April on Maui

[Al Mialkovsky]

We did Lanai with the MDS. It was ok but nothing I'm going to reccomend to anyone. To be honest I was put off by the 15 minute begging for tips speech after we tied up to the dock.

 

[Charlie99]

According to the Extended Horizon's website , their boat is a 36' not 40', and the AuAu channel can get quite rough ( as it was today ), so I'd recommend doing Lanai with an outfit with a larger boat such as Lahaina divers or Maui Dive Shop. I use MDS and can HIGHLY recommend them...

One of the nice things about Maui is that there are a lot of good operators and one can pick and choose to get one that matches up with your preferences. I prefer the 36' Extended Horizons boat with 12 passengers over the 46' Lahaina Divers boat with 24 customers. For others, the bigger boat is better. For divers that really want a wild ride, take Hawaiian Rafting RHIB, also out of Mala ramp. 12 passengers. No head.

For me, the the right tradeoff is Extended Horizons ----big enough for a reasonable ride, has a head, and 12 passengers max.

Charlie Allen
getting restless waiting for my Monday flight to Maui!

 

[steveinathens]

15 minute begging for tips speech

I call bull****. I've dove with MDS over 60 dives over a 4+ year period and i've never heard a 15 minute speech on tips. Its always mentioned at the end of the trip, but never more than a few sentences...

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

Call BS all you want. It was enough that we've never gone with them again.

As far as I'm concerned if you have to "mention" it you haven't earned it.

 

[steveinathens]

so what your saying is it really was NOT 15 minutes just based on the tip jar?

 

[DiveMaven]

One of the nice things about Maui is that there are a lot of good operators and one can pick and choose to get one that matches up with your preferences.

Charlie, you are SOOOO right with this statement!! I've also always appreciated how the Hawai'i O'Hana board usually refrains from bad mouthing dive ops and instead just provides positive things to say about their preferred op. Makes it easier for everyone to share their own feelings and opinions, and in my case, provided me with information I needed when we decided to dive from Kihei this spring. :14:

 

[DiverDebbie]

Before we went to Maui we got tons of recommendations and I didn't hear anything really bad about any of the ops in Maui. Some of the boats take more divers, some are more geared towards new divers, some stick more to a schedule and others are more flexible. I think Charlie hit it on the nose. Everyone has different preferences. Find something that suits your own personal needs. We went with MDS and although the Molokini crew were friendly than the Lanai crew, the Maka Koa which we took to Lanai is 48' ft. and was a nice comfortable ride. Even though I don't get seasick, I personally like the bigger boats. If you get seasick, stay away from catamarans and stick to the single hull boats. On the flip side it does hold more divers but we still had a group of 6. They mentioned tips and pointed out where the tip jar was, but that was about it. I didn't feel pressured at all. Maybe they realised they needed to tone it down. I wouldn't highly recommend them, but I also don't have anything negative to say.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

so what your saying is it really was NOT 15 minutes just based on the tip jar?

Listen my friend. You call BS when I made a statement on a trip YOU weren't on. I just read to my wife your comment and she laughed. Guess what, she was on the trip. They tied us up to the dock and each dive leader spend a few minutes doing their little stories and asking for a tip. I didn't like it. They took up 15 minutes of my time. You don't believe me and now I ask myself if you're just trying to "trip" me up or something. I don't care if you don't believe me.

The dive leader we were assigned to was lazy and had short timers disease. He no longer works there. He was a bragger on the boat and did nothing during the dive to show anyone anything. It sucked. I hated it and regretted going. It was the worst dive experience I've ever had on Maui and after all that they had the nerve to waste my time begging for a tip.

If you enjoy the MDS then congratulations, they're staying in business and they've made you happy. Good for them. Maybe they've changed BUT if you go back through lots of old threads on this forum you're going to find a lot of shops getting praise. Very seldom does the MDS and very seldom does Scuba Shack.

I am an instructor and going out with top operations such as B&B has benifited myself and my students. Going out with operations that aren't so hot has also benifited my students as I learn from those type of operations too.

I'm impressed with many aspects of the MDS. They are hugely successful. They are slick and they'll sell you a t-shirt and a luau in the same breath. Good for them. It's a business plan that works well.

I don't care to dive with them is all and now you can call BS on something you know nothing about once again. It's ok, I'm not angry that you disagree. You have the right to express yourself and I won't even call BS.

Unless you tell me what happened on my trip with them, I was there for that

 

[steveinathens]

just now getting a chance to respond since i traveled back home, and the forum has been acting crazy the last few days. I'm sorry you didnt have a good experience with them. it surprises me because i've never experienced what you did with them on many trips, hence the reason i called BS. i will admit i do have some bias when it comes to MDS because my sister used to work there, i have come to know many of the DM's / Captains, and i even dive for free sometimes.

Anyway, we got off subject here, i think we can all agree, DIVE LANAI!!!!