Getting Certified In Maui

[penywisexx]

My wife and I are going to Maui next week for ten days, we had been planning on getting certified after our trip when we had more funds, but have found a deal for $189 through Maui Divers. We already have the basic gear (mask, snorkel, booties, and fins) and have read the PADI book and watched the videos.

Who has gone though maui divers and had an experience, both negative and positive?

Once my wife and I get back to California we plan to save up for a few months and get the full setup, including drysuits eventually. Once we get the full gear we both plan on taking further instruction.

What are the pros and cons of getting certified now? The biggest pro that I can think of is that my wife is a marine biologist with 10 years of dolphin training experience but is held back from career advancement by lack of certification. The biggest con is that we'll miss a potentially life threatening piece of advice by taking an accelerated course.

Please weigh in quick if you can, I'd like to book it in the next day or two if I decide to go!

Thanks!!!

 

[yomonk1]

I got my cert thru Maui Dive Shop, decent shop but not very personal. If you have the opportunity, I would stake my name on this, get your cert thru Maui Dreams Dive Co. Maui Dreams Dive Co 1888-921-3483 ask for Rachel or Teri. Awesome, fun people who have an indescribable passion for diving and will make your trip more fun than you could imagine. Second on the list would be one of your fellow SB'ers, Shaka Doug, the man behind Shaka Divers. Again, a very passionate, unbelievable experienced instructor who can teach you more than you ever thought you could learn. Welcome to SHAKA DIVERS Web Site!.
Good luck, you will not regret following my advice! Aloooooha!

 

[hvulin]

just get certified and dive as much as you can...

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Please give us a little more information; Maui Divers is a black coral jewelry company with annual sales on the order of $30 million. How about posting a link to this $189 deal you have found. At that price it is likely all shore dives, with your confined water training just off the beach.

Which side of Maui are you staying and which part of the Island is this certification class; travel between Lahaina (West Side) and Kihei (South Shore) can be problematic.

 

[Ted S]

Congratulations on your decision to enter the diving world!

Getting certified at a destination is definitely a big decision and carries some pros and cons. The pro is that you get to start diving on your trip, get to enjoy warmer waters, more fish and all the benefits of diving in Hawaii. The cons are that you spend part of your trip training and potentially the quality of the instruction (although a class at a destination can be as good as one anywhere else with the right instruction & facility). It sounds like you're ok with the time impact which leaves the question of the instructional facilities.

Maui Divers, at least the one I'm familiar with is as halemano mentioned, a jewelry shop with stores around the US. Are you sure that's the name of the shop you found the deal with and not Maui Dive Shop?

Regardless of the company name (although knowing it will let people provide their thoughts), you want to be sure your instructor is trained enough to teach you well (experienced beyond just having their required dives in), friendly enough that you'll get along and knowledgeable enough to be of value. Establishing this over the internet is near impossible but there are some questions that help. You can ask the shop how long their instructor(s) have been certified, how many students are in the class, how they approach the dives and how many students they try to push through a week. In the absence of a direct review or chance to look and see, a lot of it boils down to feel (and their refund policy -- if they don't let you cancel when you get there, walk away less you end up at a whole in the wall with an intoxicated instructor ).

Since you'll be learning with a cheap package you'll also want to look out for upcharges mainly in forced boat dives and gear rental fees. If they include gear or have a preset rate for students that's easy enough but also be sure you can do shore dives at your will. Many courses offer shore or boat dives but let their students decide and guess what... boats tend to win. Also be sure your package includes your pool dives, test and any agency fees as many shops sell just partial courses designed to build off your existing training on the mainland and get you certified (see my next comment).

Another option would be to complete part of the course before your trip doing the course work, pool test and pool dives. This will give you a chance to see how you respond to diving, find out what areas you want to work on and so forth. Since you'll be on the mainland you can often find a good rate to do this portion of the certification quickly. Then when you get to Hawaii you can complete your check-out (ocean) dives often at a much lower rate than a full certification course and with less impact to your vacation schedule.

 

[sixgears]

I think this is what the OP was talking about:

Maui Scuba Diving Maui scuba Dive shop, Boat Trips,tours,SCUBA ACTIVITIES,on Maui Molokini and lanai,Boat,SCUBA Rentals,SCUBA CERTIFICATION CLASS,ACTIVITIES,on Maui Molokini and lanai with Maui Diving SCUBA Center Boat Dives,Snorkeling.

They say * 6 dives * in their ad. I'm assuming that these are shore dives. They also DO NOT mention equipment use as being part of their pricing. Ted S just hit the nail ... watch out for up-charges.

 

[muddiver]

Ooohh! Stay away from anything that says "activity" or "Discount" while you are in Maui. You can get better deals by just going straight to the people that are doing what you are looking for.

Also, unless you like sitting through a time-share sales pitch, avoid anything touted as free. You can get a lot of free trips and activities around the island, just be prepared to sit through an hour or more of "buy our vacation condo time share!".

Ted S is right on with doing your classroom work and pool work at home in Lodi/Saca-tomato area. There has to be a shop nearby that you can do your lessions through and then get referred to a shp or instructor in Maui.

Unh, how does one do marine biology when living in Lodi? Kind of land locked.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Well the certification page says the $189 class includes gear, but the gear in the picture is over 20 years old! Also says class size is 1-8 divers.

In fine print you can see that the PIC is an additional $30, "if you qualify for cert card."

Since the referral cert is only 4 dives and the full $189 cert does not mention pool, they are probably breaking the confined training into "2 dives".

It would be interesting to hear where these training dive take place, Maui is in the middle of some controversy with regard to commercial activity in County Beach Parks. Permits are required to legally take customers into the water, and a permit is for specific Beach Parks, not all of them.

The fact that this Lahaina operator lists nearly every recreational agency and advertises "cave dives" at Makena Landing makes me question the accuracy of the web information; they are not likely to have permits for Makena Landing and what recreational instructor/guide offers "cave dives?"

Finally, the bottom of the page is dated '96-'98 AND says "prices may change without notice!"

 

[Ted S]

Wow, lots of investigating going on here... It definitely sounds like you should place a call (or five) before using this shop and probably look at other options as well.