Kona & Maui: May 17 - 24th

[covediver]

I got back from Maui last week, first time I was there although I have been to the Kona Coast twice and Oahu once. I would definitely recommend the manta dive with Kona Diving Company on Hawaii. On Maui, I stayed north of Lahaina and had a car as activities were early morning before the winds come up. I dived three days with Extended Horizons in quick trips over to Lanai. Two fabulous sites we dived were First Cathedral and Second Cathedral, where the light plays magic on the inside of the deep caverns. EH is a class operation. For something different, you might try Freediving 101 or Spearfishing 101 with the Maui Spearfishing Academy (they target invasive species). For topside activities I would recommend a visit to the Maui Ocean Center. Something on my list for next time is rappelling down waterfalls.

 

[diversteve]

Some dive recommendations:

Being a new diver either boat operation in Lahana works - Lahaina Divers has the big boats, more divers and will group you by experience with a DM leading each dive. Extended Horizons is a smaller boat, wetter ride and only goes to Lanai. As mentioned b4 the signature dives there are the Cathedrals - you could do either as they're 60' or less.

In Kihei, I'd look to Mike Severns or B&B Scuba. Ed Robinson's tends to draw a more advanced crowd. Severns is nice b/c they're all naturalists so you learn about what you're seeing. Plan to leave at 6am though, smaller boats so they go early to beat the tradewinds coming back.

For shore dives in Kihei - there's Doug at Shaka Divers - he has the dive bus. Or Maui Dreams Dive Co. who mostly do shore diving locally. They also book Maui Diamond II out of Ma'alea - they go to sites for all levels of divers/snorkelers to enjoy. There's also the big cat out of Ma'alea - Pride of Maui. They offer a dive but it's mostly a snorkel boat so they moor inside the crater and in our case turned me/buddy loose - at the time I didn't have a lot of dives but the DM on the boat was doing a Discover Dive with some pax and I didn't want to tag along. It's a pricier dive though.

The Trilogy yachts also offer diving, snuba, snorkeling and lunch and you get to hep sail over.

Contact Steve ^^ and see if he'll take you out to Umekahame (sp) on the scooters to find the Mantas. I think he has Apollo's? and they're rec scooters - less thrust and you can ride them if you get tired of holding on. Maybe do that later in the week after you've dove there a few times first.
It really not hard to use a scooter - I did it maybe my 20th dive unescorted off Cayman - just clip everything off so nothing gets tangled in the prop.
Your air consumption goes WAY down when you don't have to kick.

The only shop I'm familiar with on Kona is Kona Diving Co. - they had(have) a small powered cat which made a nice dive platform. Good people, if you call and are talking to Kerry - she owns it.

Go snorkel with the Turtles at Kahaluu (sp) Beach Park. It's only 7' deep.Be sure not to kick one at the entry - they blend in pretty well when sleeping.

 

[OrcasC205]

I'll second (or third) the recommendation for Kona Diving Company (KDC). We did the 2-tank manta dive with them in February and they were fantastic. The weather forecast was bad (heavy rain) the night we were scheduled, so they called earlier in the day and suggested we reschedule for the next night which turned out to be a great call. Our guide was amazing and we were able to time the night dive so all the other boats left before we were done and we had some time with just our group of six and the manta ray.

I would also highly recommend Diving Bell Scuba (Chad and Fran Bell) for guided shore dives. The were really helpful and flexible guiding our family on several shore dives while we were there. Fran also works at KDC, so the high level of customer service is very similar.

 

[Laura Sharp]

Update:

I've booked my flights and am beginning the process of booking accommodations and dives. I'll pass along my findings once I'm all done

I'm grateful for this forum being so helpful!!!

 

[Landau]

So Laura, how was it?

I'm heading to Maui in 2 week and looking for recommendations, especially a boat dive my wife could tag along snorkeling on - that would give me an extra day of diving.