Hawaii Ocean Rafting

We went whale watching and snorkeling. The guides were FANTASTIC. You can tell they love their jobs and never tire of seeing and talking about the whales.
The little rafts were much, much better then those big tourist boats. It was fun to be close to the water. One whale and baby swam under our boat, upside down! Majestic!

they have by far the best price for a snorkel tour on the West Side! about half what the others charge. sooooooooo worth it!!! Captain Stephanie and Sean were a great duo! very informative and easy to talk to. the breakfast and lunch are fairly simple, but very tasty. we saw a few bottle nose dolphins chasing some fish and plenty of whales in between our stops. the snorkel spot near the Lanai was awesome! so much sea life and coral to see!
we will absolutely use them again on our next trip!

Unusually high winds prevented crossing the channel to Lanai but we hit a couple of great Maui offshore snorkeling spots and encountered a pod of dolphins and many whales in the process. The more «intimate» experience of the zodiac-​style craft is the way to go. Stephanie and Sean were great hosts for the experience. We would definitely go with Hawaii Ocean Rafting again if and when we return to Maui.

Awesome experience. We took the 7:30 am raft. Capt. Jeff and Stephanie were engaging, entertaining and put us close (100 yds) to several groups of whales within 10 minutes of departing. The boat holds up to 15, but with only 10 on board our view was never obstructed and the seating comfortable. Throughout our 2 hour trip (which went quicker than anticipated) there wasn’t a problem seeing several groups of surfacing and breaching whales! Would highly recommend Hawaii Ocean Rafting.

My step-​mother and I saw lots of whales and the staff were friendly and knowledgeable. I would have also taken their snorkeling trip if I’d had more time!

We had a blast on this whale watch! We saw dozens! Some were very close! The crew was very fun and insightful, their commentary was very helpful and made the whale watch even better!
We hit the 7:30 am watch and you could see the sun coming up over the mountain scenery! What a blast!

Saw lots of whales and a few dolphins on the whale watching trip. Ride was comfortable and they include bottles of water. Only reason I went with this company was they were the cheapest (aside from Pacific Whale Foundation) available when I called. Would have gone with PWF except their zodiac was getting maintenance done on the day I took the tour.
Why 3 stars? The 2 employees really didn’t give you background or facts about the whales you are seeing. I mean they were okay when you would ask them, but shouldn’t they start out by going over these things? Without doing that, it just feels like they shoved us in, stopped to see some whales, and then quickly got us off.
On the other hand, this was a smaller boat. We had maybe 12 people on the ship.

AMAZING! Our captain was Stephanie, our entertainment, (I mean crew), was Sean and they were both so much fun and very personable. Sean told us so many cool facts about the island of Lanai and stories about his adventures out at sea.
We saw spotted Dolphins AND spinner Dolphins. Tons! Sean let us dip our faces in from the boat and it was truly magical. We went to two different snorkeling spots. Tons of turtles, huge schools of fish, beautiful reef and the clearest blue water.
Sean and Stephanie made our experience that much better. Thank you Hawaii Ocean Rafting for a trip we will never forget!

This was a great trip! The crew made a good choice to head around Lanai first so we could get the most possible before any weather could change our course! Good job good job. We chose the full day trip and got lucky with a small group. With this small group it gave us the opportunity for extended snokle time in any one location and also enabled us to see and do more personalized adventure. Best snorkel trip so far. The crew wanted to know which spot was each of our favorite but I couldn’t choose because each location gave us a different exciting and awesome element making the whole experience the best ever.

We went out on 3 different whale watching trip and by far found Jake to
Be our best captain! On one of the «competitors» trips we just chased the whales and never really got up close. Jake was great and we actually had a whale swim with right next to us. I highly recommend Jake as your captain

I was a little skeptical at first when I saw the size of the raft but this turned out to be an awesome experience! On our snorkeling trip we saw beautiful fish, several sea turtles and a lot of whales and spinner dolphins. This trip was much more intimate than other tours as this boat holds a max of 25 people. Breakfast and lunch were served and the crew were knowledgable of the island and sea life. I would recommend this company to anyone!

