Maui and Oahu
Hawaiian Islands
Snorkeling and Scuba
1) Bring your own equipment and drive yourself to a site. This is obviously the least expensive option but carries a few risks. Ocean currents can be unpredictable and dangerous at times.
2) Budget "tours" will rent you the equipment and take you to the spots. Often, they'll pick you up at your hotel and bring you back. We found these to be reasonably priced but sometimes they sell out. Often, you can book online.
3) Full service tourist boats that include BBQ lunch, free drinks, and drive gear. Even though these are the most expensive, they appeal to us the least. In our experiences, they were overrun with people (way too crowded) and often took 100+ tourists the same spots as 8 other boats doing the exact same thing. Results: the snorkeling was awful. There were hundreds of people in the same bay and nearly no fish. Don't believe the brochures--avoid these boat scuba trips (particularly on Maui to Molokini). Now that we're done bashing, we will say that these tours are "easy" for families with small children. Additionally, they offer "snuba"--a combination between scuba and snorkeling (tourists who are NOT certified in scuba can still experience snuba). All additional services (scuba, snuba, photos, videos, etc) have additional charges, of course.
Overall, snorkel and scuba in Hawaii is some of the best in the world (certainly in the United States). In Oahu, don't miss Hanauma Bay.
Discount Tips: If you're really on a budget, the BEST discounts are available for the cost of a little time--if you sit through a timeshare presentation (generally they're 1.5-2 hours long). For your time, you can get discounts of up to 90%...
For more straightforward discounts of ~10%, we HIGHLY recommend Tom Barefoot Discount Hawaii tours. When we found Tom Barefoot, we cancelled our direct booking with our snorkeling and Luau and booked the EXACT same thing with the the same company through Tom Barefoot for 10% less. No gimmicks, no catches.
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