Hawaii Reef Snorkeling Recommendations

[Saltygram]

My wife, daughter and I are taking a 10 day trip to Hawaii on January 1st. We really want to do some reef snorkeling to see some of our new "pets" in their native habitat.

As I understand it, all beaches are public and many offer great snorkeling opportunities, but there are also numerous tours you can take where they take you to the "best" places. We will be on Oahu for 3 days and The Big Island for the balance of the time.

Wonder if anyone has experience with reef snorkeling in Hawaii and could make some recommendations:

* Should we do a reef tour or go it on our own?
* If you like the tours, do you have one you would recommend?

 

[VegasMike]

There are a few standard places on Oahu that people will suggest, but I have not personally done any snorkeling or diving there. I leave that up to others.

As for the Big Island, Captain Cook Bay is a great place to go with a tour. SeaQuest is a little different as they use rigid hill inflatables and do smaller groups. My wife and kids really liked the Adventure X Boat Tours we did which was another RHI tour. They go out of Puako, so you stay out of the Kona mess, but spend a bit more time in the boat. I do not think they do Captain Cook, but we snorkeled another site that was good, just not as good as Captain Cook.


Where are you staying on the Big Island. The snorkeling off the Marriott Waikoloa (I think that's it) is also great. We stayed at Kolea which are condos right next door and are great.

I highly recommend a book called "Hawaii - The Big Island Revealed". It is a great source and very accurate.

 

[Saltygram]

We are staying at the Hilton Waikoloa Village property. They have their own lagoon where you supposedly can also snorkel.

 

[VegasMike]

Well, you will be very close to A-Bay, which is where i am talking about. We always saw quite a few turtles on the beach on the Kolea side of the bay, which is the side closest to the Hilton.

I assume you are going to do a trip up to Kilauea. There is a nice hike down into the Kilauea crater that is fun to do with kids (over age 7), lots of switchbacks into one side of the crater and then out the other, a few small steam vents in the bottom as you walk across and some very cool rock formations.

They used to do a kayak trip many years ago that went through the irrigation ditches and tunnels, but it was closed after a big earthquake. You ought to see if that has reopened or if they opened another section. That was a great experience.

Again, the book I referred to above is a must have. I can't tell you how many hikes I have been on in Maui, Kauai and The Big Island where the only other people I came across where people with that book in hand. It also comes with an Ap that allows you to access maps on your phone as well as the summaries from the book.

 

[Damon.Webb22]

Hanauma bay is pretty good. It is definitely a tourist area but it has a good number of fish and you can see Humu's there! I went in 2008 while on R&R from Iraq. No clue how it is now.

 

[dparks001]

Molokini Crater but really there are just so many great places to go. Been there 4 times and love it. Enjoy!! Dave

 

[VegasMike]

Molokini Crater is great, but it's off Maui.