OP
We arrive on 6/30 and leave on 7/10. I'm certainly down for meeting if the times overlap. We haven't set anything in stone on the schedule yet - there's so much to see.
1st Time Maui - Too Many Choices
- Thread starter bmorescuba
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We arrive on 6/30 and leave on 7/10. I'm certainly down for meeting if the times overlap. We haven't set anything in stone on the schedule yet - there's so much to see.
DiveMaven
Contributor
I'll be on island during the same time frame. If you're interested in meeting up for some shore diving, let's PM when we get a bit closer and you have an idea of your schedule.
JamesBon92007
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I dove with Scuba Shack (Kihei) a few years ago and saw some white tips on the backside of Molokini and lots of sea turtles at the Turtle Station. I still wear their T-Shirt.
Pretty good beach diving at Ulua beach but like someone said a diver's flag float is required. I dove solo there several times. Get there early to get a good parking space (6 am).
Pretty good beach diving at Ulua beach but like someone said a diver's flag float is required. I dove solo there several times. Get there early to get a good parking space (6 am).
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- I'm a Fish!
I do it because others here have done it for me in the past.
Deinonych
Contributor
Ed Robinson's and Mike Severns are my favorites. Ed Robinson's caters to more experienced divers IMO. Mike Severns tends to be more regimented, but they are a quality operator. The owner is a marine biologist and their briefings are always excellent.
OP
I thought I would update this post with a trip report, from the diving perspective. I appreciate the input from everyone. Here's what I ended up doing:
Lahaina Divers 2 tank Lanai charter (no name & Cathedrals 2)
Ed Robinson 3-tank Adventure (2 Molokini Backwall, 1 Red Hill)
Solo shore dive - Honolua Bay
Solo shore dive - Makena Landing
Solo shore dive - Mala Pier, Lahaina
Ed Robinson 2-tank Adventure (Molokini Backwall & Marty’s Reef)
The trip to Lanai with Lahaina Divers was OK, but not really my cup of tea. Shorter dive times, a lot of supervision, big boat with lots of people. There was nothing wrong with it, per se, though I did find it annoying that we had to detour to pickup more people from Lanai before/after doing the dives. It was apparent that Lahaina Divers is more oriented to beginners. After talking with more experienced people, a better choice for Lanai would have been Extended Horizons (for my preferences). I did enjoy Cathedrals, especially the large, old Black Coral formation inside. I'd like to go back for some longer dives. I did manage to see my 2nd Bandit Angelfish - woot!
Ed Robinson was awesome. I gather that the "Adventure" moniker basically means Molokini Backwall, which was pretty incredible. Nudibranchs everywhere, whitetips in the crevices, octopus, dolphins doing swim-by's, and really cool topography. I can see this being a little intimidating for some - our dives there were basically drift, and there was current, plus the guide immediately dropped to 125' and then slowly made his way up. I liked ERDA so much I signed up for 2 more dives. The shallower dives were fantastic, too. At Red Hill, I spotted my first natural Manta (only seen before at Kona night dive). And Marty's Reef was super cool - this small-ish circular reef around 55' - you could swim around the entire thing in 5 minutes. But it was perfect for photography, and just for relaxing. We all had to surface from NDL since the Backwall had been so deep. Should have gotten Nitrox. Marty's had frogfish, huge eels, and lovely schools of soldierfish. ERDA was totally hands-off - great briefing, follow the guide if you want, don't go into deco. That's it.
I had also booked a morning with B&B scuba. They cancelled on me. Disappointing, but they did do a good job contacting me and letting me know. I tried to arrange buddies for shore diving with several shops, and with a couple people, but it didn't happen. So, I decided I would just do the shore dives myself. I rented gear from Maui Dive Shop in Kihei - they were helpful, cheap, and straightforward. I asked around, read my guidebook, and checked online for how to do the shore sites.
