), it was just a rough mess on this day, so we didn’t get to see any honu.
Our tour left from Makena Beach, just outside the Makena Beach and Golf Resort (http://www.makenaresortmaui.com/). As you’ll see in the video, at times, boarding the catamaran could be challenging with the rough seas, but the crew of the boat got us all aboard safely, even if they had to sacrifice their own bodies!
From there, it was just a quick trip out to the Molokini crater. We had plenty of snorkel time and then took a quick tour of South Maui, including Big and Little Beach and a check of Turtle Town before heading back to Makena Beach. On calm days, they will put out the sails for the return trip, but obviously, it was just too rough on our day.