Daley Family Travels

When we were researching things to do in Maui, we came across Atlantis Submarine Tours. It sounded amazing and like a great alternative to those of us who couldn’t (or didn’t want to) go scuba diving and/or snorkeling.

According to Pride of Maui, they listed Atlantis Submarine as one their top 5 recommendations for things to do with kids on Maui. They mention that the submarine goes 100 feet under the water and even takes the tours past a replicated sunken 19th century supply vessel. It’s also air conditioned and great for when you need a little break from the heat.

The morning of our tour, we stopped by Atlantis’ storefront 30 minutes early in Lahaina to pick up our tickets. The lady working was so nice and gave all of the kids each a postcard with the submarine on it.

From there, we walked a short distance to slip 18 where we waited for a boat to pick us up and take us out to where the submarine was. Everyone was super excited and again, we were met with excellent service (the kids all got stickers before boarding the boat) and each group had their picture taken as an optional photo to buy at the end of the tour.

That view!

The boat ride itself was great and we were treated to beautiful views of Maui as we left the harbor.

Once we got to where the submarine was, we were treated with seeing the sub actually rise out of the water! None of us had ever seen anything like this before, so it was pretty neat. We transferred a few at a time over onto the submarine (young children could either be koala-carried down the ladder or climb down themselves with an adult’s arms around them).

My littlest coming down the ladder with her Uncle

Our guide was great!

The submarine itself was very comfortable and was indeed air conditioned (by the end, it actually got a bit chilly and our oldest was a little cold). Everyone had a great view out their windows and we were on our way!

Shark!

Eagle Ray!

Eel!

Our guide would tell us about the different fish and sea animals and which side of the submarine they were on. I really appreciated how they would swing around and make sure that both sides got to see everything. It was a really fun atmosphere (incredibly family-friendly) and our kids and their cousins (and all of us adults) really enjoyed themselves while looking for sea life.

Some of the highlights from what we saw included a Whitetip Reef Shark (Adeline’s favorite), a Spotted Eagle Ray (my favorite), and Spongebob (or the “Silly Cheese Guy” as London calls him since she’s never seen the cartoon before- ha ha! See if you can spot him on your own tour 😉 ).

Some of the sea life we looked for

Oue niece meeting the captain

We went 128 ft underwater!

The tour lasted about 1.5 hours and we went past a reef, the sunken vessel, and then went even deeper into the ocean to check out one last reef before returning to the surface.

From there, we got back on the boat that would take us back to shore (after watching the submarine descend back into the water). We finished up right around lunchtime, so we grabbed lunch over at Cheeseburger in Paradise before heading back to our hotel for the afternoon.

We absolutely loved our tour and I would very much recommend it to other families when visiting Maui. It was definitely a highlight of our time in Maui and the girls still talk about it even now that we’re back home. You can purchase tickets online here. One thing to keep in mind though, children must be at least 36 inches tall to ride the submarine (we were seriously measuring Adeline up to the morning we flew out to Maui- 36” exactly!). Have you ridden in a submarine before? How did you like it?

Thank you to Atlantis Submarine Tour for sponsoring this post.