Kauai Na Pali snorkel tours leave Port Allen early and stop over a reef, where you snorkel with the gear in the fare. You eat breakfast and lunch on board and see the cliffs from the water, and the day runs five to six hours.
Five hours on Leila, a 50-foot sailing catamaran: breakfast on the way up the coast, a reef stop with gear, instruction and flotation, then lunch, with beer and wine once the snorkelling is over. Nobody under 5, and non-swimmers stay aboard.
From $292 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Five and a half hours from a 6:45 a.m. check-in on a 60-foot catamaran. Breakfast treats, a reef snorkel with gear, a waterslide off the back and build-your-own sandwiches, with an open bar for over-21s. Children from age 3.
From $233 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Five and a half hours from a 6:45 a.m. check-in, with a reef snorkel, a waterslide and a sandwich lunch. Children from age 3.
Check availabilityIt is a morning on a catamaran of 50 to 60 feet, not a swim from a beach. You check in at Port Allen Marina Center, eat breakfast on the way up the west coast, and see the sea cliffs, valleys and waterfalls from the water. Then the boat anchors over a reef, the crew hands out the gear and shows you how to use it, and you get in.
Lunch comes on the way back. On Holo Holo's boat the beer and wine are poured only after the snorkelling is done, and the Lucky Lady opens its bar to over-21s. Neither boat puts you ashore: DLNR allows only the permitted raft tours to take passengers onto this coast.
Holo Holo's snorkel sail runs five hours on Leila, a 50-foot sailing catamaran, with up to 41 aboard. The Lucky Lady runs five and a half hours on a 60-foot catamaran with up to 49, and adds a waterslide. Its listing says catamaran and makes no promise about the sails.
Because the whole day is planned for you, meals and all. Five things set it apart from an evening on the water.
You eat breakfast and lunch on board, so you pack nothing and look for no café afterwards. Holo Holo serves breakfast and a lunch, and the Lucky Lady brings breakfast treats, then build-your-own sandwiches, pasta salad, chips and cookies.
Masks, snorkels and instruction are in both fares, and Holo Holo adds flotation devices. It bans full-face masks, so you use the two-piece set the crew hands you. Non-swimmers may not get in on Holo Holo's boat, so they watch from the deck.
The Lucky Lady lists a waterslide at the swim stop, and Holo Holo's lower-fare listing of its morning trip describes one too. For children who have outgrown the snorkel after ten minutes, it is often the part they remember.
DLNR tells paddlers on this coast to start early in the morning, when winds and seas are calmer. A morning boat is on the water in exactly those hours, and the trade winds that shape the sea are explained month by month in our weather by month.
Holo Holo and the Lucky Lady each list restrooms and fresh-water showers, so you rinse off the salt after the reef. On a five-hour morning that matters more than it sounds.
A raft is the other way onto this water, and it does two things a catamaran cannot. Here is how they differ, from DLNR's permit list and the operators' own pages.
| Snorkel catamaran | Raft tour | |
|---|---|---|
| Boat | 50 to 60 feet, with shade, restrooms and showers | About 24 feet |
| Goes ashore | No | Yes, at the one site DLNR permits for rafts |
| Caves | Seen from outside, from the deck | The small rafts go in when the sea allows |
| Meals | Breakfast and lunch in the fare | Check the raft listing |
| Permitted operators | Holo Holo Charters, Kauai Sea Tours | Captain Andy's, Kauai Sea Tours, Na Pali Explorer |
See the snorkel sail from $292
DLNR lets the permitted raft tours take passengers ashore at Nualolo Kai, and Captain Andy's says its 24-foot rafts are small enough to reach the sea caves. If a walk ashore or a close look at a cave is the point of your day, a raft is the better booking, and the cave page explains why. If you want two meals, shade and a restroom, stay with the catamaran.
You get the boat, a captain and crew, breakfast, lunch, soft drinks and water, the snorkel gear and instruction, restrooms and showers. Beer and wine come once the snorkelling is over, and the Lucky Lady adds mai tais for over-21s.
Five hours on a 50-foot sailing catamaran from Port Allen, with breakfast, a reef stop and lunch. Beer and wine after the snorkelling, up to 41 aboard.
See this tripFares run from $233 to $292 a person, and each is the whole cost apart from tips. The Lucky Lady is the lower fare; Holo Holo's snorkel sail is the higher one.
The same Holo Holo morning is also sold at a lower fare, $274 a person, which needs 7 days' notice to cancel instead of 24 hours. That listing also puts ocean-friendly sunscreen in the fare and sails when the wind allows.
Plan on five to six hours plus the drive. The Lucky Lady checks in at 6:45 a.m., which is before sunrise from November to March, so you drive to Port Allen in the dark in winter. Holo Holo's time is on your confirmation.
Book a day or two after you land: Holo Holo asks you not to snorkel within 24 hours of a flight over five hours. Parties of ten or more need 72 hours' notice to cancel with Holo Holo. Keep a spare day at the end of your trip in case wind or swell moves your boat.
After Hurricane Lowell, Kauai Sea Tours restarted the Lucky Lady on 21 September 2026. On 28 September 2026, Holo Holo Charters said its tours were still paused while it waited for a report on the harbour ramp and finished annual maintenance. Check your operator's notice before you travel, and read the best time to sail for the months.
A snorkel tour is a long, active morning at sea. It is the wrong booking if any of these is you.
Still weighing the morning against the evening? The guide to choosing a trip sets every boat side by side.
Set the morning boats beside the sunset cruises on Kauai Sailing Tours.