Snorkeling at Lanai and Molokini

A week has flown by and Christmas is coming up soon! Yesterday my dad, Gabe, Isabel and I went on a snorkeling cruise to Lanai and Molokini, two of Maui's neighboring islands. We woke up super early so we could drive over to the place where the boat was docked. After checking in we went to find a spot on the boat, most of the places on the upper deck were full but we sat on the side. The ride over to Molokini was about 45 minutes to an hour, and when we got there it was a very beautiful sight. It is illegal to go on the island because it is a bird sanctuary, but the snorkeling surrounding it was unbelievable. Molokini actually came from Maui, it was a result of a volcanic eruption years and years ago. The water was crystal clear so we could see all the way to the sea floor from the boat. There were three ways to get in the water, one was to jump, another to slide, and the last to go down the steps off the boat. Gabe and I jumped off and immediately went to snorkel, Belle and dad inched their way in to the water. I was excepting it to be freezing because everyone else had wet suits on, but it was surprisingly warm! At Molokini there was not an extremely large number of fish because there were a lot of boats there bringing snorkelers who scared them away. We did however see some gorgeous coral reefs with yellow tang, rainbow fish, and parrot fish. After an hour of snorkeling we got back on the boat to begin our trip to Lanai. The boat ride to Lanai seemed extremely long, although I was told it was only about an hour. On our way there, we got an amazing sighting of the spinner dolphins! They were flipping around and swimming right beside the boat, we were told that it was not often this occurred. The staff said that these particular dolphins were only sighted about once a month from the boat. About 30 minutes later we arrived at Lanai for another hour of snorkeling! When we first arrived we were the only boat in the small snorkeling cove, it was great because there were a lot more fish there. It was so beautiful! We saw so many colorful fish, and many fish swimming in large groups. I definitely liked snorkeling at Lanai more than Molokini because of the large amount of fish and the slightly smaller waves. The boat ride back was extremely windy but we got to see more dolphins, whales, and even turtles! It was a tiring day but an incredible experience and so much fun! <3