Kudos to Prodiver Maui

[scubacalifornia]

My dive buddy Ron & I took our families to Maui on vacation this past week, and we did four boat trips with Prodiver Maui at the recommendation of a friend. These guys run a fantastic operation! Their boat is certified to carry up to 10 divers, but they never take more than 6. It's an intimate trip on a very comfortable and nicely equipped boat with a crew that is second to none. We did 3 Molokini back wall dives, Molokini Reef's End, St. Anthony Wreck, Five Caves/Graves, and Red Hill a couple of times. The briefings were very thorough, the skewered fresh fruit between dives was tasty, and from the minute we stepped onto the boat, there was a sense of welcome and hospitality that carried through to the end of each trip. I know there are a number of reputable dive boat operators in Maui and choosing one can be tough. Prodiver Maui doesn't seem to be mentioned much on this board. You just can't go wrong diving with these folks....they're an A+ operation.

Cheers,
Kevin

 

[kidspot]

Most likely they don't get mentioned as much because they are a small boat - so fewer folks have been exposed to them. I have only heard good things about them and a couple board members are big fans of theirs.

Glad you had such a great trip!

Aloha, Tim

 

[quietstorm]

I dove with Prodiver last year and agree mostly with your comments. Unfortunately, I got stuck with beginners and the dive sites were not optimal (including a lame shallow dive to a sunken boat in a garden of Goodyear tires) and did not get a chance to get to Reef's End or the Back Wall. How did you manage to ensure the dive location was the one you wanted?

Thanks.

 

[DiveMaven]

Wow, you didn't like the wreck of the St Anthony? We found it to be a fun little dive with 4 turtles hanging out on the boat, and even a rare Redstriped Pipefish inside the wreck. he Frogfish sitting on the console on the wreck was really cool too and we got a lot of great pictures of him. There were also so many fish and critters to see around the tires that we weren't at a loss for things to look at.

If I didn't know better, I'd think you went to a different site than we did.

 

[scubacalifornia]

We really didn't have to do much of anything to ensure good dive sites. We did take 4trips with them, but I don't necessarily think that had much to do with it. I believe they only require 20 dives minimum to go to the Back Wall. I got the impression they went to Molokini on the first dive everytime. And they had a good system for spinning off divers as they ran low on air, so we never felt short-changed on bottom time. We did have one issue at Reef's End with an inexperienced diver disappearing from the group (turned out she was on the surface), and the DM handled it pretty well. They even went to Molokini as Hurricane Flossie passed by, a day that B&B cancelled their trip - and conditions turned out to be great.

As for the wreck with the Goodyear tires, that's the St. Anthony wreck. We did that as a second dive and had a great time. It's 60-70', which is still a bit deep after doing the Back Wall (we went deeper than the group on the wall), so bottom time was more limited, but we spent a good 45 minutes down there and were never bored. There were turtles galore, and we had fun tooling around inside the wreck. I wouldn't want to do that dive over and over, but once was quite fun.

Anyhow, I was lucky to be traveling with one of my good dive buddies and our families. So we were able to break from the group (keeping them in sight all the time), and dive a little more aggressive profile. It was a very fulfilling trip. Sorry your experience wasn't the same.

Best,
Kevin

 

[Charlie99]

If I want to see the DMs and Captain cringe, when they ask what people want to see for the 2nd dive, I shout out "I want to see TIRES AND CONCRETE!" :banana:

This is particularly effective if you have some other people onboard that have just said that they really want to see turtles ----- St Anthony's is the site the dive ops will usually go to as their best bet at showing the customers some turtles.

In reality, the tire reef adjacent to St. Anthony's is bursting with life, with lots of neat stuff tucked away in the protected areas of the tires.

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

Quietstorm does point out a basic problem about dive boats --- you don't usually get to choose who is on the boat with you. This is more of a problem on a 6 pack with guided dives. On the 12 passenger boats, they can at least split into two groups by experience level.

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

He must be in the auto industry since I've never checked out the tire brands! I always found the St. anthony to be a fun dive. It may not be a genuine "reef" but there are lots of fish and turtles. Did you see the Frogfish? Did you see any of the White Tips on the bottom? Just out of curiosity what would you rather have done on your 2nd dive?

 

[KrisB]

He must be in the auto industry since I've never checked out the tire brands! I always found the St. anthony to be a fun dive. It may not be a genuine "reef" but there are lots of fish and turtles. Did you see the Frogfish? Did you see any of the White Tips on the bottom? Just out of curiosity what would you rather have done on your 2nd dive?

And here I've always called it Uniroyal Reef.

I love the St. Anthony wreck as well... and I'd much rather dive that as the second dive to see turtles than Nahuna Point (Turtle Town/Makena Landing/Five Graves/Five Caves/Five Names) when the group is experienced enough.

Most dive ops will only do a 1/2 hr dive there when it's the second dive, however -- NDL's usually limit to that unless you're on Nitrox, have done a shorter first dive, or have done a REALLY long SI.

 

[quietstorm]

Hi. Thanks for the reply. I forget the name of the site, but wrote it in my dive log book; I suppose there could only be one site that matches the description.
Aside from the ship, with virtually no sea life, the Goodyear tire field had no sea life either, and frankly, well, I did not find the field of scattered, stacked Goodyear tires in 30 feet of pristine water to be all that visually appealing....

 

[quietstorm]

LOL....exactly. I appreciate your humor. Frankly, when I dove this site, there was virtually no sea life to be found. Maybe we dove a different Concrete and Rubber site.