Our family of four, including two young children, booked a private tour with Aloha Kayaks and we had an absolutely marvelous time! We booked by telephone and received an email confirmation with good instructions on what to bring and how to get to the location. (Be sure to read their instructions in case your GPS doesn’t guide you all the way).
Our guide was Michelle and she was friendly, well-informed, and very professional. Check-in was easy and after a thorough orientation, Michelle brought our double kayaks down to the beach for us and helped us launch into the water. We were lucky to have great weather conditions and spotted various groups of humpback whales out on the water: breaching, spouting, diving and even swimming towards us! Our guide was patient with our novice abilities and kept us entertained with lots of facts and stories. When we were satisfied with our whale watching, she led us closer to shore where we visited “Turtle Town”. Large sea turtles could be observed resting on the reef and swimming leisurely while dozens of eager tourists ogled them by paddleboard or snorkel. Michelle anchored our kayaks and made certain that we could get off and on our kayaks safely for our snorkeling adventure. We also received complementary water bottles and snacks too!
Overall, the location, organization, and guide all deserve top marks. We hope to re-visit this tour on our next Maui trip!
Highly, highly recommend Aloha Kayaks Maui – if you are going to snorkel on Maui, this is the way to do it! This was our 3rd trip out with Aloha Kayaks Maui and it was equally fantastic to the 1st 2 times. Griff was our guide and, as with previous trips, he lead a great trip – although we opted to do the same tour (Makena) as in past years, Griff made sure to provide us with new information and took us to locations that were new to us. It was just my husband and I with Griff and the tour felt personalized to our experience and interests. Griff is a very knowledgeable and engaging guide, providing excellent information and showing us incredible ocean life – so many sea turtles, beautiful coral, gorgeous fish! We always come away from these trips feeling more acquainted with the island and the waters here.
The excursion was the highlight of a week’s stay on Maui. The amount of sea life we saw, which included several sea turtles, was awesome. Our guide was the best. We snorkeled in two locations. We did not want to get off the water. It was that good. For an extra fee the guide even took photos with an underwater camera. They offer a repeat discount. We can’t wait to go back!
What an experience! Kayaking amongst whales with just the two of us and a friendly and knowledgeable tour guide at our own pace was an experience we won’t soon forget! Would definitely recommend doing a private tour if possible so you can set the pace and have one on one time with the tour guides.
We have gone out with Aloha Kayaks every year for about five years. All of the guides are great, and we have always had a memorable experience. Sometimes we see a hundred spinner dolphins, sometimes turtles, and other times it’s all about the whales. However, Makena is becoming quite popular as a launching area, so the water can get crowded in high season. Also, the snorkeling wasn’t great during this trip due to low viz, so we decided to change things up by booking a private tour with Griff for our party of three, and it was definitely worth paying a little more.
First of all, we launched a little later, which meant that other groups were already well out to sea and returned to shore long before us. For about 90 minutes, we had the water almost to ourselves, so no bunching up around the whales. Second, since we were all experienced paddlers, we were able to cover a lot of distance to find some active whales. The private tour is also custom–as long as your own group can agree (!), you can make the trip be whatever you want it to be. We had the excellent luck to encounter a lone male who sang so loudly that we could easily hear his song from atop the kayaks. He would sing for about 15 minutes, surface three times, and then dive to sing some more. We decided to skip the snorkeling and hang out for an hour listening and watching this one male in silence. Griff was both knowledgeable and accommodating–he seemed as excited as we were about our soloist and totally OK with paddling when we wanted to move, answering questions, or hanging out quietly in one place if we found something amazing.
So if you’ve got a group or family with similar interests and comparable appetites for paddling/exercise, consider taking it to the next level on a private tour with Aloha.
My husband and I did a private tour with Peter this morning and had a great time. Two days ago we sadly lost our dog unexpectedly while she was with the sitter. This obviously has put a huge damper on our trip. We didn’t enjoy ourselves very much the first few days, and the tour this morning was just what we needed to distract ourselves. It’s put me in a much better mood today, so hopefully the trip won’t be a complete bust.
Anyway, the tour was great. Peter was incredibly knowledgeable about Hawaiian culture and the local marine life. We learned so much about humpback whales especially. Speaking of which, we saw several! Peter said he hadn’t seen any yet this season (although many others had) and made sure our expectations weren’t too high. We saw two different whales on three different occasions. So cool!
Then we spent the last half hour snorkeling near Po’olenalena beach. We saw about four sea turtles, an eel and many different types of fish. I appreciated Peter’s thorough explanation of all the various fish we were seeing.
I highly recommend the private tour. I’ve done a few group tours in Hawaii and Australia and they were not nearly as enjoyable as this. It was nice not to be bumping into a bunch of other people while snorkeling, and we actually got to hear our guide and ask plenty of questions.
We’ll definitely book with Aloha Kayaks again!
Really can’t recommend these guys highly enough. We’ve been to Maui each of the last two years, and used them for kayaking/snorkeling tours both years. Although we had very different conditions each time — two different guides, different weather, different animals spotted (once just fish, once whales, sea turtles, and even a dolphin) — both experiences were fantastic thanks to their friendly, knowledgeable, laid back style. They teach about the island, the sea and the history of Maui and Hawaii, make you feel safe at all times, and ensure you have a great time. Try them, you won’t be sorry.
This was by far the best kayak trip we have experienced. We paddled out shortly after sunrise to see a mother whale and her calf surfacing. It was beautiful! Then, it just got better. More whales appeared as if on cue. The large animals are so graceful, and seeing them atop a sea kayak is something we’ll never forget. On our way back, we stopped for a snorkel and saw multiple sea turtles as surgeon fish cleaned their shells. Our guide Jaime was incredible, welcoming and eager to teach our small group about the beauty of the wildlife we were witnessing. If you love the outdoors, enjoy snorkeling and are willing to put in some paddle power, this is a trip you won’t want to miss.
We really enjoyed seeing the whales from the kayaks as opposed to a motorized boat. You could hear the whales from a long distance as they exhaled through their blow holes. We also saw lots of whales breaching the surface and their tails as they dove down again. During the snorkeling part of the trip we saw a couple of sea turtles, which was also a neat experience. Our guide was great and very knowledgeable. We would definitely recommend this tour.
When you are planning activities for your vacation from thousands of miles away, it’s hard to know which companies are going to be as good as their advertising. I spent time doing a lot of research and even then you have to just hope for the best, right? Well, I am not one that posts reviews often, but I had to make sure that I did for Aloha Kayaks Maui. It was the most fun, beautiful, and memorable experience of our trip! Our family of 4 had never kayaked before, and our guide Michelle made us feel safe and comfortable. Kayaking was a blast, and the snorkeling near Makena Beach was incredible. The sea turtles are so peaceful and majestic – we could have just watched them all day, not to mention all the beautiful fish! We actually had our outing scheduled for a previous day, but Griff, the tour guide that day didn’t feel that there was optimal conditions for kayaking. While we were of course a little disappointed, we were mostly grateful for his integrity to ensure that our experience would be a great one. We are still squealing about how amazing this morning was with Michelle and Aloha Kayaks Maui and they will be the first group we contact when we come back to Maui! Mahalo!! We are so very grateful!!! : )