Travel Blog #172 - Maui Submarine Ride with Atlantis Submarines
Atlantis Submarines is a unique activity in the islands, they own the only submarines in Hawaii that are strictly for civilian use. Today we went out on their submarine adventure on board their 65' air-conditioned, electric powered submarine. We met the ferry that took us out to the submarine at the Lahaina Harbor. We first picked up our boarding passes from the Atlantis Submarines gift shop that is located on the Front Street side of the Pioneer Inn building and then walked from there down to the harbor to meet the boat.
Once we got to the harbor we boarded the ferry boat that took us out to meet the submarine. On the way out to where the submarine was waiting I talked with the Captain of the ferry about the dive site. He explained that the sailing boat "Carthaginian" which had been used for many years as a whaling museum at the mouth of the Lahaina Harbor had become too costly to maintain. The owners of the boat decided that sinking it would be the best course of action. When the operators of Atlantis Submarines heard of this they offered to cover the costs of sinking the vessel if they could sink it at a location that they could take their submarine to. The owners of the Carthaginian agreed and the boat found its final resting place off shore of Lahaina Town.
As we got close to the dive site the white silhouette of the Atlantis Submarine could be seen rising out of the depths of the ocean next to the boat. Within a couple of minutes the submarine was parked along side the boat and the crew had positioned the gangplank between the two vessels. Once the gangplank was in place the passengers that were on the submarine from the previous trip filed off and then our group boarded the submarine. Once we were all on the sub the crew battened down the top hatch and then the Captain initiated our dive.
The submarine is fully pressurized and it did not take long for us to reach depths of 100 feet under the surface. We passed some beautiful sections of reef, some very large schools of fish and then we finally reached the shipwreck.
Since they sunk the "Carthaginian" there has been a great deal of life that has grown on it. The fish that populate the coral reef that surrounds the wreckage have seized the opportunity to find shelter in the hull of the boat. As we got close to it we could see a school of small Jack (Omilu) that were circling the hull looking for any smaller fish that were not paying attention that they could make an easy lunch out of. The Captain navigated the submarine very close to the wreckage so all the passengers could see before we moved on.
By the end of the dive we had explored acres of reef and we had reached a maximum depth of almost 130ft. Using conventional SCUBA equipment we wouldn't have been able to explore such depths for such a long amount of time. Even if I had been diving with my extra long free diving fins in shallow water there is no way I could've covered as much area in such a short amount of time as we did during our dive.
Luau's are one of the most popular kinds of vacation activities here in the Hawaiian islands. What many visitors do not realize when they make their luau reservations is that there is actually a wide variety of different luau's that are available.
Seafire Charters is a company that does Molokini trips that depart from the Kihei Boat Ramp. The vessel that they use is one of the most overbuilt, sturdy vessels on the island and it's an interesting story why.
Our Parasail check in point became visible as we were walking on the sands of Kaanapali Beach. The check in location came in the form of a few beach umbrellas with the words "UFO Parasail" printed on them.
The America's Cup is a sailboat race that begins on the mainland before racing across the pacific to Hawaii. In 1987 the America II completed this race, generally the boats that compete in this race are only used one time and then retired.
As we were driving to the Big Kahuna Adventures surf lesson I noticed how perfectly glassy the ocean conditions were, I had a suspicion that today was going to be a great day for our lesson.
As we were sitting at the Whole Foods Markey in Kahului, a large 15 seat gray van pulled up. The door opened and out stepped a couple that greeted us and invited us onboard.
Upon arrival at the Maui Lani Golf Resort I was greeted by a man wearing an aloha shirt that was standing next to a large bus that had "Valley Isle Excursions" painted on the side.
As we arrived to the Maui Ocean Center, I knew that we were in for an amazing day at the aquarium. The aquarium is located right next to the Maalaea boat harbor.
Today we went on a snorkel trip to Lanai with the Pacific Whale Foundation. The Pacific Whale Foundation is known for their great snorkel trips and whale watches.
These blog articles detail the latest activities that the Tom Barefoot's Tours Adventure Team has been on.
Related Information
Have you ever rode on a glassbottom boat or gone on a submarine? We have, in fact we've gone on them all over the state and have created blog articles with videos for all of them.
Related Activites
Marvel at Maui's unique underwater paradise aboard a high tech 48 passenger submarine. Guests view the unique fascinating natural coral reefs, fish and marine life in air conditioned comfort and safety, often to depths of 100 feet.
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