This was a highlight of our trip over the holidays. We saw whales and spinner dolphins and the snorkeling was excellent. You can’t really compare Hawaii to places like Cozumel with crystal blue water so overall this was a great excursion. I honestly don’t remember the name of our guides but they were really good — super knowledgeable and helpful. The snacks were perfect. I was especially appreciative that they offered me a neoprene top to wear at one point because I was so cold. This saved the day for me! Obviously no one is getting rich at these places and we were surprised that we were the only people that tipped the guides at the end of our trip. I would encourage throwing some money into your backpack for them… they love what they do and work hard to make sure everyone is having a great experience!

It has been some time since my visit to Hawaii.
Often I look back at my time there and still see your smiling faces on the boat. Most importantly my daughter mentions how she remembers her time in the water and riding with you guys. It blows my mind when I hear from her that the day trip was such a fond memory for her. Thanks again and we will go out again next time we are in town.

We just spent a perfect morning: rafting to Lanai, seeing the Spinner Dolphins, and snorkeling with the turtles & fish in three places. Thanks Stefany & Sean!

Sean and Lacey made this trip very memorable. I can’t wait to go back and take this trip again. The snorkel sites were really neat. Saw Sea Turtles and all sorts of colorful fish. Also, watching all of the spinner Dolphins several hundred was truly spectacular. This is a must trip when visiting Maui.

I chose this raft over the others because I hoped that fewer passengers will mean less of an «assembly line tourism» feeling I have gotten before.
I was also worried that my very cautious son wouldn’t get in the ocean, but the crew ‘s patient encouragement worked great, and he ended up snorkeling at both locations. Sean the marine expert was sharing his extensive knowledge of wildlife, Hawaiian history and fun trivia. But the best part were his wild personal stories :-D
We swam with turtles, fish, and saw whalers.
We were pretty much back to Lahaina when Leanna the captain got a tip to where the dolphins were spotted. She was very nice to turn around and allow us to ride right alongside the pod! Ten stars!

Went there on February of 2013, quite possibly the worst boating experience I will ever have. Don’t get me wrong, I hate giving businesses one star reviews, and this is only the second one I’ve ever written. But this experience was so awful that I couldn’t forget about writing this review.
**this is a long and kind of ranty review, for which I apologize. If you can’t read it all, scroll to bottom for tl;dr.
It all started out fine, you pay for an experience in a zodiac or an inflatable boat so you can get «up close and personal» with the whales. This is true, and this part is a wonderful time to see the whales in a way that is impossible in any other way.
It was nearing the end of calfing season and the captain and first mate were determined to find us a calf. I don’t think I had the same people that are highly praised in Unilocal reviews, instead both were female with the captain being blonde.
We were told how the whales are protected and how we must stay a certain distance away from them and that we couldn’t deliberately block the whales’ path to interact with them. This sounded great and wonderful, being nice to the whales while they are just trying to care for their calves.
After this commentary, we see a larger charter boat obviously whale watching as well. They near a mother and calf that we have found and get close to them. The captain actively shames the charter boat to us, telling us how they are harassing the mother and calf. However after a couple of moments, our captain and boat turn around to actively pursue the mother and calf and be directly in its way to make sure we have an interaction with them. It was very hypocritical and one could tell it was an uncomfortable situation in which the mother and calf were feeling threatened. The captain and first mate even admitted this themselves after the whales did not surface for many minutes because they were «just scared or skittish».
BUT, I haven’t gotten to the point of this one star review. The wind was against us going back to shore. The captain then talked as if she was doing us a favor and said that we would go through the waves as fast as possible to get us home. Instead of slowly and steadily going against the choppy waves and wind, she blasted us through the waves at top speed. I don’t know if she was having an alpha moment or something, but it was completely unnecessary and was basically just short of flipping our boat upside down. The ride was sickening, and everyone and everything was soaked to the bone. Wave after wave poured into the boat and over everyone, but she didn’t care, she plowed ahead. By the time we got to shore, not a single person was dry. This wasn’t some splash in the puddle, underwear was soaked, I was wringing water out of my hair as if I just took a shower, and leather purses were all but ruined from the salt water. Quite a few people has nice cameras, DSLRs, phones, and whatnot. There were quite a few cameras I was certain wouldn’t make it.
The crew was completely unapologetic, making it seem we should be thanking them for getting us out of the sea so quickly. It was just beyond awful, above words.
TL;DR. Why this sucked:
–Bullied mother and calf whale to have an interaction with the boat so people could take pictures and they could get a larger tip.
–Drove like insane Rambo boat drivers going back to shore. Had no respect for their passengers or property, got everyone and everything soaked.
–Self righteous attitude and acted as if doing you a big favor.
Why it was good:
–did get to see mother and calf whale.

