What to bring on a catamaran off Oʻahu
What to wear, what to carry and what to leave in the car for a catamaran off Oahu — including the one thing that catches people out at the Waikiki boats.
By YKnot Admin · · 4 min read
Short answer: less than you think, and nothing that minds getting wet.
The longer answer matters mostly because of one detail people do not find out until they are standing on the sand watching the boat arrive, which is that at the Waikīkī departures you wade out to board.
The thing that catches everyone out
Two of the four Aloha Boats catamarans — Ke Kai and Na Hoku 3 — leave from Waikīkī Beach itself. There is no dock. The boat noses in, you walk out to it, and you climb on. That is shin-deep water, sometimes more depending on the day.
This is completely fine and slightly fun, and it is a disaster if you have brought a camera bag, a laptop, leather shoes or a handbag you care about.
The other two — Manu Kai and Na Hoku 2 — leave from Kewalo Harbor, where you walk along a dock and step aboard dry. If you are carrying anything, or bringing anyone who is not steady on uneven sand, that is the side you want. The full comparison is here.
What to wear
Swimsuit under your clothes if there is any chance of getting in — and on the snorkel sailings, there is.
Something you can move in and do not mind salt on. Boat decks are wet. This is not an outfit occasion, whatever the photos on the booking page suggest.
Flat shoes you can take off, or none at all. Most people sail barefoot. Nothing with a heel, and nothing you would be upset to see float away at the Waikīkī boarding.
A layer for the evening sails. The temperature difference between sailing out at golden hour and coming back after dark is bigger than anyone from a warm climate expects, and there is wind on the water that there isn't on the beach.
A hat that will survive wind, which excludes most hats. A cap you can stuff in a pocket beats a brim that ends up in the Pacific.
What to bring
- Sunscreen, applied before you leave. Reef-safe — Hawaiʻi law, and the reef you are about to snorkel over is the reason. It needs about twenty minutes to bind, so putting it on at the dock is putting it on too late.
- Water. You will drink more than you plan to.
- A phone in something you trust. A cheap floating pouch is worth it on the beach-boarding sails.
- Cash for the crew, if tipping is your habit. They work hard and it is a long day of boats.
- Motion sickness tablets if you are prone — taken an hour beforehand, not when you start feeling it. The south shore is generally calm and the catamarans are stable, but "generally" is doing work in that sentence.
What to leave in the car
Towels (the boat has what you need on the snorkel trips), big bags, anything valuable, anything with a battery you care about, and expectations about being dry.
Timing
Departures move with the season — sunset is not a fixed hour, and the schedule shifts around it — so check the live times on alohaboats.com rather than trusting any time written in an article, including this one.
Arrive earlier than you think. At the Waikīkī boats you need to actually find the right stretch of sand; at Kewalo you need to park.
Booking, and the member rate
YKnot members sail for 15% less. The code arrives when you join a line for a sailing rather than at signup, and you book with Aloha Boats directly — how that works.
Worth knowing if you are going alone: a sailing is one of the easier things to do with people you have just met. There is scenery, a crew doing things, and a fixed end time, so no one has to manufacture conversation or an exit. If you already have a booking with seats spare, you can open them as a line.
YKnot is built for exactly that gap: people here post plans they're already going to — a hike, a dinner, a sail — with a spare seat, and you ask to join. It's members-only and everyone's ID-verified, so you know who you're connecting with.