Curious: Are AL80's unusual on Maui?

[pauldw]

My family is going to vacation on Maui this fall, up a bit north of Lahaina. I'm thinking we should easily be able to do shore diving while we're there. A lot of dive shops still appear to be recovering from the fire, so that may affect whether we can go on a boat dive. One of the dive shops, on its web page, explaining why people should use them for a boat dive, proudly states that they have aluminum 80 tanks so that people can stay down longer (although, in point of fact, apparently only as long as the fastest air consumer in the group). Are AL80's really a marketing point in Hawaii, or in Maui specifically? I've never heard of any place that rents smaller than AL80's. Is smaller common there? I have heard of dive shops elsewhere in the world that brag about HP100's for extending dive time, which I understand and which seems like a marketing point. Why are AL80's a marketing point? It almost feels as if they think we're clueless.

 

[inquis]

I wonder if it's a mistake and actually meant AL100s. AL80s are everywhere in Maui.

 

[scubadada]

If I remember correctly, Lahaina Divers used steel 72s, at least when my son and I dived with them in 2003. I was surprised, even then.

 

[inquis]

Everyone on the Lahaina Divers boat had 80s when I used them in 2021. They may still have 72s, but we weren't presented with a choice.

@pauldw, perhaps send that shop an email asking for clarification. If it was a disconnect by the website company, I'm sure they'd like to know!

 

[landphil]

although, in point of fact, apparently only as long as the fastest air consumer in the group

On most of those big group Maui guided dives the DM will send divers back to the anchor line for their safety stop as they run low on air. So, you’ll get to use the full hour they set as a limit if your air consumption is good. Especially since you’re pretty shallow at the end of the dive so the DM can track the divers heading back to the boat.

I dove with Maui Diamond out of Maalaea Harbor last time I was there. It’s a nice, well-run boat. Pretty much everything you want, except not cheap. And 100% Al80s

 

[kinoons]

I’m heading out in early to mid July to the same area of Maui. There were one or two shops in the area I reached out to that responded that they are renting tanks and weights for me and my daughter to go shore diving on our own. This will be my 6th or 7th trip diving to the island and I’ve always used AL80s. I’ll report back after the trip what I find, but I’m expecting the same.

Interestingly they did have a few AL63s at Maui diving our last trip immediately before the fires. My daughter liked those as she was 11 at the time and found the shorter bottle less cumbersome.

 

[LFMarm]

In my experience AL80 is the standard but some shops have AL72 that are nice for the mostly very shallow diving around Maui.

 

[tridacna]

I wonder if it's a mistake and actually meant AL100s. AL80s are everywhere in Maui.

Shops that rent AL100s that are filled to 2900psi crack me up. You get a balloon with not that much more air than an AL80. I've yet to see a tropical dive shop that fill those properly.