Or the Pride of Maui, it's a big powered cat that does morning trips out to Molokini. You share the boat with a lot of snorkelers, snuba and other scuba divers. They provide all the equipment or you can bring your own if you have it. They do a nice lunch, they grill on the back deck. It's a big, tourist type trip though, most divers prefer to go with a dive op instead.
If this is your first trip to Maui, one thing to really consider is where you're staying. It's a 45 minute drive from Lahaina in NW Maui to Kihei/Wailea in SW Maui. Boats from Lahaina generally go to Lanai and dive the Cathedrals, boats from Kihei generally go to Molokini and dive the backwall if enough experienced divers are on the boat. If it's rough enough, it's a livedrop and pickup with 250' of water under you so be sure you know what to do. Otherwise you dive inside the crater - it's more protected and only 40'-60'.
Since they all leave early in the AM to get back in time before the winds pick up in the afternoon, it's probably better to go with a nearby outfit. Around Lahaina that would be Extended Horizons for small group trips and Lahaina Divers for larger groups. Lahaina Divers can be a cattleboat at times, but midweek I've been lucky enough to be on the boat with 10 or less. They have a bigger, more stable boat so the crossing to Lanai is smoother.
If you're staying down near Wailea/Kihei, the better operators there are B&B Scuba, Ed Robinsons or Mike Severns. They all launch out of the Kihei boat ramp so their boats are smaller. But it's a much shorter run to Molokini from there. In fact if you're staying up north and don't mind the drive in the early am, it's actually shorter to drive down to Kihei than it is to cross by boat from the Lahaina area.
Another option is Maui Dive Shop, they have the biggest boat, but are also more accustomed to dealing with newer divers. They'll generally put two DM's in the water for every group, good if you're going through swimthroughs. They leave out of Maalea which is south of Lahaina, almost 1/2 way between Lahaina and Kihei. They can be kind of inattentive though at times.
If you've never been to Maui, I'd stay up near Lahaina your first time. Lahaina is where most of the tourist attractions are, the galleries, the famous restaurants etc. Anywhere between Kaanapali and Lahaina is going to be nice. And Kapalua is going to be really nice, but a little far north from most everything. In my opinion more of the nicer beaches are to the north also. If you want to shoredive, there's Black Rock at the Sheraton and Airport Beach, they're more crowded but easier to find parking. In the south, we spent 1/2 our time waiting for someone to leave so we could park at some of the beach dive sites.
There's shopping there for the non-divers at Whalers Village and downtown Lahaina as well. Kihei and Wailea to the south tend to be quieter, Wailea is great if you're a golfer, but it's more of a drive to everything else. A lot more of the locals live in the Kihei area.
Having stayed in both areas several times, I'll stay north of Lahaina if I do it again. I don't do luau's so I can't help with that, although there was one in Lahaina that seemed to be packing them in. Another good day is the Maui Ocean Center.
To really see remote(well sort of) Maui, you should go to Hana, it's either a rough, twisty, exciting ride or you can take a helicopter. The helicopter trip is probably the best way to see parts of Maui you can't get to any other way, they take you up over the volcano(dormant) and then down close to waterfalls that drop vertically for hundreds of feet. But it's pretty expensive, I think a longer ride is in the $200 pp range now, I haven't done it in years. Do the Haleakala/Hana trip or the West Maui/Molokai trip. We went with Blue Hawaiian. There's also a fly/drive trip to Hana now, you fly over and ride in a van back.
On a non-diving day try the sunrise viewing or bike-ride down from Haleakala crater. It's at 10000' elevation though so don't do it after you've dove the previous day. And depending on where you stay, they're going to pick you up really early in the morning so ask about that. You can also do the parasailing, but I'd skip the jetski's - they're only allowed to ride in one area. I found the parasailing to be hohum also.
There was a fast jetboat ride that looked entertaining, they blew by us one day when we were coming back from Lanai, but they had mechanical problems the day we were scheduled so we missed it. Last but not least there's two subs on Maui, one goes to about 100' and the other's like a glass bottom boat. We did the deep one, but I've heard you see almost as much on the other one.
Can't recommend hotels, we always get condos on the beach. The Grand Wailea looked nice if you've got the cash, we ate there once and there's a nice little reef just off their beach. They have an onsite diveshack that rents anything you'll need. The divesite is called Wailea Beach, look it up at shorediving.com. A lot of posh resorts are in the Kaanapali area also.
Steve - your friendly insomniac tourguide.
