Lahaina Maui

[Jaksonbrown]

Just returned from a week of diving with the Lahaina divers shop in Maui. What a great bunch of guys and gals! We dove the crater(Molokini), Lanai cathedrals and the Knob. We also dove the Carthagenian and Turtle reef. The Cathedrals and the Knob on Lanai were simply unbelievable! I ended up in a cave the size of my bathroom with 10 white tips in it.... Kinda got the nerves puckered a little!

Anyway... If your heading to Maui,.. give Lahaina divers a try..... good guys, small groups, reasonable prices.....

Ill post some photos soon


Cory-

 

[Joefri]

How big were your groups? I've heard they take up to 24 divers which kind of threw me off a bit. I'm heading out there on April 25 - May 2 and they're one of the charters I'm looking at going with.

 

[TSandM]

Ah . . . beware of the Cathedrals. It's a small step from there to the cenotes, and from there, who knows what can happen

Did Kristina get some dives in, too? Now we've got to get her back in our cold, green local water!

 

[socaldiver]

I have been on Lahaina Divers boats on a number of occasions and normally you will have somewhere around 20 people (give or take a few) on the boat.

It has been my experience that after they review your dive log and talk to you a little bit that they put 5 to 6 people in a group that is led by one of their divemasters, based on your level of experience.

IMHO I think they do a good job and would recommend them. I know a lot of people don't like them because of the structure of their dives. They only want you down for 30 minutes (or something in that area), no matter how much air you have left. This was true for my first dive with them, but once I displayed I wasn't an air hog then I got to stay down until I reached 500 psi, which normally gave me an additional 15 minutes or so bottomtime.

 

[DiveMaven]

We dive with Lahaina Divers to Lanai every year and always get 45-55 minute dives. They give leeway to divers with computers and experienced repeat divers that they know. Their advertised profiles tend to be a bit conservative since they are based on using guages and having only a 45 minute SI.

Their big 46' Newton dive boats are so spacious and well laid out that we've been on the boat with 24 divers many times and have felt less crowded than a few 32" boats with 12 divers. The size of the boat makes the crossing to Lanai much more comfortable IMO than being on other types of boat.

They divide their groups by skill level (as much as possible) and only put 5-7 divers with a DM. They also do a really good job keeping the groups separated, so the only time you see all of the other divers is potentially at the end of the dive under the boat. We're typically first off and last on the boat, which gives us plenty of bottom time.

All that said, we do feel that they are geared much more toward the occassional or beginning diver and their AL72s can be a pain since our BC straps are kinked for AL80s, however we will continue to dive with them to Lanai.

 

[Jaksonbrown]

I have been on Lahaina Divers boats on a number of occasions and normally you will have somewhere around 20 people (give or take a few) on the boat.

It has been my experience that after they review your dive log and talk to you a little bit that they put 5 to 6 people in a group that is led by one of their divemasters, based on your level of experience.

IMHO I think they do a good job and would recommend them. I know a lot of people don't like them because of the structure of their dives. They only want you down for 30 minutes (or something in that area), no matter how much air you have left. This was true for my first dive with them, but once I displayed I wasn't an air hog then I got to stay down until I reached 500 psi, which normally gave me an additional 15 minutes or so bottomtime.

On our dives with Lahaina Divers we had between 14-18 divers broke up into groups of 5 or 6. They were competely relaxed and alot of fun to dive with. At no time did I ever see them pressure anyone to surface after only 30 minutes. I rented the optional al 100's and enjoyed multiple dives of over 55 minutes. I was regularly the last guy on the boat and would hang out with the guides doing saftey stops under the boat. Not once was there ever even a hint given to me to surface before I wanted to. These guys were great. I highly recomend them.

 

[Jaksonbrown]

Ah . . . beware of the Cathedrals. It's a small step from there to the cenotes, and from there, who knows what can happen

Did Kristina get some dives in, too? Now we've got to get her back in our cold, green local water!

Kristina joined me on all the dives Lynn. You would have been proud. She was diving just like an old pro. Even when we went to 120' on the Carth,... she did great. She was the one that ended up pushing for more dives than we had scheduled! I had a few days planned to just relax and do some shopping with her, but she vetoed the ideas and we ended up doing 2 tanks a day, everyday, or more.

I gotta say,... going back to the pea soup around here is gonna be hard..... We are moving the Black Cat up to Anacortes this weekend for the summer. Hopefully we can find some vis.......