Olowalu Beach

Great local beach with snorkeling. Make sure you have a dry bag to bring your keys and wallet into the water with you. Don't leave them on the beach--I learned the hard way.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Olowalu Beach – One of Maui’s Best Natural Snorkeling Spots Olowalu Beach is a beautiful, laid-back beach on the west side of Maui and a fantastic place to snorkel and relax. The shoreline is long and peaceful, with a natural feel that’s very different from the resort beaches nearby. The snorkeling here is excellent, especially in the morning when the water is calm and clear. The reef is large and healthy, with plenty of colorful fish, coral formations, and frequent sightings of Hawaiian green sea turtles. The water near shore is shallow, making it good for beginners, while swimming farther out rewards you with even more marine life. This is not a developed beach park, so there are no restrooms, showers, or lifeguards. Parking is along the roadside or in sandy areas, so be careful where you stop. Bringing your own water, snacks, and shade is recommended. Olowalu Beach is perfect for travelers who enjoy nature, snorkeling, and a quiet atmosphere. If you’re looking for a peaceful beach with amazing underwater views and fewer crowds, this spot is definitely worth visiting.

If you are a snorkeler, diver or lover of marine life this is an amazing reef. Giant healthy corals, tons of fish. Water was calm even 1000 yards out. Follow the sand channels out and further is better. Water will get like 20-40 feet deep but visibility was fantastic. Pretty much every large marine creature you can find in Hawaii you can find here and I did in just a day. Don't park in the loose sand. Around 730-830 am there was no one but it did start to have more people arrive.

Great snorkeling in the mid morning. Easy parking. Shortly after we found a little place to set our chairs up, a seal came up on the beach. We then moved further down to give him space. Pretty cool

Nice protected Cove where you can easily get into snorkel. It was low tide when I was there, so many of the corals were close to the surface. Be careful not to touch them and watch out for sea urchins on the bottom. There is a rocky Beach but also a sand covered entryway where you can walk into the water easily. If you're more experienced and swimming and snorkeling. This is a good place for a beginner. We went there and there were very few people there so this was not a crowded place to be. Parking was free, and there are porta potties to use if you need to use the restroom. There's a historic site there of an Old Sugar Factory as you enter the beach.

Narrow stretch of beach. No designated parking but plenty available just along the road, so you can park right in front of your beach spot for a much shorter gear haul than at many beaches. A fair number of trees for shade. We went for the snorkeling but were disappointed. Very easy entry because of stretches of sand between the rocks and coral. The visibility was good but just not many fish. We tried several stretches but maybe we just didn't find the right place? No sand showers or porta-potties--I guess they'd rather have people peeing in the ocean.

We’re afraid to get out of our car… the sign clearly says security cameras & no overnight parking, however, this car looks like it’s been here for a while.

Lovely low tide beach with beginner friendly snorkeling. It was our favorite beach in Maui!

Olowalu Beach was our first snorkeling destination after renting from Snorkel Bob's. It's perfect for kids and snorkeling beginners, like me! Just a warning, if you plan to stay here for hours or are having drinks on the beach, there are no facilities, so with that said, pop a squat by your car or somewhere discreet (do not urinate in the ocean please) and get on your merry way! It was an amazing spot, lots of trees for partial shade and definately a spot to enjoy the water and snorkeling. You literally can go far out and the tide is perfect for kids.

I've passed by this beach constantly all my life, but don't actually remember ever stepping foot or swimming here. All that changed when we stopped by last week on Mother's Day on our way home from Lahaina. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to go again this weekend. Beach twice in a span of a week? Who am I? Haha. Quarantine got us doing all kinds of weird things. Anyway, beaches officially opened back up again on May 16th for activities other than exercising and it seemed like everybody and their mama was out getting their vitamin sea! Despite all the action, we managed to find the perfect spot to settle into. We stayed way more than 6 feet away from others, but still close enough to enjoy the uncle next to us jamming them good Hawaiian songs. Felt like we were on vacation! Lol. It's not your typical bright, white sand beach. The sand is darker, but it's beautiful nonetheless. There's just something about the waves gently meeting the embrace of the trees. Very relaxing. What drew us here was the shallow, calm waters, and the shade provided by the trees. It's perfect for the little ones to swim and also play. Do note though that the beach is lined with Keawe trees. Their branches have very sharp spines and can puncture feet and even tires. Some of the branches are low hanging and can hurt you if you're not paying attention. All in all though it's a great beach! It's popular for snorkeling and during low tide, the reef is easily clearly visible from shore. I guess I just never bothered to stop by because it was always packed with tourists. With quarantine and "safer at home" orders in place, it was amazing with less cars and less people. We'll enjoy the calm it while it lasts!

