Do NOT go on a tour with this company, Gabriel’s Ohana. My husband and I went on a tour this past Sunday, July 3 and we almost died in their hands. Around the thirtyish minute of our tour our guide, Brady, told us to start heading back because the winds were becoming stronger. Before we could even get close to shore, our clear double kayak took in water from the wind blowing it in. We sunk and Brady tried to help my husband into the guide’s kayak, which was a regular single kayak. However, he never succeeded in getting my husband onto a kayak and then left us holding onto the kayak while he went to chase the other kayak. The owner, Papabear, came out but he went to help Brady instead of helping his guests. So, we were just in the ocean casting further out because the kayak was a sail in this wind condition. Then finally Gabriel came out, but he grabbed the kayak, and the wind took him away from us. My husband and I were left stranded in the middle of the ocean. Thankfully we had our life vest properly attached and slowly battled the winds swimming back to shore for 2 HOURS before making it to land. The three workers couldn’t even get back to shore themselves and were rescued by a boat!
Once back on shore, the first thing the owner said was NOT an apology for the whole terrifying ordeal of being abandoned in the middle of the ocean but that he is out a couple thousand dollars because the kayaks were lost. NO AMOUNT OF MONEY is worth a human life, and this should not be the first thing said to someone after almost losing their life in the ocean. We were also not the only couple on this group tour, another couple was with us on the tour, and they also sunk their kayak in the winds but were able to get much closer to shore before sinking to safely return (so the reason of sinking is not operator error)
They are completely unprofessional, and we never received even an apology for the events that occurred. They will not save YOU if you go on this tour as they are more concerned about saving their kayaks! And I am not even sure if they would have ever called anyone if we never made it back to shore.
Réponse de l'hôte
Aug 2022
Aloha dear reader, I am glad you have done your research and are reading this review. Yelp informed us that this review was written by someone who lives in Kula, here on Maui and removed it from their platform.
We were going to request TripAdvisor remove this, but have instead chosen to leave it up to get your attention.
As Maui is plagued with illegal companies and we at Gabriel's Ohana are actively working with Maui's DLNR officers to shut them down, this will help you differentiate between legal and illegal companies.
All companies that exit from any beach, county or state, and are legal, have insurance, pay taxes, and follow state safety guidelines will have a sticker on their equipment that was supplied by the DLNR. The sticker helps to spot legal companies.
If you book a tour with a company and find that there is no sticker on the kayak, please call (808) 643-DLNR. Ask for a Docare officer to meet you at the spot you are at. If you turn in one of the rogue companies that are overtaking our local beaches and overcrowding our reefs, we will gladly replace your tour. As a courtesy we will charge only 50% of what the other company charged you and give you twice the experience. Please provide the report number to us after it is written up by the officer. Most likely it will be Officer Puole. You will like him he is very pleasant and helpful. He has our phone number and can reach out for you if you prefer as well. Your C.C. company will also protect you from losing your money that way.
You CAN feel safe knowing we have those stickers and insurance, our boats have pontoons so they cannot sink and we pay a shore person to call the Coast Guard, as we are not in fear of getting fined. Our shore person also watches your vehicle to stop theft of valuables or your catalytic converter which is now common. We also use a drone to survey the water before you snorkel and our guides go through a month long training process before taking tours on the water by themselves.
If we were to lose a boat, oar, lifevest etc, the Coast Guard will find it for free. They don't want it in the water floating around either.
That being said, I am glad you did your research by reading this reply and that extreme review. I am glad you can make a better judgment call knowing you have been educated to the facts. We hope you find a legal company to take you out if it is not us. The ocean around Maui is beyond beautiful.
You may find it is harder to find a legal company than you would think.
We wish you the best of luck, blessings and aloha!
P.S. For the record, my name is Jason to any guests I meet. I like to let people know that Gabriel is my son and we named it for him, he has been a firedancer since he was 9 and is well known out here. (In 2019, He was featured in a local magazine with a 4 page story even) I would hate to be thought of as narcissistic for naming our company after myself lol, so that is always clearly stated.
Only locals call me Papabear because they know me from our volunteer work every Sunday, Just a heads up.
Many mahalos! I hope we see you soon!