Captian Ryan and Noni made for a great trip. We had bad weather out on Lanai, and Captian Ryan found us the best spot back on Maui with turtles and a shark!
And we spent about 45 minutes watching a pod of crazy spinner dolphins on the way to Lanai.
All in all the trip was great, and riding the Great White is a blast!

I stumbled upon Hawaii Ocean Rafting while walking through Lahiana’s wharf area after my trip to Molikini was cancelled earlier in the day due to strong winds.
Hoping to do something exciting during my stay I signed up for a snorkeling to trip to Lanai. The next day I came by bright and early at 7:30am … checked in… rented my wetsuit (highly recommended) and off we went.
During our exhilarating ride on the raft (feeling like a Navy Seal) we saw whales and a pack of spinner dolphins. The dolphins were great because they swam in a large pack (at least 50 of them) next to and under the raft. we were as close as 5 feet from them. A couple of them actually leaped out and did their spin (hence spinner dolphins).
We got to snorkel in 3 different spots off Lanai’s coast … and near sweetheart rock.
Thanks for an exciting fun filled day Jake & Captain Kim.

On our way home from the airport, I was telling my friend that I found this business in the small Frommer book on Maui and she said, «Well, they must be great because you don’t pay to get into Frommer’s!»
Indeed they are. From booking to arrival back at the dock, this was the most outstanding experience we had in Maui.
Upon arrival, we were warmly greeted by Trevor, Captain Ryan and Noni, Goddess of the Ocean. My husband and daughter were given vests to keep warm in the ocean and my husband felt much more comfortable about his snorkel experience knowing that Noni would be there to guide him. Noni instantly took my 6 year old daughter under her wing and was showing her pictures of fish we were likely to see and having her «help» her get us ready to go.
Fortunately, a group in our party was late and it ended up being the best thing that could have happened to us. First of all, we were assured that we would not be shorted on our time out but better yet, once we took off, we turned back to come a short distance to view «false killer whales» — a very special sighting off the coast of Maui. It was a unique and amazing sight.
When we left the dock, we were given excellent instructions on water safety and how to sit in the Zodiac. Back on the dock, by the way, everyone was reminded to get covered with sunblock. Some reviews had indicated that the ride in the Zodiac was pretty tough — it really isn’t too bad — I found it quite exhilarating. When it became bumpy for my daughter, she went and sat in the back with Captain Ryan.
Once we got to our first snorkel spot off of Lanai and had a quick snack of muffins, both experienced and novice snorkelers were given clear and detailed instructions on how to fit their masks and snorkels, enter the water, clear the snorkel, and reenter the Zodiac. Noni entered the water with us and made sure that all 14 (I think) of us were safe and were seeing the wildlife. We did have a short wait to get in the water because we were treated to a great show by a pod of spinner dolphins who circled around the raft and then hung around to let us photograph them above and under water! My husband is not a strong or confident swimmer yet with Noni and Captain Ryan assisting him, he truly had an amazing experience.
After an hour of snorkeling, we came back on the raft to a delicious fruit snack and plentiful sodas and waters. We were also treated to a veggie plate when we finished at the second snorkel spot.
At the second spot off of Mala, we were treated to a beautiful Hawaiian sea turtle and eagle ray!
It was quite clear that we were guided by people who LOVE their jobs! Ryan and Noni are well educated about snorkeling, ocean wildlife and treat their guests with warmth and care. They each spent time with every guest on the boat, having quiet chats or assisting a guest in need. What a special experience for my six year old who came off the boat having learned SO many new things about the ocean, its inhabitants and how we should respect it. She later described the day as «the BEST day EVER!»
We nearly had to drag my daughter away from the dock when we arrived back but after hugs from Ryan and Noni, she assured them that we would definitely be back. I can’t agree more! We fully intend to return to Maui and will definitely book another trip with Hawaii Ocean Rafting. By the way, they are listed by two names — Island Star Excursions or Hawaii Ocean Rafting. They are easy to find at Slip 8 at Lahaina Harbor.
This simply was an awesome experience.