Makena Turtle Town Eco Adventure in Maui

What can I say John was Awesome. He took our family on an adventure you can never forget. He was safety oriented, friendly, super knowledgeable about the local area. Kayaking next to a mama and baby whale, snorkeling with turtles incredible my family will do it again next year for sure. Also recommend going with the photos tell him when you launch and he will take plenty of high quality reasonably priced pictures of your family.

John is an amazing tour guide! He was so kind and patient with all of us. He explained the entire process and took us on one of the greatest adventures of our lives. We thought we signed up for a kayak ride and snorkeling, instead we saw whales less than 10 feet from our kayak, swam with turtles, made friends and have memories to last a lifetime. Take this tour, you will not regret it!

John was amazing We enjoyed every minute! We kayaked next to whales and saw a few green sea turtles.

Swimming with Sea Turtles was the highlight but all was enjoyable. John did an excellent job on Whale watching leadership and lots of good commentary through out the experience.

Highly recommended! My group was lead by John S. who took us to two spots to snorkel and really took his time explaining things and answering questions. He was very informative and supportive throughout the tour and we were able to see so many sea turtles! The spots he took us to were great for snorkeling and we had beautiful views of the coral reefs/wildlife (including an octopus). I went on another snorkeling excursion on a boat the next day and saw 0 turtles in a spot that wasn’t great for snorkeling. I loved kayaking and snorkeling in a small group and would recommend this excursion to anyone who is feeling more adventurous.

John was a great instructor and tour guide. We got to see a whale, a few dolphins and turtles during our trip

John S was our guide, and he was fantastic. He was concise yet thorough in his pre-trip briefing (here’s how to get in the boat, here’s how we’ll get you off the shore and out into the water, here’s how to get back on the boat after you’ve snorkeled, etc). He kept our group (our pod :-) safe, and provided lots of info and insight about our location. He’s lived on Maui for over 10 years, so has experience to back up the info / knowledge of the area. My wife and I have paddled sea kayaks in Alaska and Hawaii, and i’ve been a white-water kayaker for many years, so we have some experience from which to base our opinion that our guide for this trip, John S, was exceptional. Our trip was the first one after several days of cancelled trips due to weather (wind and large waves make the ocean near shore murky and not good for snorkeling), and John was very open and transparent that the snorkeling conditions perhaps would not be good. The only way to find out for sure would be to go and see. When we got to our first snorkeling spot, our fears were confirmed, the water was not clear due to weather. At that point, I was disappointed, but thought, “hey, let’s see how this goes. We’re paddling kayaks on Maui. Life is still good!” Since snorkeling was not good, we switched gears and focused on looking for sea creatures. We found Hawaiian green turtles and watched them. John suggested that we paddle a little further out from shore to see what we might find. While doing so, John heard other tour boats (big boats) on the local radio frequency talking about seeing spinner dolphins (he carries a radio to stay in touch). John accurately assessed the situation, and he directed us to paddle in a specific direction to intercept the dolphin pod. The result: for 20-30 minutes we paddled with a dolphin pod! They would surface and swim alongside us, sometimes they’d jump out of the water and spin, 10-15 feet away! It was awesome! The dolphins would check out the different kayaks in our group, and it really seemed like they swam close to each and every kayak! We also saw a few whales, which was cool, but 1) it was early to be seeing LOTS of whales, and 2) they were further offshore than we wanted to paddle. But, we saw them breaching and blowing and smacking the water with their tails, from maybe 1/4 to 1/2 mile away. A good guide has a plan and follows it. A great guide has a plan, but is adept at adapting it to what’s happening here and now. John S. was great. When conditions weren’t great for snorkeling we changed gears, and when opportunities to see really cool stuff arose, John knew how to make that happen. Plus, he was very knowledgeable about local eateries and beaches, where to go for what food and what kind of beach you wanted to experience etc. My wife and I would definitely book a trip with John S again! Thanks for making our sea kayaking trip exceptionally cool!

This tour was great! Definitely best experience in Maui. We got to see 3 whales while we were kayaking. They went around us and even did a few jumps. Snorkeling in the reefs was very good too. We got to see a few turtles and swim around them. The tour guide was very informative and kept us entertained as well.

John, our guide, is very responsible, professional and fun. We loved kayaking and whale watching experience. My husband and I are near sighted. I think the experience would be even better if there had been corrected lens snorkel gear available. Maybe during reservation, there can be a question about this, so you can prepare ahead. I am sure there will be many customers who are near sighted, so purchases for the gear will be utilized many times in the future. We went with another group for snorkeling. They did provide corrected lens snorkel gear. We were able to see much better.

John was an awesome guide. Was friendly and outgoing! Worked hard to make sure everyone had a good time.