Maui · With kids

At Maalaea, focused entirely on Hawaiian marine life, with a walk-through ocean tunnel and turtles. Two hours is plenty; ages three and up.

Three lifeguarded stretches in Kihei with gentle shorebreak, grass, toilets and showers. Kamaole I is the calmest for toddlers on most days.

A shallow lagoon behind a reef on the north shore where the water barely moves. No lifeguard, but knee-deep for a long way out.

Humpbacks calve in the Auau Channel from about December to April, close enough to see from shore at Papawai. Boat trips leave Maalaea; under-fives get seasick.

Hawaii bans oxybenzone sunscreens, so buy mineral. The Hana highway has some six hundred curves and fifty-odd one-lane bridges — bad news for car-sick children.