Best Sites for Critters in Maui?

[Phacops]

My spouse and I will be visiting Maui at the end of May. Both of us like UW photography and enjoy watching fish behaviors so we are planning to dive a few days. Me, I'm partial to invertebrates. What are the best sites/times to get the most out of our dives? Any recommendation for a good field guide is appreciated as I know Caribbean fish/invertebrates but am not as well versed on Pacific fauna.

This is our first time in Hawaii and am looking forward to it.

 

[Mauifish]

You are definatly going to see the difference right away, the hawaiian dives are not as colorful as the carib. very small coral by comparison, not as much invertabrates either but there are a lot of other sea creatures to make up for it. Will you be shore diving or boat diving?

 

[sea nmf]

See my post last month here:

Kidspot creates magic

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Well, kidspot created an almost perfect dive for us here on Maui yesterday. It was at Mala Beach, the old cement pier that collapsed during Iniki.

The water was clear and here are just the highlights:

Two eagle rays just flying leisurely with us for a good while

A shark that came out and just sort of swam around a bunch, giving us a great show

A bunch of turtles, one sleeping and the rest just swimming around

A pair of mating nudibranchs

Large schools of goat fish

A large white margin eel

I think it was a Kona crab

Swim throughs, etc.

Thanks, kidspot!!! We had a great time! Bob and Maggie from Michigan also came, Bob dove with us and Maggie shopped. She kind of regretted it after we told her how great it was. Maybe she will join us next Saturday.

Bob dove with his closed rebreather and was a sight to see - no bubbles!

Kidspot got 4 divers, six 80's, and a rebreather, plus all the fins, regs, masks, and the rest of the paraphernalia we all cart around into his Saturn. I'm surprised the car would even move! What a trooper!

We took our gear over to kidspot's to rinse off and he had a nice surprise. He had a delivery while we were out from Diver's supply. And he didn't even remember what he ordered! (It was high visibility line finger spools)

Anyway, we had a great time and did a 2nd dive at Old Airport Beach. It wasn't as spectacular as the first dive but fabulous viz and the whales were serenading us.

 

[Phacops]

Mahalo, Mauifish:

We could go either boat or shore and are used to shore diving, doing that almost exclusively when we visit Bonaire.

Yes, I expect things will be different, especially with those islands so isolated. But, isn't that the fun of it - to see differences. I expect that the pelagics will not be unique, except maybe in their distribution, but want to really observe any endemic life. So, advice from somebody who knows the area is really welcome.

We like to do things like watching trumpetfish shadowing a parrotfish, decorator crabs adding to their sponge covering, or batfish lurking around trying to pick off blennies. I think we are getting a little past the gee whiz aspect of diving and trying to learn about marine life behaviors.

 

[Mauifish]

Mahalo, Mauifish:

We could go either boat or shore and are used to shore diving, doing that almost exclusively when we visit Bonaire.

Yes, I expect things will be different, especially with those islands so isolated. But, isn't that the fun of it - to see differences. I expect that the pelagics will not be unique, except maybe in their distribution, but want to really observe any endemic life. So, advice from somebody who knows the area is really welcome.

We like to do things like watching trumpetfish shadowing a parrotfish, decorator crabs adding to their sponge covering, or batfish lurking around trying to pick off blennies. I think we are getting a little past the gee whiz aspect of diving and trying to learn about marine life behaviors.

I am sure the local "experts" of Maui are going to jump in here and give you lots of good advice but I will tell you a few good bits of info. The #1 dive destination on Maui is a boat dive, the famous Molokini crater not far off the shore of Kihei. I am not going to get into the old "who is best" dive boat operator, there are several good ones on Maui. As far as shore diving, the best spots start in south Kihei and go south to Makena, several good ones, one of my favorite is 5 caves/5 graves, any dive shop will tell you all about it. Green turtles are plentiful, lot's of octopi, you will probably see white tip reef sharks, especialy in the caves.On Maui, it's all good!!enjoy!!
ALOHA!!!

 

[KrisB]

Maui has lots of great shore diving, both in South Maui (Kihei/Wailea) and West Maui (Lahaina, Kaanapali). The two areas are separated by ~25 miles, but that doesn't mean you can necessarily do the commute in 30 minutes! Sometimes traffic on the Pali slows to a crawl, resulting in 2-3 hours for that drive.

So, it's best to consider the place you're staying when deciding where you want to look at diving... where is that?

Also, the boat dives here are very good. Molokini is a nice dive, with typical viz being 100+'. There are a plethora of dive ops that will take you out there, with only one or two bad apples (or... apples with areas you need to eat around).

Other boat dives worth considering: Lanai and the Molokini Backwall. If you want to dive these, you should consider experience and comfort level as well. Lanai will usually mean a stop at one or both Cathedrals (caverns)... the Molokini Backwall is a deep dive, with "no" bottom (well, it's 400' or so).

As for books... there are three books used nearly universally here for fish and invertebrate identification:

Hoover, John P.. Hawaii's Fishes: a guide for snorkelers divers and aquarists. Honolulu: Mutual Publishing, 2003. {ISBN: 1-56647-001-3}

Hoover, John P.. Hawai`i's Sea Creatures: a guide to Hawai`i's marine invertebrates. Honolulu: Mutual Publishing, 1998. {ISBN: 1-56647-220-2}

Randall, John E.. Shore Fishes of Hawai`i. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996. {ISBN: 0-8248-2182-3}

Hope that helps!

Let me know if you need a shore dive buddy in south Maui (Kihei/Wailea/Makena).

Cheers,

-kb

 

[kidspot]

Lots of good areas - In the Lahaina area, Mala Warf is a wonderful dive if conditions there are good and clear. Blackrock by the Sheraton is a nice dive with lots of "critters" in a small area. Airport beach is also a nice spot, especially for Juvenille fish. In Kihei check out Ulua beach and Makena landing.

Also don't forget to do a few night dives while here, lots of critters to see then.

Aloha, Tim

 

[DiveMaven]

You know, I'm not a big fan of diving at Molokini.....and I've seen some pretty cool things out there. The last few trips we've been on we've seen better critters at S. Maui sites. On one of our charters last December, our boat had engine problems so we couldn't go to Molokini, and literally nobody on the boat was disappointed or complained.

Like Tim, we've always enjoyed Mala Wharf and Blackrock and have never been disappointed in what we've seen there.

 

[Phacops]

Thanks all!

Staying at the Lahaina Shores so with the enthusiasm for Mala Wharf and Black Rock I think we are sure to try them. Also fascinated with octopi, so 5 graves looks like another good destination. But from comments, and realizing that there are differences from dive-to-dive, it looks like we are going to enjoy most everything. For the "signature" dive it seems like it's either Lanai or Molokini, so need to decide.

Now to find places to get tanks and weights for shore diving and perhaps check the shorediving.com to see what entries/exits are like.

 

[DiveMaven]

If I only had to choose one, either Molokini or Lanai, I'd choose Lanai. The magic of the cathedrals is something that can't be seen anywhere else, especially when the light is shining through just right.

Molokini is cool because it's unique in the world, but if you can usually see the same critters at in-shore sites.