Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and the visibility won't be as good as it is on days which are as calm as a swimming pool.
If you see surfers on the left side of the bay, use caution when entering the water and ex-
pect visibility to be reduced.
Nevertheless, even a mediocre day at Hulopo'e is better than a good day many other
places. The reef here never gets deeper than 25 feet. It's also a good idea to stay within the
bay and not venture halfway to Tahiti. Occasionally the Hawaiian spinner dolphins will
venture into this bay, although they usually hang out over the sand on the right closer to
the hotel.
Not far from Hulopo'e but equally as gorgeous is the vibrant reef at
Manele Bay.
Don't
confuse this with snorkeling in Manele Harbor, because that would be disgusting. Instead,
the reef at Manele Bay is on the opposite side of the breakwall set between the harbor and
the cliffs. Entry from shore can be tricky since you have to come off the rocks, but if you
follow the driveway of the harbor all the way to the far end, there is a little opening in the
rocks where it's possible to make a graceful entry. Schools of tropical reef fish gather in
abundance here, and the same school of spinner dolphins can sometimes hang out in this
area as well. Although Manele Bay is a good quarter mile from Hulopo'e Beach, it's still
part of the marine preserve, so the same rules apply: Don't stand on the coral, don't feed
the fish, and you're best off just not touching anything at all.
There isn't anywhere on Lana'i to rent snorkeling equipment for the day, so your best
bet is to have your own before you get on the ferry or plane. The snorkeling equipment at
Hulopo'e Beach is privately reserved for Trilogy's day guests who come over from Maui,
and the gear at the Four Seasons beach kiosk is exclusively for hotel guests.
Technically it's possible to snorkel at other island locations such as
Lopa, Kahale-
palaoa,
and
Shipwreck Beach,
but the wind and currents are usually a factor. For what
you're going to see you're better off just working on your suntan.
If you want to explore the island's remoter reefs which are only accessible by boat,
Tri-
logy Excursions
(1 Manele Harbor Dr., 808/874-5649,
www.scubalanai.com
)
provides the
best (and only) snorkel charter service operating out of Lana'i. Aboard their 51-foot sloop
rigged sailing catamaran
Trilogy III,
Trilogy offers a 3.5-hour snorkeling and sailing ex-
cursion which usually heads around the southwestern coastline of the island to the tower-
ing sea cliffs of Kaunolu. There can occasionally be other boats from Maui back here, but
more often than not this trip provides the opportunity to snorkel the waters of the historic
fishing village with only a handful of other passengers. Given that Kaunolu (also known
as Shark Fin Cove due to the dorsal fin-shaped rock in the middle of the bay) is exposed to
the deeper waters offshore, sightings of pelagic species such as spinner dolphins, bottlen-
