Pacific Whale Foundation Location?

[psyllie]

We will be on the Pride of America and have a rental car for Maui. We are interested in an afternoon excursion with the Pacific Whale Foundation--they have a choice of a trip leaving from Lahaina or from Maalaea. We pick up our car at 11 at the airport. The Lahaina sail is at 1:30 and the Maalaea at 3:00. If we do the Lahaina one, would it be enough time to get there from the airport? How close to the airport is the Maalaea location? We've never been to Maui so have no idea if one or the other place would be a better choice for us. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[PDAZ]

I believe the Pride of America docks in Kahului. If so, Maalaea is much closer than Lahaina. You could probably make the 1:30 Lahaina excursion -- the traffic was bad there last week, but we made it from Lahaina to Kahului in 90 minutes when it was stop and go. Lahaina is much nicer than Maalaea -- there's more to do in Lahaina. We had a fantastic whale watch excursion with Pacific Whale Foundation there last week. You may want to see if anyone has taken the Maalaea excursion -- not sure how good the viewing is there.

[Mongato1]

I believe the Pride of America docks in Kahului. If so, Maalaea is much closer than Lahaina. You could probably make the 1:30 Lahaina excursion -- the traffic was bad there last week, but we made it from Lahaina to Kahului in 90 minutes when it was stop and go. Lahaina is much nicer than Maalaea -- there's more to do in Lahaina. We had a fantastic whale watch excursion with Pacific Whale Foundation there last week. You may want to see if anyone has taken the Maalaea excursion -- not sure how good the viewing is there.

 

 

 

We will be in Hawaii the week of April 9th. Will the whales still be there at this late time?

[PDAZ]

We were told that they are still there into May.

[B4andAFT]

Do the PWF whale watching tours have to be booked ahead of time or can we purchase one at the pier?

[daWoods]

Do the PWF whale watching tours have to be booked ahead of time or can we purchase one at the pier?

 

If you wait until you get to the pier, you could be disappointed. They may be fully booked. Better safe than sorry.

 

About the Lahaina versus Maalea cruise, yes you probably can make it to Lahaina in time, but remember you have to find a parking space, then walk to the pier. That sometimes can take awhile.

[JENNY8589]

We just returned from the POH on Monday. Maalea is closer...I can't tell you an accurate time since we were re-routed due to an accident and had to go way out the way but coming back it was not long...20 mins. maybe.

 

We did book the Pacific Whale Foundation that same day (we had time after the race to Hana, oops, I mean Escape from Hana) but I know they do get full. As it turned out, after we drove there, they cancelled the cruise due to the rough seas. Bummer, but we did see whales throughout the trip at random times in random places. Be sure to look for them as you cruise past the NaPali coast...we saw a ton. They are still there as of Sunday.

[Oakview]

I wanted to do the Pacific Whale Foundation excursion but didn't want to bother with renting a car since it was just four gals. I was thrilled that our excursion through NCL WAS the Pacific Whale Foundation. We were just on the POH March 3-12 and saw at least 30-40 whales. It was incredible, both the whales and thed Foundation Naturalist who did commentary and the volunteers on the boat. I joined the Foundation to give my support to what they're doing.

 

We also saw whales off the Alohi Nui aft deck in Maui. As posted, we saw them as we sailed by the Na Pali coast .........a cow and calf were so close to the port side of the ship they had to cut the engines. Those two were the closest but we saw many breeching and spouting on the sail by. It was an awesme sight, a real privilege to see.

[cruising grandma]

Did anyone see any whales around Oahu??? My sister and brother in law are leaving tomorrow for Oahu...........they'll be staying in Waikiki, but will have a rental car and time for tours.

[PDAZ]

Do the PWF whale watching tours have to be booked ahead of time or can we purchase one at the pier?

 

We were in Lahaina last week and were able to purchase at the pier. I actually called from Kona to book for the next day, but they have a 24 hour cancellation policy. If we were delayed, we'd be charged anyhow! The reservation agent told me that they had lots of seats available at several departure times, so we took a chance and headed to the pier. We originally tried to get on the 1:15 trip, but they had only two seats available (I think this was the one that the ship used). We ended up on the 12:30 trip and practically had the boat to ourselves -- maybe 30 people on board. It was fabulous -- plenty of room to see the whales (and we saw many!). Highly recommend PWF!

[cbcloud]

I wanted to do the Pacific Whale Foundation excursion but didn't want to bother with renting a car since it was just four gals. I was thrilled that our excursion through NCL WAS the Pacific Whale Foundation. We were just on the POH March 3-12 and saw at least 30-40 whales. It was incredible, both the whales and thed Foundation Naturalist who did commentary and the volunteers on the boat. I joined the Foundation to give my support to what they're doing.

We did exactly the same thing on our Feb cruise...booked thru the ship, and went to Ma'alaea Bay and boarded the Pacific Whale Foundation ship "Ocean Spirit" at Molokini. Saw lots of whales (and a turtle), but were not real close. I joined the Whale Foundation also. Tax-deductible, and you get a reduced price to the aquarium, but we didn't have time to go.

 

I have a few pics of our boat from the PWF, and "Jim," the naturalist on board , who knows anything and everything about the whales. I thought it was neat when they lowered the hydrophones and cut the engines, and you could hear the whales singing...

 

To see those photos, click on the "Pictures" link at the bottom of my signature. That will take you to my POAm gallery. Then click on the "Maui" link (photo) to see the whale-watching pics...

[B4andAFT]

Many thanks for the info on the PWF tours. I'll take a chance and check when we get into Lahaina. I don't like to prebook excursions especially when tendering. You never know what can happen.