choiahoy
Contributor
The first week, my wife and I were on the Big Island and Kauai with family, so we only managed a few dives. We were alone on Maui the following week, where we did most of our diving—overall, thirteen dives over two weeks.
From this trip, our best dives were at Mala Pier on Maui and Place of Refuge on the Big Island. The dives were rarely deeper than 40 feet, temperatures ranging between 79 and 82 degrees. My wife felt comfortable in her 3mm shortie, and I dove in a lavacore long sleeve top and 3mm vest.
We love shore diving. And we definitely loved shore diving on Hawaii, but there were some notable differences from the shore diving we’d previously done, the biggest being parking. Get to your dive sites very early, as many have limited parking. We generally arrived by 7:30 and were usually getting one of the last open spots. And aside from the limited space, the parking for some sites is far from the entry point—Honolua Bay, Slaughterhouse, Ahihi Cove, Tunnels are good examples. Overall, this shouldn’t discourage anyone from shore diving here—we most certainly will again—just prepare accordingly.
We rented tanks for shore diving from Maui Dive Shop in Kahana, Maui Dreams in Kihei, and Big Island Divers on the Big Island.
We dove -
THE BIG ISLAND
- Place of Refuge – unguided – an amazing dive. Easy entry, healthy coral, and lots of fish and critters. Super easy navigation—when we hit the drop off, we turned right, and the coral lead us in an arc right back to shore. We didn’t see the pod of dolphins that are often reported to be there—hopefully next time, because we’ll be back. This one is a can’t-miss for the next visit.
- Manta Night Dive – Big Island Divers – around ten manta showed up our night. The mantas were amazing to watch, but I’d be curious to hear off anyone’s experience with a smaller dive shop with less people in their ‘campfire’. Our dive with Big Island Divers was good and professional, but a word to describe our experience is “crowded”. The smaller groups around us seemed to have good shows without the cluster.
KAUAI
- Tunnels – 2 tanks, Fathom Five Divers – Tunnels’ appeal is in its topography—lava tubes—more so than in its critters. The lava tubes make for some fun swim-throughs and great shots, and we did see several different eels and an eagle ray. Unfortunately, we had very bad visibility that day and a bit of current.
SOUTH MAUI
- Five Caves, Makena Landing – 2 tanks, Shaka Doug – Diving with Doug was great and fun (Hey Shaka D!). A strong recommendation for anyone looking for a guide in south Maui. We saw a very active whitetip, frog fish, and turtles at Five Caves. Makena Landing is also a good site and has an easier entry (and a cool bubble cave), but we enjoyed Five Caves more.
- Makena Landing – 2 tank scooter dive, Maui Dreams – the scooters were fun for a day, but I wouldn’t necessarily rush to do it again unless the scooter was necessary to reach a site that was otherwise too far.
- Ahihi Cove – 2 tanks, unguided – very healthy coral. Extremely shallow. The rock finger to the right (looking out at the water from the beach) makes for a sort of wall with lots of life around it.
WEST MAUI
- Mala Pier – unguided – Our favorite site on all the islands, hands down. Every dive we made here was fantastic. So much to see—sleeping whitetip sharks, schools of fish, tons of turtles, and a huge frogfish. Regarding entry, we followed several local divers’ instructions—enter at the beach to the left of the pier (when looking out at the water from shore). A few feet ahead, there’s a sandy path to the right that leads directly to the pier, where you can then head out walking right beside it. We took it slow and kept our eyes down, and the entry was really not bad at all.
- Slaughter House, Honolua Bay – unguided – great sites! We dove the north side of Slaughterhouse around to the bottom end of Honolua. Interesting topography and lots of turtles, fish, eels, and rays. But those damn stairs…getting down was OK, but walking up dripping wet killed my knee! For those young, strong, and willing, you’ll be well rewarded with a fantastic dive.
- Mala Pier – unguided – our last dive here was the best one of the entire trip. Can’t wait to go back.
ACCOMODATIONS / DINING –
We stayed in condos on Kauai and Maui and with my mother on the Big Island. Foodland was great for supplies, and they have a great wine selection and killer poke!
Overall, it was an unforgettable trip, and we’re lucky to have seen what we did. It would have been nice to dive more sites on the Big Island and Kauai, but that's something to look forward to for the next visit.
Enjoy the video and happy diving!
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