Begging for Maui dive advice!

[Out2Sea]

Good day and great news! almtree: artytime I am heading to Maui for a couple weeks next spring - May 2006 and would enjoy some advice about which dive shop to go through, should I go for the boat dives, &/or are the beach dives great too, perhaps should I book here in Canada with a local dive agent, or do it there? Phew, so many questions, so little time! Thanks in advance for all of your wisdom
Have a wonderful day!
Connie

 

[DiveMaven]

<LOL> So little time?? You're too funny!

General answers to your questions would be that shore diving in Maui is very good. There are some very good spots all up and down the West coast where you can rent tanks and shore dive to you heart's content. Maui Dive Shop publishes a free dive magazine (which they will send you before if you want), which has all the shore diving information in it.

Probably the best dive ops on Maui are B&B, Mike Severns, and Ed Robinsons. That seems to be the opinion of most people who have experienced Maui diving. They all depart out of the Kehei area.

If you want a guide for shore diving, Shakka Doug is the go-to guy. He is on this board and I'm sure will share.

Many will tell you that if you've never dove Maui, you should put Molokini on your "must dive" list. Some say that the backwall is the only part of Molokini worth diving, others really enjoy the crater. Having dove the crater, I definitely enjoyed the fishies, garden eels, whale songs, etc. We'll be diving the backwall for the first time next week, so I'll know more about that then. You also might want to dive Lanai. The cathedrals are reported to be a fabulous dive, and I know there are quite a few other sites on Lanai worth diving. Again, we're diving Lanai (2 charters) next week, so will have a full report then.

Tim, Al, can you help me here??

 

[Wildcard]

Also add the shark dive at the Maui Ocean Center. Best dive I have ever done!

 

[KrisB]

I'd add Maui Dreams Dive Co. ( http://www.mauidreamsdiveco.com/ ) as the best dive shop in South Maui (Kihei)... and I haven't heard that disputed here.

They do guided dives and instruction, so if you're looking for bricks&mortar, you might want to make them your first stop, as many of the other dive ops operate out of their boats (MSD, ERDA) or bus (Shaka Doug).

Their rentals are very inexpensive, yet top quality gear, and they keep a buddy book if you're looking for some locals to go diving with.

BTW: I only use Maui Dive Shop for the free Maui Dive Guide -- I'd steer clear of their shop for a variety of reasons.

HTH,

 

[kidspot]

I've heard good things about the following shops/operators:

Kihei:
Pro Divers (Boat)
Ed Robinsons (Boat)
Mike Severns (Boat)
B&B (Boat)
Maui Dreams (shore)
Shaka Doug (shore)

Lahaina:
Pacific Dive (shore)
Lahaina Divers (boat)

Lahaina Divers is a "cattle boat" operation, but they seem to run a fairly consistent "good" operation for newer divers. Common complaints are short dives and fills, with small tanks.

Maui Dive Shop has made a lot of people very happy ... and a lot of people very angry ... lol it all depends on who the DM/Instructor was

Lots of other shops/guides around and "most" are good to deal with ... the few who are bad you can usually spot in their demeanor upfront ...

Aloha, Tim

 

[KrisB]

Also, one question I forgot to answer: DO NOT book with an agent in Canada. Take the advice here and CONTACT THE OPERATIONS DIRECTLY. If you need URLS for any of them, please just ask.

One thing that was completely foreign to me when I first went to Hawaii is the "referral" systems. *Everybody* wants to sell you scuba and snorkel trips... and they get kickbacks when they sell space on someone's boat. The sticker price is usually the same when you contact the company directly, but oftentimes, the website will say "mention our web site, and get 10% off"... so the best bet is to do the research with the Maui dive ops directly... you'll save a lot of money, and you can be assured of the quality you will get.

Feel free to PM me if you want any more tips from a fellow Canuck.

HTH,

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

On our last trip we did 11 boat dives with B&B Scuba and loved every one of them. Then we spent a lot of time shore diving. As stated Shaka Doug will show you a great time if you want guided shore dives.

 

[mossym]

i dove ed robinsons and loved it. if you do a search you'll see that all of the named operators have a lot of loyal fans, who always swear by them when a post like this comes up, in honesty you probably can't go wrong with any of them.

 

[Out2Sea]

Thank-you all for the great advice, I will be checking it all out. Fantastic!!!

 

[Scottri]

My choices for Ops are: Mike Severns, Ed Robinsons and Maui Dreams. All leave out of Kehei. There is some very good shore diving in Maui. Just ask at Maui Dreams and the can arrange a guide or give you suggestions. Some of the sites I really like for shore diving are: Ulua Beach (easy entry, easy dive), Five Graves (rough entry and a little more advanced), Black Rock (one of the best spots on the island for a shore dive).


Scott