Honolua Bay - no one really recommended this, but we were driving by it and it looked so beautiful, I felt I had to dive it. We got there early - maybe around 8. Snagged the last good parking space. We snorkeled the bay for a couple hours, then I went back to the car and geared up. It's a long walk, but a gorgeous one. Entry is a little slippery, but easy. Dive was really cool - great viz, turtles, octos, lots of reef fish. Got down to 50', but average more like 25'. By the time I came up, the snorkel boats had arrived and the bay was filled with hundreds of snorkelers. That's when we left
Makena Landing - aka 5 caves, 5 graves, etc. We also got here early (9-ish) and got the last parking space. There was a SUP outfit doing lessons. Pretty crowded overall. Super easy sandy entry. Incredible dive site - avg depth only 20' or so. Whitetips, turtles, nudis, eels, pencil urchins, crabs- you name it. I made it to 2 of the 5 caves, and there were whitetips in each. Bring a light! We snorkeled some after, but the big boats came here too, and we left.
Mala Pier - this was my favorite dive of the trip. Completely magical, but then again I love pier shore dives. I wasn't clear on the entry, but there was a guide from Lahaina Divers (which is close by) who was taking a couple people out, so she kindly explained it to me. You basically have to walk out quite a ways over very shallow dead coral. It's tricky with a camera, and best to do it slowly. Very shallow dive, 15-25'. I spent about 45 minutes swimming out to the end of the old pier. On my way, I saw 3 whitetips, nudis, turtles, and the usual assortment of fish. Once I got to the end, there were about 6-8 green turtles just hanging out with tang and surgeons cleaning them. It was completely amazing. I stayed for about 30 minutes, taking pictures and just taking it in. By then, my air was low, but on my way back I managed to see a Tiger Snake Moray, something completely new to me. I squeezed every possible minute out of that tank.
All in all, Maui diving was fantastic. The boats leave early, and the shore dive sites are best done early as well. In July at least, the wind kicks up pretty hard by about 1pm. But I don't go on vacation to sleep in, so that's all good with me. We had some fantastic snorkeling, too. In terms of pizza, I recommend Pizza Madness in Kihei for good cheap pie, and Lahaina Pizza Company in Lahaina for slightly more gourmet experience.
Full gallery is here: https://www.flickr.com/gp/bmorejojo/42YbA6
Samples:
Lahaina Divers 2 tank Lanai charter (no name & Cathedrals 2)
Ed Robinson 3-tank Adventure (2 Molokini Backwall, 1 Red Hill)
Solo shore dive - Honolua Bay
Solo shore dive - Makena Landing
Solo shore dive - Mala Pier, Lahaina
Ed Robinson 2-tank Adventure (Molokini Backwall & Marty’s Reef)
The trip to Lanai with Lahaina Divers was OK, but not really my cup of tea. Shorter dive times, a lot of supervision, big boat with lots of people. There was nothing wrong with it, per se, though I did find it annoying that we had to detour to pickup more people from Lanai before/after doing the dives. It was apparent that Lahaina Divers is more oriented to beginners. After talking with more experienced people, a better choice for Lanai would have been Extended Horizons (for my preferences). I did enjoy Cathedrals, especially the large, old Black Coral formation inside. I'd like to go back for some longer dives. I did manage to see my 2nd Bandit Angelfish - woot!
Ed Robinson was awesome. I gather that the "Adventure" moniker basically means Molokini Backwall, which was pretty incredible. Nudibranchs everywhere, whitetips in the crevices, octopus, dolphins doing swim-by's, and really cool topography. I can see this being a little intimidating for some - our dives there were basically drift, and there was current, plus the guide immediately dropped to 125' and then slowly made his way up. I liked ERDA so much I signed up for 2 more dives. The shallower dives were fantastic, too. At Red Hill, I spotted my first natural Manta (only seen before at Kona night dive). And Marty's Reef was super cool - this small-ish circular reef around 55' - you could swim around the entire thing in 5 minutes. But it was perfect for photography, and just for relaxing. We all had to surface from NDL since the Backwall had been so deep. Should have gotten Nitrox. Marty's had frogfish, huge eels, and lovely schools of soldierfish. ERDA was totally hands-off - great briefing, follow the guide if you want, don't go into deco. That's it.
