Maui Turtles and Whales

My sister and I will be in Maui in three weeks! She gets to see the whales in Seattle frequently but would love to swim with sea turtles, I wouldn't mind seeing a few whales as I'm in a landlocked state :)

Do we need to book a tour to be able to see the whales and turtles, or can we see them from the beaches?

Where will you be on Maui (are you arriving via a cruise at the port of Lahaina or Kahului?) and what type of transportation will you have (rental car?).

You can snorkel from shore and see turtles - and often you can see them poke their heads up out of the water without snorkelling. Kapalua Bay is a good place for this.

It's easy to spot whales from shore, but if you want a close up, a boat tour would be a good choice.

We were on the NCL cruise in March 2013 and we saw whales everywhere. If you are looking, you will see whales. And not just on Maui- we saw whales on every island. We could see them from the ship and from land. Bring some good binoculars if you want to see them close-up!

We were in Maui in Dec and we stayed in Kaanapali and we saw whales breaching form my balcony. Take a good set of binoculars and look back and forth and watch for the spouts.... and then stay tuned.

Very cool....

We were in Maui in Dec and we stayed in Kaanapali and we saw whales breaching form my balcony. Take a good set of binoculars and look back and forth and watch for the spouts.... and then stay tuned.

 

Very cool....

Yep, we also watched whales while sitting on our balcony in Maui. Look for a vertical stream of water shooting in the air, it's a lot easier than looking for the whales themselves in the water, and you can see spouts pretty far off.

Turtles are a little different. I see them all they time while snorkeling, but it's harder to see them just walking along the beach.

Burt