September 6, 2024

Visit Maui: Molokini Crater with Kai Kanani

 


Visiting Molokini Crater on Maui has been on my bucket list for some time so I definitely wanted to make it happen on a recent trip to Maui. I researched the many tour companies that go out to Molokini and I am happy to report Kai Kanani Sailing surpassed all our expectations! Here’s why we chose their Sunrise Deluxe Snorkel: 

1. They welcome all ages! Infants 1 and under are free and children 2-12 are charged a discounted rate. They also offer 15% off for kamaʻāina with a Hawaii drivers license or state ID. 

2. They leave from Maluaka Beach in Makena, which was just 15 minutes away from our hotel in Kihei! Even better if you are staying in Wailea since they provide a shuttle service to and from the check-in location. 

3. It is a short 3 mile cruise out to Molokini Crater. This was super important to me as I am prone to sea sickness. 

During the short ride, we receive our snorkel gear

4. They are the first snorkel boat into Molokini in the morning. We had about 45 minutes of solitude in waters with up to 200 feet of visibility. It was amazing. As we left, the other tour boats started coming in. 

Water was warm!

Clear visibility

First boat out to Molokini made for a better experience

5. They visit Turtle Town! It was so fun to snorkel up close (but 10 feet away) with the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles.

Our snorkel selfie

6. They provide a three-course breakfast! The cinnamon rolls are delicious and one of the best things we had our entire Maui vacation.

Best cinnamon roll!

We enjoyed our hearty breakfast!

7. They have an open bar. It was nice to have a drink after a morning of snorkeling while we leisurely sailed down the Makena Coast. 

Cheers to a beautiful day in Maui!

8. The entire tour is just 3.5 hours. We arrived back at the beach by 9:45am and still had the whole day still ahead of us. 

This was the first time snorkeling for many in our group and the staff at Kai Kanani were amazing and really took great care of us. They offered floatation devices as well as boogie boards in the water and all snorkel equipment. Reef safe sunscreen is also provided and there are restrooms aboard the catamaran. The only thing you need to worry about is bringing your own towels. 

The snorkeling was so fun and seeing the many fish and turtles in crystal clear waters was a pretty amazing experience. As a mom, it's always so great seeing the kids learn something new and seeing them enjoy snorkeling and having so much fun jumping off the boat over and over again made for such a great memory.

Lauren had to give me some encouragement to jump off the catamaran.

We loved our snorkel adventure with Kai Kanani!

Kai Kanani is family-owned and operated and has been in business for over 30 years. The Kai Kanani II is the only commercial catamaran that lives in South Maui, moored off Maluaka Beach in Makena. The tours they offer are the Sunrise Deluxe Snorkel, Signature Deluxe Snorkel, Adventure Sunset Sail, Adventure Whale Watch, as well as private charters. Kai Kanani features fresh island foods, all curated by Wailea’s The Market, a chef-inspired deli and café using locally sourced and house-cured ingredients. Their bar features Maui’s Organic Ocean Vodka, Kula Rum, Fy Gin, and wines from MauiWine in Ulupalakua. 

Thank you to Kai Kanani for the media rate. All opinions are entirely my own.


















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