I will be in Maui the week of Memorial Day and wanted to see if anyone on the boards has organized a private Molokini snorkel trip. I will be there with my husband and another couple so not sure if there's a company out there that would do this for such a small group. Any advice?

Why do you want a private tour? The best part of the trip is getting to know other travelers. The snorkeling is fabulous-but we truly enjoyed meeting the other travelers and ship crew. Once you get to Molokini you will be with LOTS of other
boats/people. We were lucky-it was a little choppy the day we went and the other captains wouldn't go-we had it all to ourselves. Once you got to the crater it was not choppy at all. Have a great time!

I know there will be lots of people once we get there but we would prefer to avoid the crowd on a larger boat getting there if it's possible. Does anyone know of a tour group or an individual guide that might offer to take a foursome? Thanks!

Here's a charter for $1800 + tax + fuel: http://goo.mauicharters.com/private.html

you'd think they throw in the hamburgers for free!

No kidding nanabee! I guess a private trip might not be in our future.

Highly recommend the Kai Kanani early morning snorkel trip if it's about the snorkeling and not the frills, we have always arrived first at Molokini and never seen more than 1 or 2 other boats catch up with us there before returning.
www.kaikanani.com/snorkelmolokinitour.asp

If Molokini is your main snorkel trip, I would investigate other excursions. While is fun to take a boat over to Molokini in the morning (we like the smaller rigid raft trips because there are minimal people and a faster trip), the snorkeling there is really below average. There used to be more fish a few years ago, but not anymore. There are other trips that you may want to consider if you are booking a private trip or decide to take one of the smaller joint cruises (Lanai for instance). If the trip itself is the most important, then Molokini may be fine, but if it is the fish that you are interested in seeing, I strongly recommend checking out other locations. The "Barefoot Tours" website has a nice review of most of the companies and discounts as well if you book online.

I have heard from many people that Molokini's snorkeling is no longer great.

If you've snorkeled or been diving in the Caribbean, I think Molokini will be a bit of a disappointment, but we did it, and enjoyed it well enough (what's not to love - you're in Hawaii!!). We went with the Maui Dive Shop, and they had the big cats - and I don't remember it being too crowded. It was a nice trip... they did a really nice job.