Snorkeling with Sea Turtles in Maui
What a week! Adam and I returned from our baby moon last Sunday and I'm definitely dealing with some post-vacation blues... Hawaii was the best, and snorkeling was my favorite part, which is why I need to share these photos ASAP and probably won't get to my other photos for a long, long time, haha.
But LOOOOOOK, we snorkeled with sea turtles!!! (And that's Adam in the photo.) Ahhh it was so cool. I think I went in the water that afternoon assuming we wouldn't see any. Some blogs online said it's best to go in the morning if you want to see any turtles, and when we got to this particular beach, it was almost 2:00. But after swimming around for only 20 minutes, Adam tapped on my shoulder and told me he saw a turtle! He said my eyes got huge; I could barely contain my excitement. :-D
When I looked down into the water, I saw the turtle resting on the seafloor. We waited a pretty long time for it to come up for air, but when it did, wowwww, it was awesome! I rented this cheap Canon with underwater housing from a camera rental place in Maui, so I tried my best to get it all set up so I could capture some photos. While I don't think the photos are amazing by any means, (and I felt super envious seeing other people with massive camera gear snorkeling near us) I do think these turned out pretty well, especially since this was my first time shooting underwater, and with a camera I wasn't too familiar with.
We had two turtles to ourselves for a little while, but then a group of three people spotted them and swam over, too. So they're in most of my good photos, unfortunately. Oh well, you get the idea!
Here's a big photo dump of our snorkeling adventure:
We saw lots of fish, too. The photos of the fish didn't turn out too great, but figured I'd share some anyway. It was pretty cool seeing some humuhumunukunukuapua'a! (Hawaii's state fish.) Here I am, pretending to be a cool Hawaiian surfer but looking like a total dork with a big belly instead.
The name of the beach is Kapalua Bay and it's supposed to be one of the best beaches on Maui to snorkel. We can totally vouch for that! Seeing and swimming with these turtles made my whole trip.
Here are the beaches we snorkeled at while in Maui, and my advice for each one. I should also mention that our Vrbo was on the west side of Maui, so we only snorkeled on that side of the island. We did read that it was the best part of Maui for snorkeling, though!
1. Maluaka Beach: This was a pretty nice beach, and the snorkeling was good. The water was clear, and a lot of fish were pretty close to shore which would be great for kids since they wouldn't have to swim out so far to see cool stuff. We got there in the morning, close to 10am, so parking was easy. There's a cool church nearby, and clean bathrooms across the street from the church. The beach is just a short walk down the road.
2. Makena Landing Park: This beach is on the southwest side of Maui. It was packed full of snorkelers and divers, and a big tourist boat which made us think the snorkeling was going to be really good. I thought for sure there'd be turtles around, but when we got in the water, the visibility was so bad, I think I only saw a handful of fish. It's probably because it was so crowded and the waves were a bit rough there, so the sand was getting tossed around everywhere. It's supposed to be a great place to go (the guy at the camera rental shop even recommended it) so maybe morning time is better?
3. Honokōwai Beach Park: Adam snorkeled here by himself while I sunbathed. He said it wasn't great, but he did see an octopus! We were also there in the middle of the afternoon, so like I mentioned above, it might be better in the morning.
4. Kapalua Bay Beach: I saved the best for last! This is sort of a small beach with a touristy vibe, but there are bathrooms nearby which is nice. (I'm unable to pee in the ocean for some reason. I've just never been able to do that, haha.) I was pretty excited to snorkel here because I saw photos on Google Maps of turtles super close to shore. I was worried about the time of day since it was right in the middle of the afternoon when we arrived, but I brought my underwater camera with me anyway, and I'm so glad I did! This is where I took all of the photos in this post. When we got out of the water and walked back to our towels on the beach, we saw a few turtles floating just a few feet away from shore, just like the pictures I saw online. It's such a cool thing to see, and it's nice they seem to trust tourists - everyone appears to be pretty good about leaving them alone. The only downside here is the parking. We walked about 15-20 minutes with all of our stuff to and from the car because there really isn't anywhere nearby to park. Lots of hotels and private parking lots in the area! Aside from that, it's totally worth a visit.
I'll try to upload more photos soonish, but you know how that goes... ;) As always, thanks for reading! xo