Oh gosh, thanks. Both myself and one of my kids are prone to altitude problems. Maybe we won’t do that part of the adventure!
Ask your doc for acetazolamide. 125 mg every 12 hours, start it 24 hours before ascent, and continue it until descent. Acute Altitude Illness: Updated Prevention and Treatment Guidelines from the Wilderness Medical Society | AAFP
Honing in on two days in Oahu and 5 days in Maui.
In Oahu, we want to take a boat that offers snorkeling and swimming with turtles and dolphins in the open ocean. Does anyone have any specific recommendations for this? It’s hard to differentiate among the different tour offerings.
Thanks!
If anyone offering swimming with dolphins, stay away from them, please. They are most likely doing this illegally.
I would spend the time on Oahu by hiking the Diamond Head (need a reservation), touring the Pearl Harbor, strolling through Honolulu, etc.
I would go on a snorkeling tour off Maui to the Molokini Crater. Pacific Whale Foundation has great snorkeling tours. You almost for sure will see turtles. 
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I agree with saving the boating/snorkeling for Maui. Depending on where you’re staying, you can do kayaking tours to see turtles, or go on bigger boats. We usually use Captain Steve for boating (small tours on inflatable boats), and they are trying to get up and running after his house and his business burned to the ground in the Lahaina fire. Another poster recommended another small company, but I can’t remember then name. If I find it I will update my post.
ETA - I THINK it was @justamom who recommended another boating outfitter, but I can’t find the name.
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Just curious— why would you save the boating for Maui?
Mostly because you have only 2 days on Oahu, and 5 on Maui.
Ah! We were going to Oahu specifically for the boat tours!
I’m pretty sure Maui is considered better for snorkeling than Oahu, if that matters, but I am not an expert.
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Good to know! Thanks!
My husband and I have been to all 4 major islands multiple times. IMO, snorkeling off Maui coast is amazing. I would pick Maui over Oahu for that activity. There is some great snorkeling off Kaanapali Beach (by the Black Rock and also further north by the Westin). I wouldn’t pay for a tour; instead, I’d snorkel on my own there! There will be turtles! The only snorkeling tour I’d go on in Maui is a Molokini tour. Or a boat ride to Lanai. 
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I’ve heard some folks have seen turtles snorkeling on Kailua Beach.
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It seems like the conservation efforts are working. We’ve seen lots of turtles almost anywhere we went in Hawaii. A bunch of turtles hangs out in Ko Olina lagoons! Not the best snorkeling there, but we’ve seen a juvenile hammerhead shark and a big octopus that got pissed at us and let out a big cloud of ink - both right in one of the lagoons!
We bought snorkling equipment here and brought it to Hawaii. Saw sea turtles at Black Rock and did a great snorkling tour of Molokini. Try to book ahead for a morning tour as the afternoons are more liklely to have rougher seas.
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Well we ended up changing our plans due to covid in the household. We chose to do a local-ish adventure once isolation was completed and took a half day white water rafting trip in the southern Sierra Nevadas (Kern River) and also saw the tall sequoias at sequoia national forest.
Really lovely. Very memorable. And no stressful decisions or travel.
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