Mauna Lani Sea Adventures is located at the Boat House in the Mauna Lani Resort. They offer diving lessons/certifications and diving, as well as a variety of activities on their lovely, large sailing catamaran, the Winona. The boat was built by its owner, who has deep ties to the area, and is named after Winona Love, a long-time companion of the former owner of the Mauna Lani land, the famous Francis I'i Brown. The boat has ample shade for the sun-weary, as well as plenty of room on deck and forward to sun and see the Kohala coast and its watery denizens.
The Winona offers whale watches in season, sunset sails, and snorkel sails. The captains and crew are mostly long-timers with the company and know the best places to go for whale sightings, and for clear snorkeling conditions in any season. Many of the snorkel trips are to prime spots along the extensive Puako Reef, which is difficult shore snorkeling at best (hard to get outside the reef from shore except at each end). Even in winter, the boat gets to outside spots that offer lava tube formations, coral heads, coral-covered lava fingers, and teeming fish. Octopus and rays are sometimes seen; turtles are commonly seen; whales abound in season. Because the boat does not advertise much, trips are seldom crowded and the crew gives plenty of personalized attention to guests, especially children and novices. The crew likes to sail and snorkel trips will sail back, wind permitting. In whale season, the quiet sailing on snorkel trips seems to work well in that the boat usually finds many whales--or the whales find the Winona!
Of course, that whale watches offer prime viewing. Are there whales in Kohala? Indeed yes. If you have doubts. the Jupiter Foundation offers live streaming sound of the whales singing off the Puako coastline. See http://www.jupiterfoundation.org/new_....
The sunset sails also sight whales in season. They offer light pupus and an open bar with beer, wine, and tropical libations. The boat stays out until the sun goes down, then comes in to land passengers while it is still light.
http://www.hawaiiseaadventures.com/
Mauna Lani Sea Adventures, Inc.
68-1400 Mauna Lani Drive
Kohala Coast, Hawaii 96743
Phone: 808-885-7883