Blue Water Rafting — Attraction in Maui

DO NOT USE THIS PROVIDER!! Serious safety issues!!

We booked a trip with Blue Water Rafting in April 2025 but were emailed to say that our 90minute Whale Watching tour had been cancelled and were offered a 5.5hour snorkel and sea cave adventure as a "free upgrade". I explained that we had 3 young children (12,10,8) and checked that they would be provided with life jackets before agreeing to the new trip and we were emailed by a Brooklyn who confirmed that the life jackets would be supplied and that the trip was suitable for our young children.

Well. Wow. This trip is not remotely suitable for young children and this tour provider is not safe. Firstly, Blue Water Rafting do not have an office or any actual address - they just meet you in an empty car park by the toilets (as there are no toilets on their boat) before setting off from the ramp at the end of this public car park. Everyone who was booked on the tour was asked to sit on the inflated sides of the boat and cling on to the low ropes to stay on board without any life jackets on or any safety floatation devices at all. This is not appropriate for young children. They do say somewhere withing their terms that every child under 12 needs to be accompanied by an adult - presumably so that you can hang on to them whilst the boat speeds over 10ft to 30ft waves crashing up and down. The captain confirmed that the waves get as high as 30ft on this trip. They were only around 6-10feet during our part of the trip. This trip is not safe at all. Our children were struggling to hang on so the Captain moved them to sit on top of the dry hatch near the front of the boat, but the downside to the front of the boat is that it is most impacted by the force of the waves and they were being thrown up and down repeatedly and crying for 25mins non-stop.

Because of this we asked the captain to return us to shore and he told us we shouldnt have been "upgraded" to this trip and said would get a refund. But we called and emailed repeatedly asking for a refund and have just been completely ignored by Blue Water Rafting. This alone will tell you what kind of company they are. This trip could be suitable for young thrill seekers - but even then - you could book with a company who values customer service and safety over these cowboys. Do you really want to book a tour with a company who has no office address and doesnt respond to any customer service calls or emails?

There are other providers who leave from the same address who all have newer boats with more seats and appear a lot more professional. There was one called REDLINE for example. If you want to book a trip out of Kihei I would strongly advise you to book with them or one of the other competitors. Or book with a provider going out of a different area. But do NOT risk booking with these guys. Not honest. And not safe. And no customer service. Dishonest unsafe company - Avoid at all costs! You life could literally...

Great experience with Mikey and Austin! We're really glad we did this tour and with this company. They're one of the smaller and less expensive companies, so we thought we would take a bit of hit in terms of quality, but we were more than impressed with the quality and our overall experience.

Mikey and Austin deserve applause for how great they were. They are both very knowledgeable so the narration during our experience was super informative and interesting. We felt safe with them and they clearly knew what they were doing. Mikey (captain) was excellent at navigating the waters; I noticed that he would make small adjustments to the the way he navigated to make the ride as pleasant as possible. Despite being on a raft, the ride was super smooth. He also was so astute that as soon as he caught site of a group of dolphins (which everyone else missed), he slowed down and the dolphins swam next to us for a bit which was a cherry on top. Extra points to them both for having their boat out on the water and ready to go such that we were the first ones out there (= better snorkeling experience), while all the other companies were still getting their boats out onto the water.

We were nervous about doing a raft rather than a boat, but the ride was wonderful and it felt like the boat was gliding on the water. In retrospect, I'm glad we did a raft rather than a boat because the boats have huge groups of people and as soon as they all start snorkeling the marine life gets scared away. We basically left Molokini as soon as the boats arrived because of that reason, so let that serve as an example.

We had a bit of sea sickness (from the snorkeling since it was as soon as we got back on the boat after Molokini; not from the boat ride) and both Mikey and Austin were super sensitive, considerate, and patient toward us. They checked on us numerous times and it quickly passed, so we were able to enjoy the second snorkeling stop and rest of the trip.

They also provided delicious sandwiches, cookies, and fresh fruit which made our experience that much better.

Blue Water Rafting is one of the few companies that offers a shorter tour, which is great for those who don't want to give up as much of their day. This option was also very economical and BWR was certainly among the fairest prices across all the companies. We did the 3hr (2-stop) tour and we felt we got a very comprehensive snorkeling experience.

We compared 10+ companies and BWR was among the top 3 rates we could find and with all of the above, the quality of their service exceeded our...

Had a fantastic time on the 2hr Moloniki Crater trip! Quick and fairly smooth trip out to the Molokini Crater at 1130am, only 2 other boats there but we started from the other end and shortly we were the only group there. Weather conditions were apparently not good enough to go to the back wall so instead we spent an hour snorkelling along the entire inside of the crater. Visibility was amazing, crystal clear for 150ft. Fish must be very used to humans as they swam up to you and got within arms reach (but don't touch them). Wish I had an underwater camera! I was very disappointed with some of the people in our group as despite signing a document stating you would not touch anything AND being told twice by the crew member & captain, a group "got tired" and stood on the coral, and one absolute moron picked up a shelled creature from within a coral bed and proceeded to bring it out of the water and show people before setting it down no where near where he found it. I cannot believe the ignorance and arrogance that people don't respect the environment, or think that rules don't apply to them! Anyway, our group had 13 people and apparently the boat has a maximum capacity of around 24, but that would not have been comfortable at all. The staff also scorch gratuities (which being Australian I'm not used to and we didn't bring any cash with us because we were going on a boat??) which begs the question where our $60each went if not to the only 2 staff members... They have a few types of fruit drinks in cans and water on board as well as snorkels and fins which they fit you with before you head off. The timing of this trip is perfect as you get to spend maximum time in the crater snorkelling without other groups, and most other tours you only get to stay in one small area. After around 2pm everyday the wind really picks up and would be horrible for snorkelling and boat trips. Would highly recommend this trip, bring a waterproof camera, or google the fish photos later and say you took them, it's clear enough...