Tropical Guides & Outfitters — Local services in Hawaii

All I can say is…wow! This was one of the best tours I’ve ever gotten.

Summary: This tour is highly recommended and me and my wife enjoyed every minute of it. It is definitely one of the top must dos on Maui! I will break it down in categories.

Ease of access: We met very close to our hotel and it was easy to get there by car. Chris sent good instructions ahead of time so getting there was easy.

Learning: I thought I knew how to kayak before but I definitely learned a lot of new tricks about ocean kayaking! My wife and I also learned a lot about the surrounding islands and Hawaiian language. It was very cool and fun! Side note, I would not let any ocean phobias or lack of experience keep you from doing this your. My wife and I have never been ocean kayaking or at least I haven’t and it was a very noob friendly experience. Kayakers of all levels should do this!

Tour guide: i Hope i get the name right and if I don’t then I’ll tell you it was the owner of the Company. Chris was a fantastic tour guide. His calm demeanor and overall friendly/chill attitude made the experience extra special. He is very patient and informative. He definitely has a lot of experience doing this guys trust me! I have a fear of the ocean and it was definitely in the back of my mind going into this. However, as we starting kayaking and as we started talking to Chris I completely forgot that fear. He was a real joy to be around. 6/5 stars!!!

Expectations: I was expecting to see turtles and it more than delivered. Like woah! You see a lot of beautiful aquatic life not just the turtles. You’ll see turtles alright and then some. You will also be able to enjoy the beautiful calm waters of Maui and get a wonderful view of the island from the ocean. It was incredible.

Equipment: all of the snorkeling and kayaking equipment is provided. It worked wonderfully!

Timing: I was very satisfied with the amount of time we spent out there. Chris does a good job keeping an eye on the time and there’s good pacing on the trip. I came back satisfied with the amount of time we spent.

Photos: Photos are included in this package. As I look through them I am very happy with the photos our tour guide Chris took. They are of incredible quality. I also got to take some good photos with my go pro! I have attached a few. I got lucky enough to have a turtle swim close enough to me to where I was able to take a few close up shots! The other shots are just a few of the beautiful shots taken by...

BOOK THEM! Nature did its thing and ultimately our original date was not good for kayaking and snorkeling. Our guide, Xavier, was super gracious about informing us of the risks and took the time to reschedule our tour and accommodate our schedule! I am so grateful for their flexibility and even more thankful that we were able to go.

This is easily my favorite snorkeling tour that I’ve ever done. I’ve snorkeled in El Nido, Coron, and Bantayan in the Philippines, and this experience tops them all. I really appreciated Xavier giving us a quick rundown on safety, kayaking, snorkeling, and fish! Usually when I’m snorkeling I’m wondering what fishes I’m even looking at, but Xavier had a cheat sheet of sorts before we kayaked out so I could make sense of it all!

Xavier was phenomenal. He is a local and absolutely knows the Oluwalu reef very, very well. He guided us through the reefs in a loop and there were hundreds of fish, a solid handful of turtles, and beauuuuutiful reef structures. I also loved the knowledge Xavier provided about the wildlife and Hawaiian culture!

I did this tour with my husband on our honeymoon and not only did we get an intimate tour (just us two), we also got spectacular pictures within hours of completing the tour! I have zero complaints and only great things to say about this tour and Xavier. If you’re...

We were treated to an unforgettable and moving interaction with these gentle giants that I've never before experienced. The pics just can't convey how close they really came to us. When you're quite literally eye to eye with these amazing creatures it's at the same time incredibly exciting and humbling. Throughout the 3 hour paddle we floated alongside several mom & baby pairs that approached us, observing their interaction with each other...and us. (They didn't appear bothered by our presence in the least!) The babies were always curious and sought us out -- some moms seemed more comfortable and hovered nearby keeping an eye on their "little" ones and some moms abruptly inserted themselves in between to warn off the babies. Another first for me: When two males were very close to us their songs were so resonant we could actually hear them above the water! Then as we were paddling back to shore our last visiting Mom & baby passed right beneath our kayaks! They were clearly visible for some time and just hovered beneath us. One of my fellow paddlers had a go pro filming and I'm keeping fingers crossed she caught them on video and I get to see it. But even if not I have those incredible images in my mind and emotions in my heart and am...