Maui South Shore Premier Kayak And Snorkel Tour From Makena Beach

Amazing must do experience! Fantastic guide, great snorkeling, perfect way to spend a morning on Maui!

Our kayak and snorkel tour with Maui Eco Tours- South Pacific Kayaks was the highlight of our Maui trip. If you can, ask for Rabbit as your guide. He was outstanding! He’s incredibly knowledgeable, naturally funny and made everyone feel completely at ease, especially when it came to safety. The experience itself was amazing. We saw sea turtles and an incredible variety of fish, and since we visited during whale season, we also got to see whales. The tour felt personal, relaxed, and immersive in a way that a large tour boat simply can’t match. I highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Maui, and especially Rabbit as your guide. It’s an absolute must-do.

It was amazing! We really had so much fun! Our guide Tyler was so informative and had a great wealth of knowledge about the water and our surroundings. I love learning stuff like that and I learned a lot! Tyler even helped us to find an octopus 🐙! Definitely recommend trying it out. Even for people that are beginners!

This was fun. The fish were cool. I am afraid of the ocean and was able to get in the water and experience the ocean without being in fear. The guides were fun and helpful.

We had a fantastic time and were able to swim with lots of sea turtles!! Tyler is an excellent guide!

Rabbit our tour guide was awesome! We did the south shore kayak and snorkel from Makena beach! We were supposed to have another group but they cancelled last minute so it was just my husband and I! Rabbit was very informative and eased my anxieties about snorkeling and where we were going, even though I’ve snorkeled before. We went whale watching first just to see if we could see any at end of season (we didn’t :( ) then went to turtle town and saw a ton of sea turtles, coral reefs and other fish. Rabbit was showing us all the different kinds of fish and sea urchins. We went to another area but when it didn’t have as many turtles he took us to a third spot because it was just us and we were able to see a bunch more sea turtles there. We had plenty of opportunity to warm up, get a drink and have a snack and go at our own pace. We learned a lot about the culture and Hawaii places, he was very talkative and happy to share his knowledge. We felt very safe and protected the entire time. Snorkeling site depths were anywhere from 5-25 ftish. Calm areas close ish to shore line so not a strong current. I did this 12 weeks pregnant and was fine! Couldn’t recommend enough, we picked the best tour!

My family of 5 adults really enjoyed our kayaking adventure. Rabbit was our guide and even though the waves looked scary on the launch and return he kept us calm, collected and guided us all safely out to sea and back to shore. Rabbit is knowledgeable, lots of fun and extremely diligent, I could tell he took our safety very seriously. South Pacific provides everything you need to kayak and snorkel, so plan to leave your personal items in the car (including your phone). All the equipment was in good shape and he fitted us individually. Our group was small, 8 adults total including Rabbit. Plan to pair up based on ability, it was a good paddle, not hard for an adult, but you would want to pair up littles with adults on the tandems (2 people kayaks). We enjoyed seeing whales close by and it was a great time for everyone. Get there early, parking is limited and don't forget your sunscreen. I would also recommend the long sleeve SPF shirts to avoid sunburn while on the water, they are inexpensive at the Walmart and/or Ross on Maui. You are gonna love it...our favorite Maui memory!!!

We had a phenomenal time on our kayak/snorkeling tour. Jake was fantastic, taught us a lot about the sea creatures and fish. Also, we have been on previous tours in the past with other companies, I am short and struggle getting back on the kayak after snorkeling, Jake walked me through it, gave me excellent tips and I was a pro by the end! Thank you for such a great experience!

Incredible experience, and an excellent company! We originally booked the West Maui kayaking tour, but due to high winds, the company called and texted us to suggest the South Maui tour for our family instead where the winds were lighter on that day. We were able to change our tour, and it was AMAZING! We kayaked with our 10 and 8 year olds, so it was very helpful that we didn't have to fight the winds. Jake, our guide, was very attentive to our family needs (getting the mask fitted, dealing with very minor sea-sickness), and was a wealth of knowledge about the marine life and the history of the area. We learned Hawaiian pronunciation and got introduced to new sea creatures. And we saw 20-30 sea turtles, right next to us!!! Wonderful memories, and a highlight of our vacation.

We had such a great second tour with them! Kyle made the experience better! He was a great tour guide. We saw so many turtles. It was an absolute amazing experience that the kids could enjoy and see these turtles up close and personal! We will definitely use them over and over!!

It was a great trip. We got to see whales, turtles, dolphins and fish. It was fun to be out in the ocean on a kayak. I would recommend the early morning tour due to the afternoon winds. Also, bring sunscreen.

Did just the kayak rental where you go on your own. Was good experience. Our initial booking had bad weather, and had great communication with owner to reschedule. Very flexible to work with. Equipment was in good condition. Was so glad they offered kayak on own as most companies don't and that is all we wanted to do.

