First trip to Maui in Feb

[freewillie]

Molokini is a marine preserve site. It has lots of coral formations and is not suitable for training dives, hence no dive company takes divers there for OW training.

I'd echo the thoughts on Lahaina Divers. In Ka'anapali your would be the closest to Lahaina. You could drive to Kihei and the Makena Landing but that is at least 20-30 minutes past Lahaina depending on traffic. My experience with Lahaina Divers was great. I booked an evening night dive with them. The first part of the dive was at a wreck the Carthaginian. It sits around 90 ft water, too deep for my 14 yo daughter with Jr OW certification and she sat out the first dive. I mentioned this to the shop, that she only did 1 tank instead of the standard 2 tanks. The gave me a small refund on the spot, no further questions. Great customer service for me.

All of the previous recommendations for restaurants as above. Mama's Fish house is 30 min drive from Ka'anapali but the setting is spectacular and the food is superb. We always make it a point to eat there when we are in Maui. If the drive is a little long you could plan to stop for lunch if time allows when you arrive or later as you drive back to the airport. Aloha Mixed plate reasonably price local food. Hula Grill and Leilani's are next to each other at the Whaler's Village. We also had a great lunch at the Maui Ocean Center. You don't actually have to go into the Aquarium to eat there, it is accessable to the general public without admission. Nice view of the harbor and it sits next to the large aquarium tank with fish swimming by as you eat.

 

[diversteve]

How strange that Lahaina Divers would say the training dives are from shore. Every time we've done an afternoon charter with them to "Turtle Reef" we've had divers in training on the boat. Also, this is copied from their website and clearly says all dives are from their boat:

Twice for us also - but we haven't dove with them recently.

Do you think it is worth the experience,not getting to dive from the boat?

Actually getting certified on shore is likely better. Your husband will learn how to do beach entries, assist his buddy (you someday?), don his fins while floating offshore, identify wave sets for the best entry etc.

Falling off a boat is a lot easier...

 

[Shaka Doug]

Cool! You'll be here for (part of) World Whale Day!!! A big festival in Kihei on the 16th! Get off the plane and come straight to Kihei for lots of fun, food, crafts, music and more!!

 

[pjhansman]

World Whale Day!!! Perfect.....see y'all there.

 

[Ouvea]

Hi Guys:

I'm headed to Maui in April and would like to get a few days of diving. Molokini looks very nice, especially the back side where you're diving next to a wall that drops into an abyssal trench. Are there any other dive sites that you would recommend? I will be spending seven days and would like to dive 2-3 days.

I was in Kauai last year, around the same time. After an hour in the water with my 3mm fullsuit (3mm vest and hood), I was fairly chilled. Is the water around Maui warmer or is the temperature consistent around all the islands?

 

[merxlin]

I had 74-76 degrees coastline, Molokini and bluewater off Molokai from 130ft to 40 ft last week. I'm not sure what the temps due later in the spring, but warmest I've seen other time of the year were all 78 or less unless really shallow.

 

[DiveMaven]

For the past 3 years during the first week of April, the water temperatures were consistently 72-73 degrees. If you have a 5mm full suit, you might want to bring it. Also, you can't always warm up sufficiently during surface intervals, making for an even colder second dive.

 

[philba]

My girlfriend and I just came back from Maui. We did the PADI OW tropical referral (I think that's what it's called). Did academic and pool work in Seattle and open water skills dives with B&B Scuba (in Kihei). All 4 open water dives were from a boat over a 2 day period. and yes, both days we went to Molokini (the other two dives were at Wailea point). Note that when you are working on skills, you won't get much time to "enjoy the scenery". B&B is a wonderful operator and a little cheaper than others for the OW referral dives. I do know that B&B also does 2 beach dives for OW cert training but then 2 from the boat. In general, I would say about 1/4 of the divers on the 3 boat trips I did were training for OW.

We also did a 3rd day of diving with B&B but the wind and waves were such that Molokini was out so we did 5 graves (5 caves?) and an artificial reef with a sunken boat (I forget the site name). 5 graves was murky (big storm 2 nights earlier) but the sunken boat was really nice - sort of wreck diving. Cool seeing a moray sticking out of a hole in the railing. Lots of fish at that site, too.

