Hawai'i here we come

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WVDiver

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
Messages
1,092
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2
Location
Podunk, WV
# of dives
500 - 999
My wife (Clear Blue) and I are heading to the islands for our 10th anniversary. We have set aside a block of time in 2009, 18 Oct - 7 Nov. (three weeks). Some of this is travel time of course and exact dates for being on the islands may shift somewhat when we nail down accommodations. I'll keep you posted.

We plan to stay a week in Maui and a week on the big island. We are interested in shore diving as much as possible, the manta ray night dive and a couple luaus along the way.

We will also be traveling with a couple friends (a group of 4 all together). Would any of you Hawaii divers want to dive with us while we are there? We love meeting and diving with board members. We have made a lot of friends from the boards over the years. We love SB Invasions.

Anyway, any and all recommendations are welcome and appreciated whether it regards diving, lodging, dining, charters, best luaus or whatever.

We just love to travel and meet folks. This is our first trip to the islands so we have a lot of planning to do before Oct. A good problem to have but an enormous undertaking.
 
Looking for stowaways?
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Sure. Didn't take the MOFia long to find us did it?:D You know you are always welcome Joyce.
 
Shore diving I have used KrisB and can recomend him. Shaka Doug gets a lot of good reviews as well. Probably the 2 best choices in Maui for shore diving.

I have done all the Luau's on Maui. Hands down my favorite is feast at lei lei (sp?). Book early and you can get great seats. I booked about 6 months in advance and had center table front row. Food was awesome compared to others, and I think a better show as well. It has been about 2 years ago when I went, but still hear good things about this one.

Good places to eat are Kimos in Lahaina, save room for desert. Maui Fish Co in Kaanapali very cheap by Maui prices, and excelent fish. I usually fix most meals in my room, and eat out only a couple of times while I am there. It can save you a lot of cash. I have eaten at a lot of other places but these 2 are my favorites.
 
Shore diving I have used KrisB and can recomend him. Shaka Doug gets a lot of good reviews as well. Probably the 2 best choices in Maui for shore diving.

I have done all the Luau's on Maui. Hands down my favorite is feast at lei lei (sp?). Book early and you can get great seats. I booked about 6 months in advance and had center table front row. Food was awesome compared to others, and I think a better show as well. It has been about 2 years ago when I went, but still hear good things about this one.

Good places to eat are Kimos in Lahaina, save room for desert. Maui Fish Co in Kaanapali very cheap by Maui prices, and excelent fish. I usually fix most meals in my room, and eat out only a couple of times while I am there. It can save you a lot of cash. I have eaten at a lot of other places but these 2 are my favorites.

Good information - Thank you. We will definitely look into that luau.
 
Aloha WVDiver and Clear Blue!

There is terrific shore diving on the Big Island, and I think (you may already know this) that staying in Kona is your best bet as far as good weather and shear number of dive spots. Be sure to leave some time in your schedule to see some of the topside attactions on the Big Island (if you have never been to the Big Island, it really is Big, so there is not time to do everything in one week).

As far as shore diving sites, I'll try to post a link with shore diving info later this evening (I'm at work now). Many (most) shore dives are off of low lava benches, with the bottom sloping down fairly quickly. A few have a bit of a surface swim out to the drop. Not many sandy beach dives here!

Some shore dives are best done with someone with "local knowledge", but many are perfectly safe if you use just a little common sense (and are used to shore diving and "reading" the ocean).

There is very decent shore diving on the Hilo side, but since we are on the windward side, the water conditions can get "iffy" very quickly, changing from calm seas and 60-70 feet of viz to rough seas, lots of surge, and <10 feet viz overnight if the wind kicks up.

So I routinely recommend Kona to everyone coming to the Big Island (although I dove Hilo last weekend and it was an "ok" 40-50 feet of viz and flat seas).

Good luck, and enjoy your trip next year!
 
Aloha WVDiver and Clear Blue!

There is terrific shore diving on the Big Island, and I think (you may already know this) that staying in Kona is your best bet as far as good weather and shear number of dive spots. Be sure to leave some time in your schedule to see some of the topside attactions on the Big Island (if you have never been to the Big Island, it really is Big, so there is not time to do everything in one week).

As far as shore diving sites, I'll try to post a link with shore diving info later this evening (I'm at work now). Many (most) shore dives are off of low lava benches, with the bottom sloping down fairly quickly. A few have a bit of a surface swim out to the drop. Not many sandy beach dives here!

Some shore dives are best done with someone with "local knowledge", but many are perfectly safe if you use just a little common sense (and are used to shore diving and "reading" the ocean).

There is very decent shore diving on the Hilo side, but since we are on the windward side, the water conditions can get "iffy" very quickly, changing from calm seas and 60-70 feet of viz to rough seas, lots of surge, and <10 feet viz overnight if the wind kicks up.

So I routinely recommend Kona to everyone coming to the Big Island (although I dove Hilo last weekend and it was an "ok" 40-50 feet of viz and flat seas).

Good luck, and enjoy your trip next year!

Thanks for the info LT. Kona is where we are planning on staying .Have a house picked out. Look foward to seeing your shore diving link!
 
Here is the link I was referring to:

Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: The Big Island, Hawaiian Islands

It needs to be updated, but does have pictures of the entries and directions, and some reviews of the various sites. It is by no means a complete list, but does show several good sites. Mahukona and Puako Village End are two sites I can recommend in addition to Place of Refuge (aka "2-Step" among local divers). These three sites have pretty easy entry-exits and good diving, and would be just fine unguided for most folks (assuming prior experience shore diving).
 
Shore diving I have used KrisB and can recomend him. Shaka Doug gets a lot of good reviews as well. Probably the 2 best choices in Maui for shore diving.

There are a multitude of experienced professional shore dive guides on Maui. Shaka Doug has a well documented long history of happy and repeat customers. There are many other operators with similar Maui history.

KrisB is a part time Maui resident who instructs and guides just for tips. No mater whether the reasons for this financial arrangement are due Kris's lack of required Maui County Commercial Business permits, a lack of green card &/or his generous philanthropic nature, to say he is one of the 2 best choices for Maui shore diving is uninformed at the very least.

A couple things to consider when choosing a dive guide / instructor is the difference between business insurance and instructor insurance as well as the availability (or lack) of a shop full of gear and repair facilities. When you dive with a legitimate business, the business insurance would cover accidents before you get in the water. With an independent instructor the coverage is only in water.

Kris is not a bad guy, and not a bad instructor, but the main reason I see for his popularity is that his services are free.

In our current economic situation, I really feel divers need to support the legitimate dive operators. Most of the Charter Operators also do shore diving and all the dive shops do shore diving. Shaka Doug only works South Maui to my knowledge; for West Maui shore diving you should be looking at West Side operators, like Extended Horizons. :D
 
Thanks LT and Halemano. All good information. I've posted and put pictures on Shorediving.com and never thought to look there. Definitely a valuable site!
 

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