What a beautiful morning at sea! John, our guide, was fun, informative and had a keen sense of how to experience the whales. This turned out to be our favorite activity during our visit to Maui. Wear water shoes for the rocky shore entry.

John was our guide and he is a very knowledgeable person on kayaking, snorkeling in the area as well as Hawaiian culture, geography, and sea life. We have experience in kayaking and snorkeling so he provided additional services in spotting and explaining the local sea life. We were able to see eel, an octopus, and of course all the local fish and their habits. His very personable approach and attentiveness made this a very memorable experience.

Amazing! John was an awesome guide! Saw two sea turtles and a bunch of colorful fish! Would definitely recommend.

My husband and my first time kayaking. Nico was a great guide and we had so much fun kayaking and snorkeling. We saw so many turtles!! We definitely enjoyed ourselves and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Scenery and wildlife at Makena location was a 5.0 Experience was a 1.0 South Pacific Kayaks did not respond to email inquiry prior to trip or after the trip. Tripadvisor is difficult to contact for correction to trip reservation count. South Shore in my opinion catered to volume rather than a group setting. There was a 'corporate' group booked (20) which took resources and time from all personnel. Our group of 6 were lumped with another group of 6 added at last minute that morning which further complicated equipment, group size, and ability to hear our guide. Aside from the 32+/- guests of South Shore Kayak groups, there were two other vendors with their groups in the same area which brought total in water approximately 50. Being the last group to launch made scenery challenging with the 'herd' of kayaks, boats, and swimmers as obstacles. The majority in our smaller group were familiar with kayaking, however there were two individuals which were not so complicated the group dynamics and flow of trip. I should have gone with my 'gut': rent kayaks on our own and do a self guide South Shore, say NO to the total volume approach. I would have respected a call saying there was an over booking due to the corporate account and may we change your date so you have a great experience.

We followed directions and made sure to arrive plenty early, at 650am. There seemed to be chaos and no clear identification of which group was which, and there was not a way to identify the different organizing groups. Once we were in the right spot, things were not explained well on the expectation or set up. I have kayak sea experience, so I was not to concerned for my party, but there were others in the group who did not have experience. Our tour guide was very kind, but seemed to be flustered, and for the size of our group, we could of used another leader. Especially because many of the other groups were in the water and watching the whale by 8 am and we were barely getting in the water. Not sure if there were last minute additions to parties or what exactly, but all the groups ended in the same area and were swimming on top of each other. 50 ish people in a limited area was a lot. Things seemed to be a reaction most of the time and became emergencies need to do things right now... that was unsettling when no danger seemed to be present. Was a decent time, people were all very kind, but so much wasted time trying to get organized, with no clear direction are areas I suggest for improvement.

We really enjoyed our tour with Madison. She was really knowledgeable about the island / wildlife and hilarious. We didn't get any photos because we were nervous about getting our phones wet in the Kayak. Kayaking was a fun experience and we got a good amount of information about the island and the tubes below. We saw a handful of turtles while we were snorkeling. They were beautiful and huge! Madison was able to point out a few lava tubes, different types of sea urchins and a few other animals. Overall we had a really fun time! In general, I haven't really enjoyed my past snorkeling experiences but I did enjoy this one. We would do this again.

Jake is an outstanding guide. His directions and assistance made the kayak handling easy and enjoyable. The snorkeling in Turtle Town was awesome. I was eyeball to eyeball with sea turtles!

So much fun! Definitely worth doing made our whole trip to Maui! Nico was the best! So informative and helpful.

The Turtle Reef Discovery tour from Makena was one of the best activities we did in Maui! Our guide was Tyler, and he was super kind, chill, knowledgeable, personal, and made sure we saw turtles! We were convinced to do the 7:15am tour (less traffic, easier parking, better water conditions) which was definitely worth waking up early for. Our group was only 6 people who had a variety of experience levels, and Tyler made sure everyone was comfortable and having a good time, especially since a couple people had never snorkeled before. They make sure you know what you're doing and give thorough explanations for where/how to get into the kayak and water. The Makena location is so good because it's surrounded by the various Maui islands, so the waves are very calm. We saw tons of fish and turtles, and because of the early time, there weren't many other groups snorkeling. Tyler also gave us some great lunch recommendations for after (Nalu's South Shore grill which was also the best meal we ate). He even had a waterproof camera to help take pictures for people who didn't have a camera, which was a super nice touch. Overall, I would highly recommend this tour for beginner or experienced kayak/snorkelers and would definitely come again!

Never saw so many turtles in one area before! Guide Cody (the Packers, really?! lol) efficiently got our group of 8 educated, in kayaks and on the water quickly. So many turtles, some times 3 or 4 at a time. Cody knows so much about the area, the history, what’s in the ocean and where to eat afterwards. We had a super fun time! Thanks Cody!