Driven by here numerous times over the years. Never stopped. Some local friends suggested this beach today due to it being a busy holiday weekend and trying to avoid the touristy spots. It was mostly locals which is a huge plus. Mellow, calm water spot. Not a lot of beach front but lots of shade. We did snorkel. Be careful, lots of coral to navigate in shallow water. Pack out your garbage. I didn't even see a garbage can.

We went out kayaking on our tandem from the beach more towards the Camp Olowalu end on a full tide so we could glide over the coral without touching it. Just over a 1/4 mile out we anchored the kayak and jumped in to snorkel amongst the coral heads full of local wildlife and marvel at the beauty of nature. (The beach is very shallow but once you get further out there is a good reef). Such a wide variety of fish to be seen and we bumped into 2 Honu grazing on the rocks as well. There was another party out there, 4 kayaks tied together, which I suspect was a tour guide with tourists from Camp Olowalu and they seemed to be enjoying the snorkeling as much as we were with excited shouts and laughing. We had about an hours snorkel and were heading back to the kayak when we spied a 6 foot reef shark, which I must admit made me swim a tad faster! Reef sharks usually leave you alone but when they are bigger than your 5ft 6 it does make you wonder...lol! It disappeared, probably more scared of me than I was of it, but it gave us an exciting end to our snorkel that day. We often take the tandem off Olowalu landing about a mile out to whale watch during winter and always wonder at the majesty of these beautiful animals. Putting the GoPro into the water to record their singing makes it memorable. So if you like snorkeling I would definitely recommend getting out past the shallows and onto the reef at Olowalu, either in your own kayak or SUP or go hire one at Camp Olowalu or take their tour. PS make sure you have 4 wheel drive for beach parking or stay on the tarmac as it is sandy and not as compact as you think. We have helped so many stranded tourists in rental cars here!

Sandy easily accessible beach for snorkeling . The further out from the beach you swim the better. Lots of turtles! Seems to be a lot calmer than other areas on the island during the winter

It's a great beach for snorkeling, spearfishing, and paddle boarding and it's just off highway 30 only a few miles south of Lahaina, on the west side of Maui. Check out The Traveling Together Journal on YouTube for our video of our beach day, snorkeling, and paddle boarding.

Was pleasantly surprised Been to Maui a bunch of times and I do a LOT of snorkeling. But I never actually tried this spot. My Blue Book pooh-poohed it and my snorkel book wasn't super enthused. And it has no showers or toilets. But I was in Maui back in January, and we decided to give this place a shot because we were having bad luck with rougher ocean. Which made for tough entries and bad visibility generally in a lot of our usual places. But when we tried this place, we were set and we didn't even think about another spot for the rest of our trip. What I liked: - Best visibility of any "shore snorkel" spot I've been to on Maui. - Very easy entry, sandy beach, nearly flat in the morning (and there were plenty of rough waves in other spots on this trip). - Lots of turtles. We saw at least 5 different turtles on our first trip in. Second trip we saw even more. - It's HUGE. You could come here every day for a week and see different areas each time. Not to like: - No showers, no bathrooms (not even a portable). - Can be tough to park and to get back on the road going north. - The shallower areas have a lot of dead coral and not a lot of clearance to swim over it, so you need to be decent at navigating and you need to go out fairly far to see a lot of fish and coral. - Not a super large amount of fish/coral. Probably less than compared to the dumps for example. My recommendation for entry / exit is right at the actual mile marker 14 spot. Though you can park along a wide area if it's crowded.

Pros - Very few ppl/not crowded. Easy access (just off mile marker 14). Blue channel of coral you can follow for snorkeling. Cons - not too many fish to see

Perfect for novice snorkelers like us looking for something accessible from shore with calm waters and warm temperatures. This is a hidden gem we would definitely return to on future visits. It's a Long Beach with some shade, but no toilets.

