Any recommendations for scuba shop in Maui Oct 18th-23rd

[striper]

Have a great time, me and my wife are going there the following week to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary and staying in Wailea beach area. We are in a similar situation except that we got my wife cert. last year in the Caymans and it was the best thing I did (I always have a dive buddy for the less adv dives).

If not to much trouble let me know how you guys make out with the recommended dive operations we are newbies to Maui as well. You can send PM message or post.

Thanks
have a fun + safe dive trip

 

[DiveMaven]

striper, you'll be on the other end of the island from the OP, so it'll be better for you to catch a charter out of the Kihei boat ramp. In the Kihei/Wailea area, I'll recommend Ed Robinsons, B&B, and Dive & Sea as great choices. For shore diving, check out Maui Dreams and Shaka Doug.

The most important thing IMO is to have an excellent dive guide. They can make the difference between seeing a lot of creatures and seeing nothing. You don't want to take an "underwater tour" in Hawaii, you want to go slowly and look for all of the hidden marine life. There's a lot to see, but you have to know where and what you're looking for. And since Hawaii has so much endemic marine life that can only be seen there, it is so important to have a guide who wants to show it all to you.

 

[scubahawk27]

I agree with Divemaven, try to hook up with Dave Ames on the B&B Boat out of Kihei Boat ramp. All of the DM's are fun and really know where the good stuff are located.Dave Fuller on Ed's boat is also about the most fun you can have with your wetsuit on. You really have to look closely as you are moving across the reef. If you don't, you will miss most everything.


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[striper]

Sound good Ed seems to be well know with a very good reputation and the others mentioned do too.

thanks DM +SH

 

[lnjohn]

I made the trip to Wailea to meetup with Greg and Elizabeth (scubahawk and wife) and had a great dive. Their scooters are the riding type which leaves your hands free to explore. They provided a thorough dive briefing, explained how the scooters worked and we were quickly on our way. The dive was extraordinary and the scooters will spoil you so be prepared to feel sorry for the divers without scooters that you will pass while diving. Our max depth was 61 feet, dive time 47 minutes and water temp 75 degrees. We entered the water with aluminum 80's at 2800 psi and exited with 842 psi in my case. Immediately on our way out to the reefs we encountered 2 spotted eagle rays, followed by an octopus that I missed. There were schools of fish, eels, green sea turtles, a white tip reef shark and lots of divers in the water. We explored some caverns and swim throughs and even encountered a very large monk seal in a cave. I highly recommend this dive and would do it again in a heartbeat. For those of you staying in Lahaina, be prepared for a drive of 50- 60 minutes to arrive at the destination. This was my first riding scooter adventure, and streamlining is essential. I ended up tightening my mask and taking my regulator out of it's normal hose clip as you are moving at a higher rate of speed than normal. The learning curve was quick and I got the hang of it quickly. Thanks again Greg and Elizabeth.

 

[scubahawk27]

Thanks John for the complete write up. That was an awesome dive. Can't believe all the marine life we saw! You never know what your going to see underwater. Look forward to taking you out again on your next trip.


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[motspach]

just finished a weeks diving with Scuba shack in kihei... can't recommend them enough. Best prices, best service and a great bunch of guys to boot

 

[striper]

Got back last Monday had a great time, dove a couple dives out of the Marriott resort Wailea with Jerry as a guild, great guy we saw lots fish, octopus and urchins. We used Maui dive and surf out of Kehei for our two boat dives which worked out very good, clean safe boat with a good crew and good food. Maui dive provide pick up and drop off at the hotel, breakfast and lunch on the boat with there two tank dives and also gave us free t shirts. We also went a little farther south on the island to Mekena landing and dove a couple solo dives there, good facility's and nice beach entry / exit and we saw a lot of large turtles. We also check in to our hotel just in times to evacuated for the tsunami on Saturday 10/27/12 thankfully it was small and had no in-packed on the coast.
Thanks for the recommendations and Safe Diving!
Jim + Laureen

 

[DiveMaven]

Sounds like a good trip! Makena Landing can be a really great site to not only see turtles, but sharks, frog fish, and all sorts of nudibranchs. Did you find the caves?

Sounds like you enjoyed diving with Maui Dive Shop (aka Maui Dive and Surf). It's always good to hear when people enjoy the different operators.

 

[striper]

Yes on our last dive we found the caves and there was a gray tip shark hanging out in the first cave. Either I was not looking hard enough or the frog fish are rare.