Snorkeling Under Rainbows with Sea Turtles in Maui, Hawaii

Snorkeling under the rainbow off the coast of Maui. So that is why they call this the 'Rainbow Isle!'

Today I wanted to take our guests on a stellar snorkel with sea turtles, here in Maui. We traveled up the west coast, past Lahaina, to a spot called Mala Pier. Here, a hurricane in 1992 wrecked the old concrete pier, and subsequently turned it into a wonderful snorkel destination. Coral eventually attached to the submerged wreckage, fish came to live amongst the coral, and green sea turtles now call it home as well. I've seen as many as 20 turtles here before.

The snorkel couldn't have started any better. We had the site all to ourselves, the visibility of the water was incredible clear, and a rainbow stretched all the way across our snorkel boats. The photos above and below the water were great. Turtles were the star of the show, as usual here. But, I also saw and photographed two rarer creatures; a broad stingray, and a Commerson's frogfish. Check them out in the photos below. In over ten years of snorkeling and diving here in Hawaii, I've only seen broad stingrays a handful of times.

It seemed like a very short amount of time before I looked up and saw that my snorkel boat was almost completely filled with our returning guests. I looked around, and sure enough I was the last one. I probably could have stayed in the water all day today. If you are ever here on Maui island, you can easily snorkel out from shore to this site, you don't have to come by boat. Come and see all these turtles for yourself! But in the meantime, enjoy the photos!

The first thing I saw when I jumped in to our snorkel was a broad stingray swimming below me. This is a very rare sight out here in Maui.

The fish were plentiful today at our snorkel sight. Here is a school of a thousand yellow fin goatfish.

A green sea turtle hovering over the coral covered wreckage of the old Mala pier.

A sea turtle hovers mid water as some of our group looks on from above. To get this shot I swam down below the turtle until I could angle the camera up at the snorkelers.

I'm not sure if this turtle knew I was above it. It was drifting up higher right at me.

This is the same turtle, coming right towards me.

Two sea turtles hovering at the cleaning station.

Face to face with a green sea turtle.

This is my colleague, Sam, who is posing perfectly for this turtle shot.

Turtle diving down with snorkelers behind.

Tichelle was our kayak lifeguard today, and got the perfect rainbow photo for her efforts!

A big male sea turtle swims over the wreckage of the old Mala pier. Notice the long tail, extending out past the hind flippers, that is how you tell its an adult male sea turtle.

Sometimes I tell people that are a little nervous about snorkeling, "all you have to do is float." Take a look at where floating got this guy!

This photo looks like the guests is going to try and hold the sea turtle, but in reality she was trying to very gently swim backwards.

Snorkeling here at the Mala Pier wasn't just turtles, we had tons of fish as well. Here, three kinds of butterflyfish swim near the coral.

Two Oval Butterflyfish

I love how these red slate pencil urchins bring such a splash of brilliant red color to the reef.

I didn't have to look long before I found one of my favorite, camouflaging fish, a Commersons frogfish. These are some of the coolest fish on the reef, but to the normal snorkeler, they look just like a piece of coral, perfectly camouflaging into the reef.

Side view of the seldom seen, Commersons frogfish.

As always, keep traveling and keep posting, taking us all along for the ride!

• Dai Mar