We took the exit by mile marker 14. There's about five or six parking spots right there. Be careful as it can get pretty deep in the sand so it may be hard to get your car out. There is a really small beach here. Not very far crowded at all during the week. There is a huge coral reef right out from the beach about 50 yards! It is pretty amazing the amount and different types of coral you will see. Lots of different coral and a good amount of fish but not tons of fish. If you are looking for tons of fish in one small area this is not he place for you. You will different fish here and there as you meander through the amazing coral reef but you will not see any large schools of fish ! You could snorkel for an hour or two and not get bored! The water is pretty calm here on most days. If the water is not very calm then the water will be cherned up and visibility will be limited and on these days it is probably not worth going out. There is a very gradual shallow entry out to the coral but thee are rocks and coral near the beach so be careful as you can get cut! Note - there are no bathrooms.

Great spot to practice snorkeling if it's your first time or if you haven't snorkeled in a while. The water is fairly calm which also lends itself to less disturbance under water which means you get to see more of what's under the water. The water can get pretty shallow so I would be careful about swimming too near the corals as the corals can be sharp. We saw a variety of fishes here and some turtles as well. There's no parking here and no amenities. It's pretty much like stopping by the side and going in the water. The sand can get pretty soft so beware if you are

Best snorkeling place! Perfect for the kids. Water not too deep, calm waves, fish by shore due to beautiful coral.

Off mile marker 14 on hwy 30 this beach is great for snorkeling and general family beach fun. The waves are very gentle and the ocean floor is very shallow so your kids can walk out a good 25 ft from shore. The place is a maze or coral so snorkeling is perfect. Best thing is it's a beach off the hwy and not overcrowded as the more popular resort beaches. Don't miss it especially if you like to snorkel.

Beautiful little off the road beach, lots of surfers and families there BBQing.

This beach was recommended to us by a waitress who lives in the area. Lots of people but fine. We loved it here! Very calm water compared to most beaches and visibility was impressive. You can go way out, no sudden dip into deep water. We had a blast here and got to snorkel a bit. We couldn't get the kids out of the water! You do hear the road traffic though, no crashing waves here. Lots of reef and some sharp bottom shelly reef so watch out! It was only after a two hour swim with the kiddos, that we realized there was a shark posting sign up right in front of our car that we hadn't noticed...mama mia!!! Oh well, It was fun anyway!

came here with wife and another couple it was a great place the snorkling is great. lots of coral and fish. some real neat spots out here while snokleing. the best part is that if you drive there and walk into the water it is free. or you can pay a snokel boat to take you here..i would recomend going with people who are able and willing to swim for 45 mints to 1 hour at a time. this is a huge spot and you will not want to go back in after 15 mints if you love snokeling

Good snorkeling spot since the coral is close and abundant. Not crowded. Lots of fish and I saw a turtle. However, being so close to the highway is a big turn off and the wind really whips this beach stretch so windy days are bad with the flying sand.

Good beach for snorkeling, but only on a clear day. The wind can pick up pretty quickly and change the underwater visibility. I saw some fish and pretty cool rock and coral formations when snorkeling. Some people with us saw a turtle, so that's pretty cool. Wear water shoes if you plan on walking out into the water past a few feet.- there are lots of pointy rocks.

By far the best snorkeling ive ever done! Lots of turtles and beautiful coral heads for miles. Get there in the am as there is limited parking off the side of the road. Look carefully because this spot is really easy to miss if you're not looking for it!

Dont go on the 1st of the month. We went here on a crappy weather day the begining of December upon recommendation of the snorkel rental shop. Mile marker 14. We parked and no one was in the water. Made me really nervous as there was a shark attack (bit the fin of a snorkeler earlier this year). The water was murky and wind and rain made it hardly pleasant. Eventually a few others came and a spear fisher and other snorkelers got in. We decided to give it a try and went out. I was nervous as hell and thought the water was fairly clear but eerie. My husband went out further over a drop off and saw a turtle. Right as he started taking pictures the Tsunami warning went off. We had no idea what it was and thought it was a shark warning. He swam like hell to get back and nearly crapped his pants in the process. Found out later that they test the siren the 1st of each month. Scared the royal shit out of us! We didn't get back in and left even after we found out it was just a test siren.

We went kayaking and snorkeling at Olowalu Beach. We liked that the water was pretty calm since it was my wife's first time kayaking. When we got out further we got off our kayaks to snorkel, but there weren't many fish. We were told there would be sea turtle sightings, but we only saw one on the surface and didn't see any under the water. I think this is a great spot to kayak, but in terms of snorkeling, you can probably find a place with more plentiful fish and sea turtles.