Kaanapali Question

[boulderjohn]

I just found out I have a brief business trip to Hawaii in November, and my wife will come and extend it to a short vacation. We will be staying in Kaanapali on Maui. I have done a search of this forum in search of recommendations for dive operators, and the same group keep getting consistently great reviews.

They are not in Kaanapali, though, and I never see any recommendations for the operators I see in Kaanapali.

This is not going to be a true "dive vacation." My wife is not a diver, so I am not devoting all of every day to diving. Ideally, I would like to get 2-tank dives on most of the days I am there, and I would like to minimize the travel time for diving so that I can have more quality family time with what is left.

So, are there good local operators in Kaanapali, or am I better off driving to the highly recommended operators?

 

[KrisB]

I don't think you'll find any "good" operators in Kaanapali at the moment... at least not for anything resembling a reasonable price. Of course, I'm just speaking from what I know of the area.

Lahaina is a very short drive from Kaanapali, however... so you could consider doing your diving from there.

 

[TSandM]

I don't know of any operators out of Kaanapali, but there's good shore diving there. The Old Airport site is at the north end of the Kaanapali development. My favorite shore dive on Maui (so far, anyway) is the Mala Boat Ramp in Lahaina, which is a beautiful dive, very rich in sea life.

Contact kidspot, who is the Maui SB Guide. He'll give you good advice on how best to use your limited time.

 

[ppo2_diver]

There is Black Rock. I think it is around where the Hilton is. I found that most major hotels in that area have a small dive op that will take people shore diving in the hotels beach front. I did dive airport beach. It was a nice shallow shore dive. Not much coral, but I had time constraints (I was getting married that afternoon) to meet. So it was a nice relaxing morning dive.

 

[DiveMaven]

Black Rock is in front of the Sheraton actually, and it's a fabulous shore dive. Shallow (35' max), easy entry, great critters, and easy naviagation. The only hassle is getting to it really.

We stay in Kaanapali while on Maui and we feel it's worth it to drive to Kihei for Molokini diving. For Lanai charters, we dive with Lahaina Divers. They have big boats that make the crossing to Lanai more comfortable in our opinion, and we know they're more geared toward beginners, so we talk with the captains and DMs and let them know our experience level and they pretty much leave us alone and let us dive our tanks. We've only ever had full boats with them on afternoon charters because that's when they do Discover Scuba, but conditions deteriorate in the afternoon anyway, so we stick to morning charters.

If you decide to drive to Kihei, book with B&B. They leave earliest (at 6:00am) and are back by around 10:00. You could easily be back in Kaanapali by 11:00 and still have the day ahead of you. Makes it an early morning for you, but IMO it's worth driving to Kihei if you want to dive Molokini crater.

 

[boulderjohn]

Thanks for the replies.

In reading what was written here and in other threads, I came to the following conclusions. Please let me know if I am getting warm.

1. It might be wise to do most of the diving out of Lahaina with Lahaina Divers.
2. My wife (an avid snorkeler) would enjoy a dive/snorkel trip with me to Molokini Crater, in which case I would be wise to use B&B or another of the recommended ops in that area.
3. I can shore divein Kaanapali through a local Kaanapali shop, provided I find a reasonable buddy.

 

[Charlie99]

I can shore dive in Kaanapali through a local Kaanapali shop, provided I find a reasonable buddy.

Or go on a guided dive of Black Rock with the guys from the dive shack next to the pool at the Sheraton. IIRC, they go out 3 or 4 times a day.

I recommend PM'ing Kidspot. He lives nearby and often goes diving with visiting SB members.

-------------

My preferred Lahaina dive op is Extended Horizons. 6:45AM check-in at the Mala Ramp, just 5 minutes from Kaanapali. Two tank trip to Lanai. Return usually around noon. 12 passenger boat that gets divided into two groups of 6 + DM for diving.

 

[melfox26]

I would recommend Extended Horizons over Lahaina Divers for 2-tank boat trips out of Lahaina.

www.extendedhorizons.com

They're not a "cattle boat" operation, 12 divers max between 2 DMs as opposed to 20+ divers with Lahaina Divers. I dove with them while on vacation last June. The boat departs from the Mala Ramp in Lahaina, less than a 10 minute drive from where I stayed in Kaanapali (Sheraton).



Mel

 

[DiveMaven]

We've never been on a Lahaina Divers charter to Lanai that has had more than 18 divers, split into groups of usually 6 with a DM. On the other hand, we've seen the Extended Horizons boat crammed with 13 divers, looking very uncomfortable....and we've also seen the EH boat with only about 6 divers all spread out and relaxed looking.

It just doesn't seem like there's a bad choice when choosing a dive op on Maui. It's just a matter of figuring out which one is best for YOU. For us, we'd rather pay $20 less and have a few more divers on a very comfortable dive boat, so we choose Lahaina Divers ($119 vs $139).

I will say that if you do decide to book with Lahaina Divers, do NOT do any afternoon charters! They put all their Discover Scuba folks on those trips and the boats are PACKED...that's the only time I've ever felt the "cattle boat" feel on a Lahaina Divers charter.

 

[Scubagolf]

I would recommend Extended Horizons over Lahaina Divers for 2-tank boat trips out of Lahaina.

www.extendedhorizons.com

Ditto. I have dived with Extended Horizons 4x in the past five years and have always been happy with the trips to Lanai.