Neither my husband nor I had ever been on a submarine before, so when we came across the Atlantis Submarine Maui Adventure, we jumped at the opportunity to take part!
We decided to allow ourselves a leisurely morning on the day of our Atlantis Adventure, so we booked our tour departure time for 12 noon. This allowed us to sleep in a bit before we drove ourselves to Lahaina where our tour group was to meet at Lahaina Harbour for the boat ride out to the submarine.
The Submarine...
As you can see from our picture, the Atlantis Submarine was anchored quite a ways out to sea from Maui. Doesn't the sub look rather magnificent out there?
This 48 passenger air-conditioned Atlantis Submarine was to take us 130 feet under water to the seafloor - for someone like me who comes from the mainland, going so far underneath the ocean surface was quite a Maui adventure indeed! (Hence the reason why this is one of our top 10 things to do in Maui for adventure!)
Families with Kids...
Before I go further, I should let you know that if you have kids, an Atlantis Adventure would be a great addition to a Maui family vacation, as it would be a TOTALLY kid-friendly activity. The only catch is that any children would need to be at least 36" tall, and able to climb down a ladder to gain access to the interior of the submarine.
Inside the Submarine...
Once we got inside the submarine, we were pleased to see that every single seat was facing the outside wall of the submarine, and had its very own window for viewing the array of underwater sights.
We saw some HUGE schools of fish....
A few underwater artifacts, like this anchor...
What looked like rocks in a skull and cross-bone formation...
I'd never seen a stingray out in the wild before, so I particularly enjoyed seeing this one as it gracefully glided through the ocean depths:
All too soon, it was time for the submarine to surface, where it would meet up with the Roxie, a cute little blue boat that marked the resting spot for the sub - due to the shortage of slips in Lahaina Harbour, the Atlantis Adventure sub was always left anchored out at sea.
As our boat took us back to Lahaina harbour, we snapped this picture of the submarine submersing with its next batch of passengers aboard:
Atlantis Submarine Maui Adventure Tips
1) We found it really tough to find parking in Lahaina that was close to the harbour. Make sure you allow yourself lots of extra time for finding a good parking spot. Alternatively, you can park farther away and you'll use the extra time for the walk to the harbour - of course, given the beautiful Maui weather, a walk through Lahaina wouldn't be such a bad thing!
2) Allow yourself lots of time to find the boat departure slip. We normally don't have much trouble finding our way around, but we had a lot of difficulty finding the correct slip for the Atlantis submarine tour. We ended up asking for directions from some folks that were on another boat in the harbour... luckily for us, they knew where we had to go for the Atlantis Adventure tour!
3) There are no drinks, food, or restrooms on the submarine. We brought along a bottle of water in case we got thirsty on the tour, but since the tour only lasted 90 minutes, the lack of these amenities wasn't a problem.
4) Especially if you have your heart set on this particular Maui adventure, make sure you book your reservation in advance, as space can fill up quickly!
An AMAZING Maui Atlantis Adventure Video...Check This Out...
Last, but not least, check out this amazing video that I first discovered on the L.A. Times website! One of the Atlantis Submarine Maui Adventure tours found themselves surrounded by a pod of 5-10 humpback whales... Lucky for us, one of the passengers on that tour captured this great video!
Savings and Deals for Your Atlantis Submarine Maui Adventure
If you're on a Maui family vacation with your kids, the best deal I've found at press time is the one at Barefoot Tours. They are currently offering 1 child free (under 12) with each paying adult - if you are a couple with 2 children, that would save you around $90!
If there are no kids along with you, then the best discount I've seen is the one from the A3H Gold Card. (Link will open in new window.) At the time of this writing, the A3H gold card will give you a discount of $15.91 per person off the regular price.
Other options that might interest you are the Barefoot Tours packages that bundle your submarine tour with another activity for extra savings. (Links will open in new windows.)