Marilyn

We will be travelling to Maui over Christmas and are interested in taking a trip to either Molokini or Lanai. Three of us will be snorkeling, and two more are interested in diving. I was wondering if anyone has done both excursions, and if so, which trip would you recommend? Finally, any suggestions on companies for these trips?
Thanks.

deb

I can actually answer this. We dived Molokini and Lanai two years ago. Hands down, Molokini is better. Lanai was awful. Molokini was a lot of fun. Your snorkelers will like Molokini better, too. There, that's one decision you don't have to think about any more.

Lynn

If you're interested in a second opinion that confirms what Deb just told you, here it is. I'm a snorkeler and my husband is a diver. There is no question that Molokini is better than Lanai--there is virtually nothing to see at Lanai. The only thing that made our trip to Lanai worthwhile was that it included a dolphin watch. We encountered many dolphins, and they did many spectacular acrobatics (leaping out of the water in tandem with their babies, etc.) that made it a terrific experience. Had it not been for that, we'd have been extremely disappointed because the snorkel/dive part of the trip was a complete waste of time.

A lot of people will put Molokini down because it tends to get crowded, but it gets crowded for a reason--there's a lot to see there and it's beautiful. You'll love it!

CF

I'm one who will put Molokini down because of the crowds. The day we were there boats were lined up next to each other 5 and 6 deep in both directions from us. There were so many people in the water you couldn't really get a look at anything. I have no idea how to avoid this situation. If they could somehow limit the number of boats at a time maybe things would get better.

The other downside of the trip for us was it was still dark when they picked us up at our hotel...

ma

Lanai can be totally miraculous snorkling. Problem is folks here are talking about where the tourist barges drop you off. If you take the ferry http://www.go-lanai.com/ and know where to go... cheap, uncrowded, fantastic.

Les

Marilyn,
I'm not a diver, and haven't been to Lanai, but I have snorkeled at Molokini, and the best I can say for it is that it was boring and uninteresting. No reef, just the shallow crater floor. There are MUCH better snorkeling spots that don't require a boat ride. Diving might be a different story, however, since the water on the back (closed) side of the Molokini crater is clear and very deep.