Description: Before coming to Maui, I had booked some excursions on my own. A snorkel trip to Molokini and a separate whale watch with the Pacific Whale Foundation. Not that either trip would have been bad, but with only 4 days in Maui, I felt that I was a bit overbooked and didn’t leave myself much time for pool and beach relaxing. The concierge at the
Sheraton Maui had my solution, combine the two trips into one.
Enter the Gemini, which departs from the beach in Kaanapali in front of the Westin hotel. (Many of the boat trips leave out of another harbor which is a half hour drive away) For $121 a person you get a hot lunch, a great crew, some snorkeling, and all the marine life you could hope to see (especially during whale season, which is December to March).
No sooner had we boarded the boat and gotten our safety instructions than the boat was turning around to follow the path of a momma whale, her baby and her male escort (not the father, interestingly enough). Boats aren’t allowed to approach the whales within 100 feet, but that’s not to say that the whales can’t come to the boat. The baby whale was so playful and breeched (jumped out of the water) 5 or 6 times. The Gemini crew says it’s a proven fact that whales are fans of Motown – they are auditory creatures and communicate with sound. So our voices and the tunes we were playing may have made them curious enough to pop up and take a look.
After the whales went down for a dive, we headed towards our snorkel destination, the marine reserve at Honalua Bay. I’m told that the snorkeling here is much better than that at the sunken crater of Molokini, in that it’s much less crowded – we were the only boat there. On the way to the bay, we were treated to a few more whale sightings, some playful spinner dolphins who live and feed just outside of the bay and a group of Hawaiian sea turtles poking their heads up out of the water.
The snorkeling itself wasn’t the best I’d ever seen (that would be the Great Barrier Reef for me) but I did see a lot of variety, especially a first for me – a sea snake. I didn’t get lucky enough to snorkel with a turtle, but a few lucky SOBs did.
I don’t think we could’ve gotten more sightings for our money, nor a better crew. The captain was informative and funny, and the crew were ready to help a novice snorkeler like my mom get her feet wet, so to speak. Bring money for tips (which we didn’t even think of) and a souvenir hat or shirt.
Close