Kayak Whale Watch and Snorkel Hawaiian Islands Whale Sanctuary
Badge of Excellence
Maui, USA
- 4 hours (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Paddle out from the Maui beaches for a guided small-group kayak with snorkeling adventure and whale watching. Travel the calm, clear waters along the beautiful Olowalu coastline and enjoy spectacular views of the majestic West Maui Mountains. Then hop into the water and snorkel with endangered green sea turtles and colorful tropical fish. Basic swimming skills are required. All snorkeling gear plus refreshments and snacks are included.
- Get up close with Hawaiian wildlife on a kayak and snorkel tour
- Snacks, light refreshments, and snorkel gear are included
- Whale sightings from December to April; turtle sightings are year-round
- A small group means more attention from your guide
What's Included
- Professional guide
- Light refreshments
- Snacks
- Gratuities
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Transportation to/from attractions
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- R95V+Q8 OlowaluR95V+Q89 Olowalu, HI, USA
8:00 am - Olowalu Beach - Hwy 30 - Mile Marker 14 Check-in at white Ford Ranger 4x4 with red, white and blue kayak trailer Life Vests, Water, Snacks, Snorkel Gear included Non-Toxic/Reef Safe Sunscreen Required Maximum weight 250 lbs. per person
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Operating hours.8:00 am
What To Expect
1
Maui
2
Olowalu Beach
3
Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- A maximum of 16 people per booking
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 10 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
ELLY_T
Amazing time kayaking to see whales! Lance is the best tour guide! He made the experience fantastic! We saw whales and swam with sea turtles. He was very patient. Would definitely do this tour again!!
Reviews
4.4
based on 175 reviews
Paul_Y, Oct 2025
Literally right @ mile marker 14. Great people, guide took care of me, 1st time kayaker, good gear, water was beautiful, plenty fish and turtles.
Response from Host, Nov 2025
Thank you for your review, we are happy you had such a good time! Be sure to visit us on your next trip to Maui
Irl_K, Sep 2024
This was an excellent trip. The team was knowledgeable and friendly. They were very prepared. I would do it again. Support local business!
Response from Host, Jun 2025
Thank you for your wonderful review
TRACY_W, Nov 2023
Our guide Wesley was awesome. He was very informative and we learned a lot about the local wildlife, Hawaii history, and local foods. We went kayaking saw a monk seal, turtles.
Stephen_J, Jun 2023
TL;DR: This tour was NOT worth its apparent five star rating - concerning service and an unjustified price for what you get. Lance (one of our guides) was great, but on the other hand Wes (the other guide) was a major reason why this tour was not a good time/worth our money, purely due to his lack of professionalism and concern for anyone except himself. It was quite the uncomfortable experience, especially for what the tour claims to provide, but I've explained in depth why below.
Arrived on time after contacting the guides for some clarification of the exact meetup location. Still, the tour launched an hour past the expected start time - which would have been understandable had it not been due to the guides verbally berating each other and overall chaotic operation. Even a member of the separate group on the tour quietly asked us, “Do you guys know wth is going on?” while we waited for the guides to stop arguing during setup and failing to delegate prep tasks between each other. One of our guides, Wes, kept giving confusing instructions - or would forget he gave the instructions altogether - and at one point the owner, Roger, rudely questioned my friend as to why she wasn’t set up in her solo kayak when just a few minutes earlier he told her not to get involved in setting up. It was tense and uncomfortable all around but felt worse knowing they were liable for our safety over the next few hours.
Of the two guides, Lance was interested in our safety and experience while Wes seemed obsessed with finding “the best snorkel spot” and constantly ditching the group in his motorboat, then getting annoyed when we couldn’t catch up right away LOL. Wes mumbled a lot so he was hard to hear for most of it and honestly he seemed to be in an altered state the entire time as well...
We took no issues with the murky conditions of the day (nature’s gonna nature), but my party’s tour came to a head when three of the five of us got sea sick. Thankfully, Lance tended to us swiftly and offered to lead us back to shore since the ratio of guides to guests was appropriate, but Wes said something along the lines of, “I don’t know if you guys read the terms in the contract, but we can’t separate from the main tour group for any reason,” amidst our projectile vomiting session.
We sincerely appreciated the concern from Lance and understand that these tours have guidelines in place for the benefit of the whole group, but the opposing leadership and conflicting guidance throughout the experience illustrates our main point of this tour not being worth its apparent five star rating. Unfortunately, at this price especially, I feel robbed. In hindsight, we should have just rented kayaks and life vests for half the cost and done without any of the drama (probably still would have gotten sea sick, but at least would have avoided the unnecessary tension and inefficiencies).
Once the tour group was reunited at the end, Wes attempted to guilt trip us into tipping and leaving a five star review. Tipping is customary where we're from too so we had intentions of doing so, but this move made us feel even more uncomfortable.