This trip was so cool, we are far from the fittest individuals but managed and felt supported and safe with our guide Jake. We had a leisurely kayak to our first location for snorkelling, during which Jake told us about the sea life and conservation efforts being made on the islands. Once we were at the spot, Jake gave us safety information and off we went, he made sure we were all able to see amazing sea life that was in the area, including multiple turtles, fish, sea urchins and others. Jake was so knowledgeable, fun and genuinely seemed to love his job. We would highly recommend this tour.

Bait and switch! I booked this activity exclusively based the fact that it was advertised as "Maui: Turtle Town Kayak and Snorkel Tour (For Non-Swimmers)". Based on the description I was led to believe this was an extremely basic water activity that didn't require much swimming but I was fooled. The experience: The instructors were friendly, we got a short tutorial on how to kayak, how to put on a lifejacket and fins, a lesson on sea life that we might see while snorkeling and we were shown sample photos/shots that would be taken of us by the instructor at sea. I wasn't previously informed that we weren't allowed to bring our cellphones for photos (they had to be stored away) or that we'd be seemingly forced to purcha$e the photos of ourselves by the instructor once the activity was complete ($60 for poor quality images, not what was shown in the samples). No instructions on how to actually snorkel. The other person that I booked the activity for was an elderly women whom wasn't quite comfortable swimming in the ocean not to mention for the first time. Luckily, I actually got the full use of the activity, the reef and other sea life were beautiful. If the advertising/description, the other little flaws with the activity and instructor (Steve) were just more forthcoming then I'm sure this wouldn't been such a disappointment. Next time, I'd just book with another company and call prior to ask the necessary questions. Live and learn. :)

I found out instructor John a seasoned, experienced, and passionate, and professional kayak instructor. He took his time instructing, making the remainder of the trip very well managed. John took us away from the crowd that you typically would find at the Makena landing. The place he took us snorkeling was awesome, good and sheltered location with good visibility, and plenty of things to see. All in all a very good kayak experience.

I did enjoy the the kayaking and the one snorkel stop. The problem that there were six kayaks and a couple people got sea sick. We had no choice but to return to the take out location. No compensation for the shorter trip.

We had lost of fun, we for sure would do it again. 👏 Thank you Liz, Jordan and Gavin you guys were awesome!

Excellent time! John even made my partner feel comfortable enough to get in and snorkel around! We saw a turtle, lots of fish, some eels, and gorgeous reefs.

This was an amazing tour. Our guide Scuba Steve was thorough with all safety information and took the time to tell us about the kinds of fish we would see. While you cannot control wildlife, he knew all of the right spots to see the green sea turtles. He took time to get good underwater photos of us and wildlife. Being on the ocean in the kayak was incredible and snorkeling with the turtles is an unforgettable experience.

Tour guide was pleasant but didn’t introduce himself (found out later his name is Hank). The guide was really nice but didn’t notice that several kayaks were straggling, which turned out to be that several people were getting sick and were having trouble keeping up. Rough water caused half the group of 7 to get sea sick and we turned back about an hour into the trip, and called it quits by 9:15 (started rowing at 7:45, supposed to last until 11:00). No snorkeling since most of the guests were sick. We did see a couple of turtles and two whales breaching, which was very cool.

Our guide Steve was great! He was very friendly, knowledgeable, and conscientious of wildlife safety. We were definitely beginners with kayaking and snorkeling, but he was very patient with us and walked us through it thoroughly.

Our guide, John Hess, was amazing. He really shared his love of the wildlife with our group. We definitely got lucky with some, once in a lifetime, whale encounter, but John would have made the day super memorable no matter what! He really went the extra mile for our group and made me feel really comfortable with snorkeling. This was the highlight of our whole week in Maui!

It was a great “unscripted” experience. We made group decisions about what we wanted the experience to be and ended up experiencing whales up close and snorkeling in two beautiful spots. Scuba Steve was a very knowledgeable guide and added a lot to the trip.

This was an incredible day of kayaking. The trip was scheduled to include snorkeling as well, but the visibility was not good due to the weather, and at our guide John’s suggestion, we decided to spend all our time kayaking and whale watching instead. This was a great suggestion since John located multiple groups of whales which we were able to obverse during most of our time kayaking. John was a fantastic guide. He was very knowledgeable and knew just how to anticipate where the whales would be, and then maximize our viewing experience with each group. He did a masterful job adapting our day to the weather conditions to allow us the best possible experience. We planned our trip to Maui specifically to see the whales, and this kayaking trip among the whales exceeded all expectations. It was truly a magical experience!

