Our family of 4 (w/2 teen girls, 13 & 16) will be spending 8 days in Maui at the end of April. We would like to do a snorkel trip and have read the reports in Maui Revealed. Even though it sounds like Molokini does not have the greatest snorkling, we want to go for the fun of the boat trip. Which boats have people had the most fun on? I see some boats have slides. My girls are both great swimmers and we do not want to feel forced to wear life vests. Any personal experiences to report would be great!

We went to Maui with our two who were 12 & 8. We used Four Winds and had a terrific time. They have a very nice boat and they have the water slide. The captain is great. He let the kids "steer" the boat while he visited with passengers. I swear he has the best job but he knows it and appreciates it too! The food (bbq) was great. Kids did not have to wear life vests. On the way back in the captain pointed out where the celebrities owned property and we all counted turtles. He and his staff made it a very fun trip. True the snorkeling was not great but the trip was a blast that the kids still talk about. Search the threads by putting "Four Winds" into the search box and you'll see others who had a great time too!

agree completely with Suzie. don't go for great snorkeling (because it wasn't great),but go for the boat ride out and back and enjoy the nonstop comedy routine courtesy of the Captain. the kids that went on our trip really enjoyed the water slide and several of them did the SNUBA. a photo taken of us aboard the Four Winds shows us smiling and looking quite happy, altho we complained that we didn't see as many fish and variety of fish as we'd hoped.

We did a snorkel trip that left from the beach of the Maui Prince hotel. It was really convenient if you're staying in that area. Went to Molokini for one stop and then off to two others. Molokini wasn't that great (it was our second time there) but if you do go, be sure its the first stop and early before all the boats from up the coast arrive. Our captain also saw a mahi swimming around the boat and used a spear to catch it - that was pretty fun to watch. we also had some dolphins swimming with us and saw whales but not too close. Our boys were 11 and 13 at the time.

We really enjoyed the Molokini trip -- it was our first introduction to snorkelling. Our boat passed out "float belts" that we wore in the water. They helped keep us buoyant so we could spend less time focusing on swimming and more time focusing o the fish. Have fun!