Trips & tickets
A half day from Ma'alaea Harbor on a three-deck catamaran with a glass-bottom viewing room: a hot breakfast, Molokini Crater, then Turtle Town, weather permitting, with lifeguards in the water and lunch included.
A 40-foot raft for up to 19 passengers, a ride along the south coast of Maui to the crater, crew tips on where to snorkel, and snacks and tropical juice afterwards. The crater is weather-permitting; the alternative is Turtle Town.
A fast-sailing catamaran from Ma'alaea with breakfast on the way out, snorkeling at Molokini, a freshwater shower and a buffet lunch, then the afternoon trade winds for the sail home, with a turn at the helm if you want one.
The full GetYourGuide listing for Molokini — catamaran snorkel trips from Ma'alaea, raft trips from Kihei, sailing trips and Turtle Town combinations, with live prices.
Molokini is a crescent-shaped islet about 3 miles off Maui's southwestern coast, the rim of an extinct volcanic crater whose flooded floor forms a sheltered cove. Access is by boat only, and the islet itself is a state seabird sanctuary where nobody may land, so every visit is a snorkel or dive trip from the water.
The trips differ more than the listings suggest: big catamarans from Ma'alaea with breakfast, lunch and a second stop at Turtle Town; short raft trips from the Kihei boat ramp; a beach-loading catamaran at Makena; and sailing trips. These pages compare them plainly, with the conservation district's rules from Hawaii's Division of Aquatic Resources.
Plan it properly
Every kind of Molokini snorkel tour side by side: Ma'alaea catamarans, Kihei rafts, the Makena beach-loading boat and sunrise trips, with times, prices and what each includes.
What snorkeling Molokini Crater is really like: the cove and the back wall, the fish, the conservation district's rules, currents and the morning, sunscreen, and keeping your distance from wildlife.
Molokini is reached only by boat. Where the boats leave from, how to find your slip and park at Ma'alaea, the Kihei ramp, beach loading at Makena, and what changed at Lahaina.
The crater
Photographs licensed from Shutterstock.
It depends on the boat. On the operators' own pages at the time of writing, a 2-hour raft trip from Kihei cost $129 per person; a 5.5-hour catamaran from Ma'alaea with breakfast and lunch was $178.95 for adults on special offer ($199.95 listed); and a 3.5-hour catamaran from Makena was $269. Our snorkel tours guide compares them.
Only by boat. Hawaii's Division of Aquatic Resources says charter boats operate out of Lahaina, Mā'alaea Harbor and Kīhei. The big catamarans sail from Ma'alaea, rafts launch from the Kihei boat ramp, and one catamaran beach-loads at Maluaka Beach in Makena; see our guide to getting there.
No. Molokini is a state seabird sanctuary, and entry onto the islet is prohibited. You snorkel or dive in the conservation district around it, where taking or feeding marine life and touching coral are also prohibited.
The morning. Currents can be a problem outside the cove and may get stronger inside in the afternoon when the wind picks up, which is why most trips leave early; one Makena sunrise trip checks in at 5:45 a.m.