I had also booked a morning with B&B scuba. They cancelled on me. Disappointing, but they did do a good job contacting me and letting me know. I tried to arrange buddies for shore diving with several shops, and with a couple people, but it didn't happen. So, I decided I would just do the shore dives myself. I rented gear from Maui Dive Shop in Kihei - they were helpful, cheap, and straightforward. I asked around, read my guidebook, and checked online for how to do the shore sites.
Honolua Bay - no one really recommended this, but we were driving by it and it looked so beautiful, I felt I had to dive it. We got there early - maybe around 8. Snagged the last good parking space. We snorkeled the bay for a couple hours, then I went back to the car and geared up. It's a long walk, but a gorgeous one. Entry is a little slippery, but easy. Dive was really cool - great viz, turtles, octos, lots of reef fish. Got down to 50', but average more like 25'. By the time I came up, the snorkel boats had arrived and the bay was filled with hundreds of snorkelers. That's when we left
Makena Landing - aka 5 caves, 5 graves, etc. We also got here early (9-ish) and got the last parking space. There was a SUP outfit doing lessons. Pretty crowded overall. Super easy sandy entry. Incredible dive site - avg depth only 20' or so. Whitetips, turtles, nudis, eels, pencil urchins, crabs- you name it. I made it to 2 of the 5 caves, and there were whitetips in each. Bring a light! We snorkeled some after, but the big boats came here too, and we left.
Mala Pier - this was my favorite dive of the trip. Completely magical, but then again I love pier shore dives. I wasn't clear on the entry, but there was a guide from Lahaina Divers (which is close by) who was taking a couple people out, so she kindly explained it to me. You basically have to walk out quite a ways over very shallow dead coral. It's tricky with a camera, and best to do it slowly. Very shallow dive, 15-25'. I spent about 45 minutes swimming out to the end of the old pier. On my way, I saw 3 whitetips, nudis, turtles, and the usual assortment of fish. Once I got to the end, there were about 6-8 green turtles just hanging out with tang and surgeons cleaning them. It was completely amazing. I stayed for about 30 minutes, taking pictures and just taking it in. By then, my air was low, but on my way back I managed to see a Tiger Snake Moray, something completely new to me. I squeezed every possible minute out of that tank.
All in all, Maui diving was fantastic. The boats leave early, and the shore dive sites are best done early as well. In July at least, the wind kicks up pretty hard by about 1pm. But I don't go on vacation to sleep in, so that's all good with me. We had some fantastic snorkeling, too. In terms of pizza, I recommend Pizza Madness in Kihei for good cheap pie, and Lahaina Pizza Company in Lahaina for slightly more gourmet experience.
Full gallery is here: https://www.flickr.com/gp/bmorejojo/42YbA6
Samples:
Last edited:
Next time I'm in Maui, I'm going with Mike Severn's. Last time I dove with Ed Robinson's, and I didn't appreciate one of the DM's digging an octopus out of the ground, presenting it for photographs after it exhausted all of its ink.
Deinonych
Contributor
Thanks for the trip report. I usually dive with Extended Horizons for Lāna'i trips, and can confirm they are a great outfit. We're heading to Maui later this month and plan to dive Lāna'i again. Unfortunately, Extended Horizons' boat will be in dry dock for annual maintenance the week we are there, so we have to use Lahaina Divers. Appreciate the heads up; we can set our expectations appropriately.
Great shots, by the way.
OP
Well, I've only had 5 dives with ERDA so I can't conclude anything. The DM we had was pretty hands-off, but I'm sure that's not true of all of them (from any shop). My policy is that if someone does that, I swim away and indicate that I don't want them spotting for me. The real joy for me is finding things on my own, anyway.
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