# Snuba with Trilogy - highly recommended!



## NTP66 (Jul 25, 2018)

I hadn't seen this mentioned very much on this forum, but wanted to share my recent experience with this.

For those unaware, Snuba is basically in between snorkeling and scuba diving. The air supply sits in a raft at the surface, and an air line runs down to a regulator for you to breathe through. My daughter wanted to do a number of activities at MOC one morning, so I decided to solo it on a Trilogy Ka'anapali snorkel tour (Honolua Bay), opting for the Snuba package - worth every penny.

Trilogy has the longest Snuba lines at 20', which allowed us to get right down to the bottom of most of the reef at Honolua Bay. This was my very first time diving, and it was pretty easy, so much so that it has given me the will to take scuba classes and get certified.

Our Snuba instructor, Aaron, took us out pretty far, just around Papua Gulch, since we were all doing great with our air. And when we got to the honu cleaning station, we were in for a real and rare treat:

















It's hard to argue that seeing humpback whales in Maui isn't the most amazing experience on the water, but this was pretty close for me. Simply incredible.

I would highly recommend Snuba to anyone who enjoys the water.


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## klpca (Jul 25, 2018)

Wow! Great pictures. I wish that I had done that when we went out with Trilogy but no one else was interested and I didn't want to go by myself. Now I'm kicking myself. Next time for sure. 

What kind of camera did you use? Those shots are so clear! We saw a ray once down near Ulua Beach. It was so amazing.


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## NTP66 (Jul 25, 2018)

There was actually a photographer onboard and in our group, taking photos with his Canon EOS 6D and Outex underwater housing. This is new with Trilogy, as I had never seen them bring a professional photographer on tours before. I went the GoPro Hero route, personally.


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## klpca (Jul 25, 2018)

NTP66 said:


> There was actually a photographer onboard and in our group, taking photos with his Canon EOS 6D and Outex underwater housing. This is new with Trilogy, as I had never seen them bring a professional photographer on tours before. I went the GoPro Hero route, personally.


I feel better now . We're going to French Polynesia in Nov and I would like to get some good photos but I won't be investing in professional equipment (although having a professional photographer along would be the best option). I plan on using a GoPro too.


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## NTP66 (Jul 25, 2018)

klpca said:


> I plan on using a GoPro too.


Do yourself a favor and go with a head or body mount for it. I used a GoPro Handler (handheld) mount, and spent at least twice as much time editing the video (cutting out the shaking parts where I started to swim) as I did actually diving. Never again.


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## davidvel (Jul 25, 2018)

NTP66 said:


> There was actually a photographer onboard and in our group, taking photos with his Canon EOS 6D and Outex underwater housing. This is new with Trilogy, as I had never seen them bring a professional photographer on tours before. I went the GoPro Hero route, personally.


I was going to say your post was a professional  ad, well written and clearly professional photos.  Thanks for the review.


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## NTP66 (Jul 25, 2018)

lol, hey now, my Nikon D750 takes some terrific photos, as well...


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## taffy19 (Jul 25, 2018)

They are so gracious.

Nice shots and your sunset picture too.


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## Helaine (Jul 26, 2018)

Those pictures are stunning!


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## Luanne (Jul 26, 2018)

My younger daughter did snuba with Fair Winds on the Big Island.  She went alone, and in fact went out twice (they offered her a discount the second time and it was just her and the instructor).  She loved it!


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## NTP66 (Jul 26, 2018)

Luanne said:


> She went alone, and in fact went out twice (they offered her a discount the second time and it was just her and the instructor).


Trilogy did the same thing at the second location (Slaughterhouse), though I passed on it to do some snorkeling in cramped rocky areas.


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## JIMinNC (Aug 3, 2018)

NTP66 said:


> There was actually a photographer onboard and in our group, taking photos with his Canon EOS 6D and Outex underwater housing. This is new with Trilogy, as I had never seen them bring a professional photographer on tours before. I went the GoPro Hero route, personally.



Were the underwater photos you posted from your GoPro or were they from the Trilogy guy with the 6D in the housing? I wasn't clear on that from your post.


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## NTP66 (Aug 3, 2018)

JIMinNC said:


> Were the underwater photos you posted from your GoPro or were they from the Trilogy guy with the 6D in the housing? I wasn't clear on that from your post.


Sorry about that. The photos were from the photographer with the underwater housing. I'm seriously considering renting an underwater housing for my Nikon D750 on our next trip.


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## JIMinNC (Aug 3, 2018)

NTP66 said:


> Sorry about that. The photos were from the photographer with the underwater housing. I'm seriously considering renting an underwater housing for my Nikon D750 on our next trip.



Thanks. That was what I thought, but wanted to be sure. Didn't think a GoPro could get that clarity and resolution. I've thought about doing the same for my Canon 5D MkIII.


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## NTP66 (Aug 3, 2018)

The GoPro is a piece of garbage, and if I had lost it at the bottom of the ocean, I don't think I'd care.


