West Maui Snorkeling Experience by Boat from Ka'anapali

Posted By : Resort592616
My wife and I chose the deluxe snorkel tour based on the reviews on Trip Advisor and we were glad we did!! We lucked out and had Makai, Emma and Derek on the tour that day and the trip was awesome!! We started out at the "Mother Reef" which they explained was some of the oldest reef in Hawaii, over 600 years old!! The reef is source of all of the coral reefs in the area and was very cool. We saw many varieties of fish and some sea turtles at this location. Overall a great start to the tour. The next spot, Mala Pier, was the highlight of the day if you like sea turtles. The pier was sunk by hurricane Iniki back in the 90's and it has turned into the meeting spot for green sea turtles. At one point we had 9 sea turtles swimming in our area!! We were literally surrounded by turtles!! Derek was swimming around finding interesting things for us to see and found a white tip reef shark hiding under a section of collapsed pier. He offered to swim my go pro down to the shark and record video of it, which was awesome and an amazing video!! I have attached some still shots from the video below. We had a little time left over after Mala Pier, so the crew took us to find dolphins and ended up finding a pod of possibly 300 spinner dolphins, which the crew indicated might have been one of the larger gatherings they had seen!! As the name suggests, the dolphins were jumping and spinning all over!! From beginning to end the experience was excellent and we will definitely choose The Magic Merman the next time we are in Maui. As others have mentioned, it's a smaller, more private boat, not a giant catamaran with 40 people. Makai, Emma and Derek were more than helpful the entire time and made sure that trip was both fun and informative!!
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Posted On : 2024-05-14

Posted By : Logan_T
Had an amazing time! The crew were fantastic and it was a great experience. They tool us to some amazing spots and we saw so many fish and coral reefs. This is a great option if you want to see lots of life. It was nice to have a smaller group as well and there were sole novice swimmers in our group but the crew did so well helping them and giving them what they needed to enjoy the experience.
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Posted On : 2024-05-10

Posted By : V8053BAsimonn
A private-feel snorkeling experience with the Magic Mermen! Meeting place at Whaler's Village can be tricky in terms of parking. Since this is one of the highest rated & more expensive snorkel options in West Maui, I'm sure others will be like my husband and I that we didn't want to pay $50 day rate at Whaler's Village (even with validation, I think it'd be around $35-40). Parking Tip: if you get to the Kaanapali Beach area around 8am or earlier, you can try to get a spot at the "free public beach parking" that all the hotels near Whaler's Village are supposed to offer. Hyatt has the most free public parking spaces, but is the furthest walk (~20 mins.). The closest would be the Westin (right behind Leilani's restaurant), but they have about 20 spaces only. You can also try Sheraton. I just pulled into Westin and asked their Valet where to find the free beach parking because Google Maps took me to them, and they were kind enough to direct me to the free area where we nabbed one of the last few spots around 8am. Now, onto the actual experience with Magic Mermen: check-in with green T-shirt owners was smooth. I was a little worried about being cold in the water, and one of the guys mentioned I could ask Emma (guide on boat) for a coworkers water-jacket, which worked out great for me! Mahalo! Emma and Malokai (I'm so sorry if I'm butchering the spelling!) were great guides. We got lucky that we saw Spinner Dolphins on our way out & on our way back (twice)! That was a wonderful sight. Our first couple of snorkel spots didn't work out due to the weather conditions, so we went to our original intended second spot first for the Sea Turtles that they stated were at the end of the Mala Wharf pier going through a "sea turtle car wash", where the pier was destroyed during a 1991 hurricane. Second spot we went to was actually really close to the first spot, but with more natural coral reefs. Then we had lunch (yummy bacon-turkey wraps with two sauce choices; Hawaiian chips), and they offered beverages throughout (water, sodas, some light seltzers another party left from a couple days before, lol), and breakfast included some fruits (pineapples & grapes), and banana bread w/ chocolate chips. At first you think the raft will be rough, but it was actually a really smooth ride through & through. Emma & Malokai were really informative if we ever had any questions. I would recommend Magic Mermen if you're looking for a more private snorkeling experience (it was just 7 couples with our group), so that was nice. They also offer floater belts & noodles if you want to be in "vacation mode" while you snorkel, and Emma was great with finding the right sizes flippers and masks for everyone. They de-fog for your prior to use and make sure everyone knows how to properly use the gear and can swim.
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Posted On : 2024-05-05

Posted By : Kathleen_F
Excellent and fun trip. Smaller boar experience was a lot more personal and fun than the bigger boats. It was great going to Lanai for our first snorkel stop- was not expecting that. Boat was fast and comfortable. Seas were a bit choppy but felt completely safe. Crew very personable, skilled, and willing to help. Banana bread and fresh fruit for breakfast and delicious wrap for lunch. Highly recommended.
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Posted On : 2024-04-25

Posted By : marysM5649HU
Fabulous crew! Loved the sights and the food was fantastic! The crew made it such a special day! I would highly recommend them!
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Posted On : 2024-04-23

Posted By : Elena_M
It was amazing experience and the whole crew was so nice and kind! We totally loved it! Recommend it!
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Posted On : 2024-04-19

Posted By : Katherine E
My husband and I had the best time on this trip!! The guides were so so nice and fun!! Saw lots of turtles, whales and amazing fish and coral. It was so worth it!
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Posted On : 2024-04-13

Posted By : 994darcyr
This was an amazing trip, one of our highlights of our time on Maui! I loved the smaller boat feel so we could turn more easily to follow the dolphins or look closer at the whales. We each had our own seat so it wasn't like we were all squished in. The 2 snorkeling spots were amazing! We saw an eagle ray, a few harmless reef sharks, lots of turtles, pod of dolphins, and lots of whale sightings. The crew was knowledgeable and shared facts with us which I loved! One of the crew snorkeled with us and pointed out things in the water she saw. It was just more personal and the entire crew was amazing!!! We took a larger catamaran earlier in our trip and we all liked this one better! They asked about what drinks we wanted constantly, fruit in the morning, banana bread with some yummy cream cheese (came around twice because they had extra, nice!!), turkey sandwiches which were piled high with turkey, and ended with a cookie. If you want a little more adventure in your life, take this trip! You will not regret it. We did have pretty decent weather so the waves were perfect. They ended the trip with a hot towel (with a nice smell to it as well) to wipe our faces and hands which I was not expecting at all. This was such a nice touch, well done!!!!! This was a five star trip and I would not hesitate at all booking this again. Well done crew. I enjoyed the thoughtful touches to the trip and they were all appreciated very much. All I can say is book this trip and enjoy!
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Posted On : 2024-04-07

Posted By : kristicK5782LV
We had the best experience! We saw several whales and even a pod of dolphins who swam alongside the boat! While snorkeling we swam with several turtles, schools of fish, reef sharks (harmless), and even eels. The crew was so friendly, helpful and super knowledgeable and went out of their way to make our experience extra special. The food was also fantastic! I would definitely recommend this local, family owned company!
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Posted On : 2024-04-07

Posted By : Road05481961867
We had three generations in our party ranging in age from 7-78 and they all had an amazing experience! Shasta was an incredible guide who took us to the beat snorkeling spots we have ever been to. We saw loads of sea turtles, tropical fish, eels and even a shark! My youngest had a hard time with the snorkel mask and they were so accommodating with a view finder and boogie board. The food was exceptional, the tour was well paced and they made it a point to go off course so we could see a pod of spinner dolphins and whales. So much better than a giant catamaran. All seats had shade, personal storage and plenty of comfortable seating. A fantastic experience. Could not recommend this group enough!
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Posted On : 2024-04-04