Turtles, Octopus, Moray Eels, Frogfish, and more at Mala Pier, Snorkel in Hawaii

Incredible Snorkel at Mala Pier, Maui

This may be one of the best kept secrets of Maui. Just outside the bustling port village of Lahaina, there is an old concrete pier, lying at the sandy bottom after hurricane Iniki wrecked it with massive waves back in 1992. Since then it has become a magnet for marine life. Corals cover the wreckage of the old pier, giving it a bit of a shipwreck feel as you hover at the surface. Fish have come to live in the coral, and sea turtles also call the area home.

Today was one of those lucky days were the water was flat calm, the sky was sunny and blue, and the site was uncrowded. The reason this is such a great spot to know about is that you can actually get here without a boat. If you know where to swim out you can easily reach the snorkel site from the beach. I often grab my scuba tank and do shore dives here, although today was all about snorkeling with my guests. And what a snorkel it was!

Check out the description below each picture for a little story on each encounter. These were all from this morning's snorkel, spending about an hour in the water. At the end I'll tag the location on pinmapple.com so you can find this for yourself, next time you are in Maui, Hawaii.

The first snorkeler in the water was greeted with this beautiful Green Sea Turtle. They are the only native reptiles to the Hawaiian Islands and they are federally protected. They have made an incredible comeback during the last 40 years, almost from the brink of extinction in the islands.

I told this guest to dive down and I would get him a new facebook profile shot. Done and done.

Underwater wreckage is a great place to find the very rare Commerson's Frogfish. They stay very still, and look just like they are part of the reef. The guests still couldn't see him so I gave him a little tap and he moved just enough for them to see.

Frogfish come in all colors, and always look grumpy. They have a very fast reflex and are ambush predators.... luckily not for us.

A guest freediving over the wreckage.

I was just floating at the surface when this turtle swam right by me. He almost bumped me from behind. I stayed calm and so did he.

Two colorful oval butterflyfish look for little bits of food on the reef. Luckily they were too skittish, and allowed me to get in close for this pictures.

Another closeup encounter with a green sea turtle.

I wanted to get a picture of the shallow reef. It is looking very healthy here at Mala.

Wreckage of the old pier. You can just follow out the pier from the shoreline until you get to the wreckage.

I was shocked to find a Hawaiian Day Octopus ontop of the reef. They are usually so camouflaged that you never see them. This one changed colors right after this picture. Check out the next photo to see how he looked, moments later.

This is the same octopus moments later. Master of camouflage!

The other guide decided to hold the octopus to show all the guests. It was wild to see it grab onto him, climb up his shoulder, ink everywhere, and then just sit there. The guests even got to pet it!

Sam with an inking octopus.

Sam's new pet octopus.

The guests getting to pet the octopus.

The predator of the octopus was found next, a white mouthed moray eel. Look at the razor sharp teeth! I had to get pretty close for this picture. Luckily they aren't usually aggressive to divers.

We aren't finished yet. After all that we found another frogfish. This one was a beautiful red color. I just love this spot.

Finally one last frogfish picture on my way back to the boat. It was a great way to spend a morning. I hope you enjoyed coming along on the snorkel with me.

I took all these photos using a small point and shoot underwater camera called an Olympus Tough. It really is a great camera, very small, that can take some beautiful photos. And you can take it down to 50ft.

See you in Maui,
Dai Mar Tamarack
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