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## ljmiii (Aug 3, 2018)

We just went on the same Trilogy trip to Honolua Bay and my wife and her mom did the SNUBA while my daughter and I snorkeled. They loved it...though I must say we loved the snorkeling as well. We saw turtles, rays, eels, and a wide variety of beautiful fish.  The later, shorter slaughterhouse snorkel (just around the point) was not as beautiful as Honolua...but still not to be sneezed at. As we were heading back into the beach the captain heard of a pod of spinner dolphins offshore so we headed back out into the channel and found ourselves in the midst of the biggest pod of dolphin I've ever seen - at least 50 and more like a hundred or more.

My only caveat is that in winter (and perhaps other times) the surf is too high at Honolua and Trilogy goes south from Kaanapali instead.  When we did that a year and a half ago the snorkeling wasn't anywhere near as good...but we did see whales.


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## klpca (Aug 3, 2018)

NTP66 said:


> The GoPro is a piece of garbage, and if I had lost it at the bottom of the ocean, I don't think I'd care.


I'd much rather have a photographer out there so that I could just enjoy what I am seeing but still having a record of it.


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## davidvel (Jun 8, 2019)

I know this post is a bit old, but am curious what the snuba add-on cost is on Terralani or Trilogy.


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## NTP66 (Jun 8, 2019)

davidvel said:


> I know this post is a bit old, but am curious what the snuba add-on cost is on Terralani or Trilogy.


Snuba was a $65 upgrade on Trilogy, and worth it to me.


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## davidvel (Jun 8, 2019)

NTP66 said:


> Snuba was a $65 upgrade on Trilogy, and worth it to me.


Thanks for the info.


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## klpca (Jun 9, 2019)

davidvel said:


> I know this post is a bit old, but am curious what the snuba add-on cost is on Terralani or Trilogy.


FYI - we were just on Teralani for a midday snorkel cruise and snuba wasn't ever mentioned during our cruise. But they did have a professional photographer on board which was nice.


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## daventrina (Jun 26, 2019)

Just keep in mind that with SNUBA just like SCUBA you are breathing compressed air at depth and MUST NOT hold your breath. Doing so would likely result in an air embolism or ruptured lung.


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## davidvel (Jun 26, 2019)

daventrina said:


> Just keep in mind that with SNUBA just like SCUBA you are breathing compressed air at depth and MUST NOT hold your breath. Doing so would likely result in an air embolism or ruptured lung.


While technically true, most snuba operators don't allow you very deep (Trilogy max is 10').   There is very little risk of decompression sickness, although it's always a good practice to breathe out as you surface slowly from any depth, especially if under for an extended period.


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## NTP66 (Jun 26, 2019)

The Snuba gear I used last year with Trilogy was most definitely 20’ of line, not 10.


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## Luanne (Jun 26, 2019)

NTP66 said:


> The Snuba gear I used last year with Trilogy was most definitely 20’ of line, not 10.


But couldn't you still go 20' away from the source without going 20' deep?  There could still be a limit to how deep you can go.  Was any of that discussed when you went out?


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## NTP66 (Jun 26, 2019)

Luanne said:


> But couldn't you still go 20' away from the source without going 20' deep?  There could still be a limit to how deep you can go.  Was any of that discussed when you went out?


Absolutely, and yes, this was all discussed. If we had no issues clearing our ears, we could go the full 20’ straight down, which is exactly what 3 out of 4 of us did most of the time. The fourth person in our group was more comfortable at half that depth.


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## controller1 (Jun 26, 2019)

NTP66 said:


> The Snuba gear I used last year with Trilogy was most definitely 20’ of line, not 10.



The Trilogy website includes a video which states the maximum depth is 10'.


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## davidvel (Jun 27, 2019)

controller1 said:


> The Trilogy website includes a video which states the maximum depth is 10'.


That's what I was referring to. Maybe Trilogy lies on its website, but I doubt it. As I understand snuba, the hoses are 6m (a bit less than 20'), but most boats don't do it where depths exceed about 10 feet or so to avoid decompression sickness issues.


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## NTP66 (Jun 27, 2019)

Their FAQ page states 10’, but their Discover Ka’anapali tour page states 20’.

At the end of the day, I’ve actually done the tour, and have pictures showing the length of the line (using my 6’2” frame as a reference).


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## daventrina (Jun 28, 2019)

davidvel said:


> While technically true, most snuba operators don't allow you very deep (Trilogy max is 10').   There is very little risk of decompression sickness, although it's always a good practice to breathe out as you surface slowly from any depth, especially if under for an extended period.


THe problem isn't DCS, the problem is an air embolism or lung rupture and you CAN acquire either of those from 10 feet almost certainly from 20 feet.

According to the Navy tables, you can stay at 20 feet indefinitely.


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## TXTortoise (Jul 4, 2019)

Re: photography 

My guess is the pro photographer was using a flash with his housing. That’s why the colors were so good. Just something to consider if you go all-in and rent a hosing for your 750. 

If on Maui it’s worth checking out these guys. Awesome shooters and great people. 

https://www.ceserebrothers.com/


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