Dive ops leave at 5:30AM are you serious???

[Chocoholic]

Ok, I just read that most of the OPs leave really early, like 5:30 or 6:30 AM! I am not an early riser, but I love to dive. (I think 8am on holiday is early.) So which Dive Op out of Maui leaves the latest? I like to photograph stuff and there won't be much light that early. I'm in Alaska and I think our time is only 1 hour ahead of Hawaii, so that is still early for me.
I am hoping to do lots of shore diving in September and maybe 3 boat days. My hubby will hopefully be a diver by then and will most likely be doing the shore diving, with a guide. His cousin is a newbie diver and will be doing the shore diving too, maybe one day on a boat. I am hoping to go to Molokini and dive the back side of it too.
Thanks all.

PS Happy Father's Day!

 

[DiveMaven]

Ed Robinson's departs the boat ramp at about 6:45am. B&B is the dive op that departs before 6am. My husband is a photographer as well and we dive with Ed Robinson's in the winter. There's plenty of light for photography by the time we hit the water. If you're going in September, you'll have no problem.

 

[Chugwhump]

I am sitting here in SE Florida and wondering why would the boats would need to leave so early?
3 trips a day?
Long travel distances?
The boat hauls para-sailors around starting at 11:00 am?
The crew has to go to their day jobs after the morning trip?
You dive 5-6 tanks and come back after dark?
I am curious.
We do that here, but only for 2 days of lobster mini-season in July when the boats make 4 or even 5 trips a day.
Chug
Has not been to Hawaii.

 

[TSandM]

Some of it has to do with the winds. The calmest water is in the early mornings -- as the day wears on, the trade winds come up and the surface gets much choppier.

 

[Brandon]

Does Lahaina Divers still run an afternoon boat? If so... that's your best chance for a late departure, but like Lynn said - it's going to be choppy and a bumpy ride.

If you have non-diving family, look at the bright side - you'll be back by 10:30am and have the rest of the day to spend with them =)

 

[DiveMaven]

Lahaina Divers only has afternoon boats to close-by sites to Lahaina. If you want to go to Molokini, you'll pretty much have to do a morning charter.

Lynn's right, the afternoon trades pick up and can make the channel between Lanai and Maui very rough. You typically will see white caps all the way across the water in the afternoons. Mornings generally give you the best conditions.

 

[Chocoholic]

I'll just have to suck it up and go for it for at least a couple days, then do shore diving.

 

[friscuba]

It seems to me that Extended Horizons was more like 8:00 -8:15, quite tolerable for us. We're used to Kona where there aren't regular wind issues and most of the dive operators launch between 8:00 and 9:30.

Edit: Wow, was I ever off on Extended Horizons start time. We stayed at a hotel pretty close to the wharf, must have felt like sleeping in compared to the drives we did to Kihei in the past.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

This is the web site advertised check-in times for the Molokini boats launching from Kihei Small Boat Ramp;

B&B, the earliest boat most of the time, has a 5:45 check-in and probably occasionally leaves by 6:00.

Prodiver check-in at 6:00, and since it's just taking max 6 guests they probably occasionally leave by 6:00.

Those two boats are "in the water" at check-in time, so they are the earliest two by a good margin. The rest of the boats do check-in with the boat still on the trailer.

Mike Severns check-in at 6:00.

Makena Coast check-in at 6:30.

The latest boat, Dive & Sea's Sundance III, has a 7:30 check-in; back noon-12:30.

Scuba Shack has one boat, Ed Robinson has two, but neither states check-in time on their web site. I'm guestimating Scuba Shack 6:00, Ed Robinson 6:30.

The slowest of these boats might take 20-ish minutes to get to Molokini. Return trips around noon could be 40-ish minutes no matter how fast your boat is.

Ma'alaea Harbor departures for either Molokini or Lanai;

Maui Dive Shop check-in at the Ma'alaea Maui Dive Shop at 6:15.

Maui Diamond II check-in at the slip at 6:30.

Molokini is ~45 minutes on calm water, at least an hour getting back most days; these are bigger boats. Lanai, with MDS, is about an hour there, +/- hour and a half getting back. (all these times wild guestimates - never personally made these trips on these boats)

Lahaina Harbor departing for Lanai, Molokini and Molokai;

Lahaina Divers check-in (slip or shop ) at 7:00, 9:00 for the Lanai Drift which I have never heard of anyone doing, employee or guest, but it's on the web site. They also have mid day and afternoon trips various days.

Mala Ramp departures for Lanai;

Extended Horizons check-in at 6:45, with boat on trailer. There is a once a week mid-day trip to the Carthaginian Wreck and occasional afternoon trips.

Hawaiian Rafting Adventures check-in at 8:00, boat on the trailer.

Lanai dive sites are 30-45 minutes from Lahaina, :45-1:30 getting back (Shark Fin - rough day).

 

[StuartT]

Alaska is 2 hours ahead of Maui in Sept. So your body clock will want you to get up 2 hours before your normal wake up time anyway. We live just outside of Vancouver, B.C. and when we are there we are typically up around 5:00 am Maui time. As others have said most ops want to be done the 2 tanks by 10 or 11 to avoid the almost daily tradewinds that can make the ride back very bumpy and slow. Another thing we found out about Maui is 9:00 pm is like midnight everywhere else. Not really a big nightlife scene. Have a great time. You can do all the shore diving you want at times that suit you.