Gopherdown
Registered
Well - I've been mostly lurking here for several years and not adding much myself. I've mooched a lot of good advice and made good Dive-op decisions based on your recommendations.
I never felt that I had anything much useful to say or share but that changed on my recent trip to Maui. We were on the island from the 31st to the 17th of Feb. I had a chance to dive with 3 ops. I've always liked Mike Severns (this is our 4th visit to Maui and my 4th round of dives with them). I got to go out twice with them. For the other dives, I was forced to find ops that would allow snorkelers so that my wife and I could spend a little time together this trip
I got in 17 dives in total and used Lahaina Divers while we stayed in Lahaina and MDS when we moved the last week to Wailea.
The dive I'm going to tell you about was my first dive of the trip and it was with Severns. We made it to the backwall and Warren was the DM that day. Only 5 divers on the boat (I know - hard to take).
We hit the wall and had just started the dive, maybe we were at about 65 feet. Warren had his light on and was looking for very small things on the wall. The rest of the group was with him. I happened to look out because I'm always hoping to see something bigger out there. I did.
What I saw was a big shark swimming toward me. So - first dive of the trip - I live on the prairies - judging distance and size of fish is still something inexact for me. I just knew he was big. I have one of those irritating Hammerhead noisemakers on my BC. I don't usually use it (see above reference to "irritating"), but on this occasion I looked at the shark, looked at Warren, looked at the shark, looked at Warren and thought "hell, he should really see this". I hit the duck-quack a few times and he finally looked around, looking irritated (I told you). I pointed at the shark - still getting bigger - and Warren turned to look. He looked back at me and I usually can't tell expressions by looking into a mask, but I got a very distinct "very cool" from him and a shaka sign just to emphasize.
The shark then turned right and swam across in front of us at about 20 feet away. He was very big and he had that type of swim that said "I own this ocean" - I guess he did. We watched the show until he left and went back to looking at our little critters on the wall.
My buddy for the day and I were both big guys so we were the first to start heading back to the boat. When we sufaced, Captain Andy said "Can't pick you up right now, there are whales between you and the boat." Cool. We looked around and saw the Mom humpback and her baby swimming about 10 feet from us. We came up without seeing her underwater at all. Andy said that they had been pestering the boat for almost the whole time we were diving. We just sat at the surface and experienced the whale watching from front row seats for a few minutes.
Once we climbed on the boat, I got the chance to tell Andy that we saw a big shark. He asked "what type" and I didn't know - the kind with teeth and looks like a shark. He asked "how big" - again, I didn't know, I don't see them much. I guessed 9 feet. We then talked back and forth about the whales around the boat and that he had been watching 2 males chasing the female. Sure enough, taking their stage directions from Andy, the two males surfaced and sat their with their entire heads above the water for a moment. This is already my coolest dive.
Next on the boat was Warren with two irritatingly small people who seemed to be able to breathe forever. I swear that this was the only person who would go into deco without running out of air on a 30 foot dive. Anyway, they finally came back and when Warren got on the boat, Andy asked him what kind of shark. I'm sure he was thinking the same thing I was. Prairie guy probably saw a big jack and thinks he saw Bruce the shark.
Warren said "Tiger, 12 feet". That got Andy's attention. He looked at me and said "Do you know how rare it is to see a Tiger in the water and we've almost never seen them on the backwall when whales are there too." I said, "I don't know, I've been here for one dive so far this year and I've seen a Tiger on 100% of my dives. Where are we going next? I have high expectations."
I looked at Warren and apologized for using the noisemaker and he said that he normally doesn't like them, but based on that dive I was invited to use it with him anytime. That was funny.
I did find out that the biggest risk on the Severns boat was if you happen to be a peanut butter cookie. Andy's not to fussy on the chocolate chip ones, but with peanut butter I felt that I was more likely to lose a finger at the cookie bin than with the shark.
From the shark's point of view, I'm sure he had his own opinions. I can see him talking to his travel agent, "You told me I might see rubber things on the backwall but that they never turn around. They all looked at me. It really freaked me out, man."
I will say that for all the ops I dove with, I never had a bad dive. Over the two and a half weeks I saw mantas, turtles, lots of the white tip sharks (who now seem like puppy dogs), eels, frogfish and a ton of other stuff. I have nothing but respect and thanks for all the captains (everyone was experienced and capable), the DMs and front office people I encountered. I will say that people there "get it right" and make it a very enjoyable experience for the tourist divers.