Also a big thumbs down: the only snacks offered were a granola bar and one mango to share between everyone in our group.
This was my friends’ first time visiting Maui but my second time - we know this is a spectacular island and we had certain expectations of course so unfortunately we cannot recommend this tour. You're better off with literally any other company to provide a specialized experience and showcase exactly what the island has to offer.
Paige_M, Apr 2023
I really don't like leaving bad reviews, but this experience felt like such a rip off from the beginning.
- Our guide arrived 45 minutes late (and this doesn't appear to be the first time this has happened based on previous reviews), and while at the time we were not bothered by this, it was the first in a long slew of negative parts of this tour.
- This being our first time in Hawaii, we had no idea we were arriving after the end of whale season - the "whale watching" part of the tour was still included in the title and, while the guide obviously has no control over migration patterns, we were not made aware that this was guaranteed to not be part of the trip until he got there. It would have been nice to have a heads up so we would have the opportunity to cancel if that was a particularly important aspect for us.
- Once we got out onto the water, he continued to talk poorly about his employees (which left a bad taste in our mouth) who did not set up the gear properly, but it should be the guide's responsibility to ensure the gear is properly set up prior to the tour.
- He also forgot to bring the snacks that we were told we would have, but he definitely didn't forget to pack himself a sandwich and eat it in front of us. He also was smoking a cigarette while on the kayak behind me, which...gross.
- We had to paddle back to shore after about 2 hours because of the winds, which made paddling incredibly difficult going against the wind, and he was so far ahead of us he would have had no idea if we had flipped (which we almost did) or be able to check if we were okay.
- Since the kayaking part had to end an hour and a half early, I felt he should have offered to let us snorkel right off the shore like other beachgoers were doing for the remainder of the time we paid for, but instead he packed up and that was it.
- We overheard another tour that had started about when ours did but ended an hour later say that the guide took photos of them and sent them to the group (he never offered to take our photo, even above water) and that tour was $10 less per person.
Overall, you're better off renting your own gear and taking yourself out than paying for this.
Response from Host, May 2023
Sorry you did not have a good time, please contact us for a full refund
Cindi_S, Mar 2023
We had done a kayak/snorkel excursion on a previous trip, and it was fantastic, so we were really looking forward to this. First our guide was late, so we started 30 minutes late. There was no option for a single kayak — you had to go in pairs. As we paddled out, our guide said we were “guaranteed” to see whales and turtles, and listed a bunch of other things we might see (none of which we did see). It was somewhat late in the season, so I didn’t expect a lot of whales, but we did see a mother and baby off to the side a couple hundred yards away. We stopped and watched for a couple minutes, but rather than paddle closer, the guide led us farther out to sea. He kept yelling “whale at 1:00”, “whale at 11:00”! But he was literally the only person to see them, so our group was left wondering if they were actually there or if he just wanted us to believe they were. When we stopped at the “amazing” reef to snorkel, the water was quite deep, so we were pretty far above the coral and fish. Didn’t see anything you can’t see at 100 other places in Maui just by rolling in off the beach for free. My son caught a brief glimpse of a turtle; no one else saw one. When I mentioned to the guide that we hadn’t seen any, his reply was “yeah, but how’s the visibility? Could you see the bottom”? Well, yeah, but if there’s nothing to look at, who cares about the visibility? All in all, too much money for almost no payoff. Better whale watching and better snorkeling options available from many other sources (or just get a good guide book and find out where to snorkel on your own).
Response from Host, May 2023
Sorry we did not meet expectations...
ELLY_T, Mar 2023
Amazing time kayaking to see whales! Lance is the best tour guide! He made the experience fantastic! We saw whales and swam with sea turtles. He was very patient. Would definitely do this tour again!!
Response from Host, May 2023
Thank you for a great review!
Jamie_K, Mar 2023
We had a great time. Saw (and listened to!) some whales and snorkeled with the turtles, as advertised. Red and Wes were excellent guides—knowledgeable, friendly, and informative. Our six year old got a bit anxious and frustrated near the end, but Red and Wes were very accommodating and helpful. We would definitely do this again!
Response from Host, May 2023
Thank you for a great review!
Marc_B, Mar 2023
The staff were excellent, the view was spectacular, the kayaking was fun and the experience was breath taking
Response from Host, Mar 2023
Thank you for a stellar review, hope to see you again soon!!
Kathleen_W, Feb 2023
I can’t count the number of whales we saw. The guides were amazing and informative. When it came to snorkeling and Tuttle watching, we went to the feeding area and the turtles were beautiful and in abundance.
This tour was top notch!!! I would definitely use again!
Response from Host, Feb 2023
Thank you for a great review!
From $119.00
per personup to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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