Hawaii for the first time.

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cozudiver

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Location
Loveland, CO
My husband and I are going on a 7 day cruise of Hawai'i with my 3 siblings and their spouses. My father set up this family vacation before his death - so all of us are still wanting to go and enjoy ourselves.

The problem that my husband and I are having is the fact that we want to dive. And dive as often as possible. The cruise schedule is rather tight at times and the prices of the cruise excursions are 30% above what we can find by ourselves, however we're having a problem finding a dive shop that leaves late enough to fit into our schedule.

We've done most of our diving in Cozumel, so we're comfortable with currents and depth. We've also done some diving in Florida - shallow and low visibility. And of course a few local dives - also shallow and almost no visibility.

We'll be overnight at Maui, so we're hoping to find a shop to connect with that will save us some money rather than the excursion. We'd even be delighted to have someone who lives on the islands meet with us and take us shore diving.

Kahului, Mauai 8am Fri - 6pm Sat = 34 hours

So if you are aware of any operators that are safety conscience, marine knowledgeable, and are willing to work around cruise ship times, we'd love to know about them. Cuz we want to DIVE and have a great time seeing some great underwater life.

DSAO
 
Aloha,
Your cruise ship schedule is not compatible with any of the charter boat departure times on Friday so you are left with shore diving for that day (late morning or night dive). Your okay on Saturday for a boat dive.
Your port is on the opposite side of the island (windward) from the shore diving (leeward) so figure on a 20 to 30 minute drive. This will require you to rent a car or take a taxi each way. I'll bet the car rental is cheaper than the round trip taxi price. Public transportation is almost non-existent on Maui.
The cruise ship port will be closer to the South Side (Kihei-Wailea-Makena areas) versus the West Side (Lahaina-Kaanapali areas).

For shore diving:
1. B&B Scuba 808-875-2861
2. Maui Dreams Dive Co. 808-874-5332
3. Shaka Divers (frequents this forum as "Shaka Doug")
808-250-1234
They are all in the Kihei area and usually dive in the Makena area.

For boat dives you can try:
B&B Scuba 808-875-2861
Mike Severns Diving 808-879-6596
Ed Robinson Diving Adventures 808-879-3584
The boat departure ramp is in Kihei.

I suggest you book any of the diving in advance.
 
Listen to Gilligan, he knows stuff
 
I would recommend Scuba Shack (http://scubashack.com/) in Maui. They have a small boat, but personalized service (not a cattle boat).

I would definitely dive Molokini, which is a sunken crater. There are lots of sharks
there. I've heard night dives there are even better (when sharks come out to eat!),
but havent't tried it, just done the daytime dive.


Eddy.
----
www.yellowtangsoftware.com
 
That's where we're starting.
We'll arrive on Sat Oct 16 and have until 3pm on Sun.

We're hoping to do some shore diving while we're there.
Did you have something in mind?

DSAO
 
Shore diving in Oahu ... I would recommend Makaha Caverns on the West side and
Shark's Cove on the North side. Makaha is a sandy beach entry with strong waves, they do beginner surfing there. If you saw the movie "Blue Crush", at the end of the movie they show a bunch people (kids, dogs, etc) surfing, that's Makaha. It's a shallow dive, 40', with some nice caverns and lots of sea turtles. Shark's Cove is a more "rocky" entry, you have to climb down to a small rocky beach. Very nice rock formations and corals to explore, but it's more crowded, you have to "fight" with
snorklers. Makaha is more (for me) like a "hidden" gem, not many dive
shops advertise it.

If you have time for a boat dive, I wouldn't miss the Corsair. It's a sunken WWII Corsair plane at 100'. That's on the
South side, in front of Waikiki.

Go to any dive shop and buy a dive site map. They have it for each island.
Oh, here's the link: http://frankosmaps.com/. I used the map alone for my
shore diving on Maui. They are great maps, they are now making them for Cozumel
as well :wink: .


Eddy.
-----

www.yellowtangsoftware.com
 
Thanks to everyone for all of the information. I'm hoping to get everything settled by the end of the weekend.

Cozudiver
 
We've chosen each of the dive shops because of recommendations from others who have experienced memorable dives with these shops.

Now is the time to let me know if I've been mislead and need to make any changes. :dazzler1:

Sat &/or Sun Oct 17 - Oahu, shore diving with friend

Mon Oct 18 - Kauai, shore diving w/Bubbles Below
- Luau w/family
Tue Oct 19 - Papakolea Falls

Wed Oct 20 - Hilo, Kilauea

Thu Oct 21 - Kona, boat diving
w/Jack's Diving Locker

Fri Oct 22 - Mauai, shore diving
w/Shaka Divers
- Kanikapila Sunset Sail
Sat Oct 23 - boat diving
w/Mike Severns

Thanks to everyone who has helped.
DSAO :07:
 

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