Me? I'm going back there every chance I get, but I warn all the ops - I have very high expectations (even from Captain Gino from MDS who seemed to be able to cue up a whale breach).
I never felt that I had anything much useful to say or share but that changed on my recent trip to Maui. We were on the island from the 31st to the 17th of Feb. I had a chance to dive with 3 ops. I've always liked Mike Severns (this is our 4th visit to Maui and my 4th round of dives with them). I got to go out twice with them. For the other dives, I was forced to find ops that would allow snorkelers so that my wife and I could spend a little time together this trip
I got in 17 dives in total and used Lahaina Divers while we stayed in Lahaina and MDS when we moved the last week to Wailea.
The dive I'm going to tell you about was my first dive of the trip and it was with Severns. We made it to the backwall and Warren was the DM that day. Only 5 divers on the boat (I know - hard to take).
We hit the wall and had just started the dive, maybe we were at about 65 feet. Warren had his light on and was looking for very small things on the wall. The rest of the group was with him. I happened to look out because I'm always hoping to see something bigger out there. I did.
What I saw was a big shark swimming toward me. So - first dive of the trip - I live on the prairies - judging distance and size of fish is still something inexact for me. I just knew he was big. I have one of those irritating Hammerhead noisemakers on my BC. I don't usually use it (see above reference to "irritating"), but on this occasion I looked at the shark, looked at Warren, looked at the shark, looked at Warren and thought "hell, he should really see this". I hit the duck-quack a few times and he finally looked around, looking irritated (I told you). I pointed at the shark - still getting bigger - and Warren turned to look. He looked back at me and I usually can't tell expressions by looking into a mask, but I got a very distinct "very cool" from him and a shaka sign just to emphasize.
The shark then turned right and swam across in front of us at about 20 feet away. He was very big and he had that type of swim that said "I own this ocean" - I guess he did. We watched the show until he left and went back to looking at our little critters on the wall.
My buddy for the day and I were both big guys so we were the first to start heading back to the boat. When we sufaced, Captain Andy said "Can't pick you up right now, there are whales between you and the boat." Cool. We looked around and saw the Mom humpback and her baby swimming about 10 feet from us. We came up without seeing her underwater at all. Andy said that they had been pestering the boat for almost the whole time we were diving. We just sat at the surface and experienced the whale watching from front row seats for a few minutes.
Once we climbed on the boat, I got the chance to tell Andy that we saw a big shark. He asked "what type" and I didn't know - the kind with teeth and looks like a shark. He asked "how big" - again, I didn't know, I don't see them much. I guessed 9 feet. We then talked back and forth about the whales around the boat and that he had been watching 2 males chasing the female. Sure enough, taking their stage directions from Andy, the two males surfaced and sat their with their entire heads above the water for a moment. This is already my coolest dive.
Next on the boat was Warren with two irritatingly small people who seemed to be able to breathe forever. I swear that this was the only person who would go into deco without running out of air on a 30 foot dive. Anyway, they finally came back and when Warren got on the boat, Andy asked him what kind of shark. I'm sure he was thinking the same thing I was. Prairie guy probably saw a big jack and thinks he saw Bruce the shark.
Warren said "Tiger, 12 feet". That got Andy's attention. He looked at me and said "Do you know how rare it is to see a Tiger in the water and we've almost never seen them on the backwall when whales are there too." I said, "I don't know, I've been here for one dive so far this year and I've seen a Tiger on 100% of my dives. Where are we going next? I have high expectations."
I looked at Warren and apologized for using the noisemaker and he said that he normally doesn't like them, but based on that dive I was invited to use it with him anytime. That was funny.
I did find out that the biggest risk on the Severns boat was if you happen to be a peanut butter cookie. Andy's not to fussy on the chocolate chip ones, but with peanut butter I felt that I was more likely to lose a finger at the cookie bin than with the shark.
From the shark's point of view, I'm sure he had his own opinions. I can see him talking to his travel agent, "You told me I might see rubber things on the backwall but that they never turn around. They all looked at me. It really freaked me out, man."
I will say that for all the ops I dove with, I never had a bad dive. Over the two and a half weeks I saw mantas, turtles, lots of the white tip sharks (who now seem like puppy dogs), eels, frogfish and a ton of other stuff. I have nothing but respect and thanks for all the captains (everyone was experienced and capable), the DMs and front office people I encountered. I will say that people there "get it right" and make it a very enjoyable experience for the tourist divers.
Me? I'm going back there every chance I get, but I warn all the ops - I have very high expectations (even from Captain Gino from MDS who seemed to be able to cue up a whale breach).
