We use Lahaina Divers for our charters to Lanai and have dove with them numerous times, so have zero complaints about their operation, professionalism, and the fun we have with the DMs and captains.
However, I do believe that it's important to know what you're getting into before booking with Lahaina Divers....that way there are no surprises and fun is maximized. Lahaina Divers run the biggest dive boats on Maui. They have 2 big 46' Newton dive boats that are powerful, stable, and a dream to dive from IMO. Their DMs and captains are excellent, the operation runs smoothly, and customer service has always been excellent for us. The important points to know about Lahaina Divers before booking is that they dock their boats in Lahaina, which is a very long boat ride from Molokini crater. Their Molokini charter does 2 dives inside the crater instead of moving to on off shore site for the second dive. They also use AL72s, which I've never found an issue because of their short SIs, but other folks take issue with. Because Molokini and Lanai are decent boat rides, they have to limit the surface interval to approximately 45 minutes in order to get the boat back to Lahaina before the trades pick up at around noon. Although they say their profiles are "65' for 30 minutes, or 60' for 35 minutes", we've not had a dive less than about 45 minutes with them. They give divers with computers a lot of latitude to dive your computer. Because they depart out of Lahaina, the ride to Lanai is as short as possible, and with big, wide boats are very comfortable for the crossing, which can get rough.
Lahaina Divers also does a LOT of Discover Scuba. These folks are put on the afternoon charters, which we've found to be the only full charters we've been on...so we avoid afternoon charters like the plague. Their boats take up to 23 divers, but we've rarely had more than about 18 on a morning charter with them. Fortunately the boats are so roomy that you won't feel crowded, but it's still more people than many prefer to dive with.
Although Lahaina Divers doesn't advertise or promote themselves this way, I always feel that they focus quite a bit more on the occasional or beginner diver. If you are experienced and let them know, they'll let you do your own thing, but they go under the assumption that everyone needs to be watched closely unless told otherwise. We know many of the guys who work for them, but we still remind them that we don't want to be babysat and the DMs don't worry about asking us what our tank pressure is, how we're doing, etc., they simply rely on us to tell them what we need.
I think that Lahaina Divers is a very good operation as long as you know what to expect. We prefer to dive with Ed Robinsons and really love their 3-tank charters, but will stick with Lahaina Divers for Lanai to take advantage of the comfortable (and shorter) ride across the channel.