We had an absolutely epic time kayaking with humpback whales. Call them and ask to have John Hess be your guide. John is incredibly knowledgeable and has years of experience. John took his time to go over instructions prior to launching us into the sea. The other groups were out to sea and off the beach, and we were still going over items. BUT, this was all needed and helped to make an epic trip when our group got out to sea. If you know anything about whale watching, then you know opportunities can be hit and miss. Some days are amazing and sometimes the whales are shy. We did not have a shy day by any means! This is an experience that will always be remembered. The thing is, without John we probably wouldn’t have had such an adventure. Book this tour and make sure to ask for John as your guide. I can’t imagine how you wouldn’t have a fantastic time on the ocean with him guiding you.

Because of the weather, the conditions were less than favorable. The guide was very honest and offered a refund on the spot. We appreciated that considering we were all beginners. Looking forward to returning to Maui and booking with them again.

Had a super fun time. The snorkeling conditions were not ideal, due to recent weather, but certainly not the guides fault. Scuba Steve was great as a group leader, and super personable. Even though it was just the beginning of the season, did see some whales, albeit too far to catch up close. One caveat is that the Premiere Tour (4 hours) was fairly strenuous. I'm 58 years old, but in reasonable shape (round is a shape, right?). Just kidding (sort of), as I still play ice hockey several times a week. Part of it was I was in a solo kayak to avoid martial strife (just kidding again, Honey, as we had odd numbers), so that makes it more tiring. I think another reason was the conditions were not great, so we spent more time paddling and chasing whales, without breaks to snorkel; I was cashed by the end. DM me for more excuses as to why I am so out of shape...

Our kayak and snorkel trip in Maui with this company was one of the highlights of our trip. Our guide, Jake, was especially knowledgeable about the history of the islands, the ocean, and everything in it. We saw many animals and a large amount of beautiful reef during our trip. The fish were amazing and all the turtles were beautiful. I highly recommend this tour - it was worth every penny!

My family and I have taken kayak trips out of Makena Beach numerous times over the years with various companies and we always see turtles in this area. Our South Pacific Kayaks' tour this time lead by Maddie was great. She is very knowledgeable and patient.

John was our guide. He and the experience was amazing. We saw dolphins, turtles, eels, rays, beautiful coral and fish. John was fun, knowledgeable and engaging. He was delightful. The kayaking was great fun and the snorkeling was outstanding. We loved experience.

Loved learning to ocean kayak! Our guide, Jake was so fun and informative! We all laughed and talked, had a great time! We snorkeled with sea turtles and saw a variety of fish. He also took some great photos for us!! Highly recommend!

Our kayaking and snorkeling trip with John as our guide was the best part of our visit to Maui. He was both knowledgeable and enthusiastic about what we were seeing. Because of no shows we were treated to a private tour which made the experience even more special. We can't imagine a better tour guide nor a more wonderful way to see the South Maui coast. If we were able to give him a 10 star rating we would.

Extremely good guide. Knowledgeable, thoughtful, safety oriented and helpful. Also willing to be flexible depending on conditions. We saw humpback whales which was very unexpected this time of year. Great way to experience the ocean and Maui!

Fun day on the water with Jake. Jake is a guy with lots of knowledge about Hawaii, the sea life and of course kayaking. Very laid back and let us have lots of freedom. The wind came up and Jake made some nice adjustments that made it all ok. The snorkeling was just ok- hence the 4 rather than 5 rating. We saw a good number of turtles but very disappointing on the number and variety of fish.

Our guide, John, was awesome! Very experienced, taught us the easiest and safest way to get into the kayak, out of the kayak, gave tips on everything in between (how to paddle properly, how to sit in the kayak so your back isn't hurting at the end of the tour, how to prepare your goggles and fins before getting in the water, etc.), and even got in the water and guided us showing us different types of fish, turtles, and coral. I love learning new things and he did not disappoint! Was very attentive to our needs, provided snacks and water, and one of the absolute best kayak and snorkeling experiences I have ever been on. Absolutely phenomenal!

Beautiful experience for our 50th anniversary trip to Maui. Jake was wonderful, informative, kind, and helpful ensuring a wonderful experience.

This was an excellent tour & a lot of fun! It was a beautiful area. Our guide, Jake, knew the exact places where fish would be (including sea turtles!) This was one of our favorite experiences on the island, and we highly recommend doing it!

We had an fantastic experience with lots of turtle sightings! Our guide (Madison) was awesome - she immediately set the tone that we were going to have fun, and she was right. We kayaked and made multiple snorkeling stops and stayed in each place forever just the right amount of time. We saw tons of turtles and other sea life, and were generally able to avoid crowds. Our group was small - our guide and 4 participants which was great. It felt like we were really having a conversation and learning a ton about what we were seeing both in the water and out of the water. Would absolutely do another experience with them!