I recommend B&B - large, very fast well set up dive boat. Excellent captain and crew. All the guides are really good. No attitude at all. Our instructor, Lizzie, was very patient with us. She usually works for scuba shack, though. The boat leaves the Kihei boat ramp really early - 6AM or so. Late sleepers might have a problem with that. Personally, I love that we got 2 dives in and were back by 10AM. Being the first to Molokini is a good thing as it can get pretty crowded later on. One thing though - leaving at dawn has some risk. On the second day going to Molokini, we struck a surfacing whale. I was watching as we were going and never saw any indication of the whale until the bump. No damage to the boat and the whale seemed to shrug it off. It surfaced very close to the boat and cruised on. The capt and crew acted responsibly - cut the motor immediately, inspected the props and hull. Looked over the whale when it surfaced. Some times you just get unlucky. They said it was the first time in 10 years of operation that they hit a whale.

 

[geoff w]

...He would like to get open water certification completed(he has completed his lessons in IL) in Maui. On researching a lot, I found a few good diving companies- however not sure which one to go with. We will be staying at a hotel in Kaanapali beach area.
I found Mike severns good, however they don't do open water certification, but only experienced divers. I then short listed B&B and Ed Robinson's, Maui scuba diving. On speaking to several diving companies I learned that they have banned certification dives in Molokini Crater(Lahaina divers wont take there), is that true? Also Extended Diving will give all 4 dives on the shore, no boat dive(thus we cancelled to go with them)Any recommendations on which one to go for??I would also like an Introductory dive, any suggestions on that??

I am also trying to search for a good company for Snorkel and whale watching.. I found pacific foundation and Pride of Maui with good reviews.. any suggestions on that??...

You should also check out Maui Dreams. Their shop is in Kihei, but the boat leave from Maalaea. I have not dived with them before, but always get fantastic service in their shop and plan to use them for at least one day of diving on one of my next trips to Maui. Very low key but professional operation, and they do all levels of dive training

This time of year you're likely to see (and hear) whales on just about every dive trip

...I'm headed to Maui in April and would like to get a few days of diving. Molokini looks very nice, especially the back side where you're diving next to a wall that drops into an abyssal trench. Are there any other dive sites that you would recommend? I will be spending seven days and would like to dive 2-3 days.

I was in Kauai last year, around the same time. After an hour in the water with my 3mm fullsuit (3mm vest and hood), I was fairly chilled. Is the water around Maui warmer or is the temperature consistent around all the islands?

We just got back from Maui a few weeks ago, and dove in full 5mm suits with hooded vests underneath. Two tank hour long dives are doable. All the locals dive in 7mm suits - at the start of the season, they are 7mm, and at the end of the season when the water is warm, they're down to 3mm. One suit that does it all. At home I dive with a 7mm and hooded vest, and am only good for one dive, unless I'm diving dry. Water here last weekend was a good 20 degrees colder than in Maui!

... an artificial reef with a sunken boat (I forget the site name). 5 graves was murky (big storm 2 nights earlier) but the sunken boat was really nice - sort of wreck diving. Cool seeing a moray sticking out of a hole in the railing. Lots of fish at that site, too...

Probably wreck of the St Anthony, but could also have been the Landing Craft. Last time at the St Anthony, a nice big manta came by, checked us out, circled the site and swam off. We've also seen two male octopus fighting out in the open over a female there. All the close to shore dive sites in south Maui can be spectacular if the right critters are around. Red Hill is another terrific dive site where you can see lots of fascinating things if you keep your eyes open

Scuba Shack is another Kihei based dive operator with a really, really fast boat that gets you out to Molokini early and has you back at the dock before 10 AM. Great crew and operation, and I think they do certification dives too. We used them for the first time on our most recent trip (this month) and were very pleased

 

[Shaka Doug]

The water was 76* today. I would expect 74* - 75* mid Feb. April should actually be cooler.

Shoots, it's not too bad here for winter. Last nights LOW on my house thermometer was 67*. Gotta Love Hawaii!!!!