The latest draft, (Revised Draft 4/16/08) showed up in my mailbox yesterday. I read it and we still have some problems that will make it difficult for us to keep our business' running. Keep in mind that these new rules affect 6 types of activities (SCUBA, Snorkel, Kayak, Windsurf, Surf and Kiteboard businesses). Although I read the entire document, I am only personally addressing the items affecting SCUBA and Snorkeling here.
It reads as though we can now have permits at several locations, however, the cost of the permit is yet to be announced. This will mean an increase in our costs to operate. I presently have 7 designated beach parks on my permit. If they stick to the previous fee structure, to keep these parks will raise my yearly permit costs nearly 400%.
They still are not allowing any use of Makena Landing after 2 pm M-F. and no use after 12 pm S & S. This means no night dives or twilight dives. They have only provided three locations for potential night dives (Ulua Beach, Wailea Beach and Maluaka Beach) on the whole island! Oh yeah, and you have to be out of there by 8 pm. It doesn't even get dark enough to make a night dive here until 7:40 pm or so in the summer time! This for me has been a fair amount of my business. I offer a twilight two tank dive and I am one of the only operators on Maui who will take you on a dive in the afternoon. The terrible part of this is that the reason behind the new rules is to prevent over crowding. Well, 99% of the time there are fewer than ten cars at Makena Landing after 2 PM. 90% of the time there are fewer than 6 cars there after 2 pm!! I have been photographing the parking lot in the afternoons to substantiate this claim. It doesn't make sense.
They are also going to require that we shuttle our guests to the dive sites at Makena Landing and Ulua Beach. I don't quite know what this will lead to. I can only imagine having to meet my clients elsewhere and then pay a taxi to bring them to the beach and then pick them up when we're finished. Talk about a pain in the butt for everyone involved. Plus, the added expense will eat up my meager profits. It will certainly mean an increase in my fees to my guests. I have no idea how they even plan on enforcing this. Who is this shuttle guy? Is it a Taxi Driver? A bus company? How about the divers wife who doesn't dive? Can she be the shuttle driver? What about the family that comes along to snorkel or sunbathe while Dad dives with me. Can they park in the parking lot while Dad dives? I should think so. This rule makes no sense to me for SCUBA but I can see it as a good idea (sometimes) for the Kayak companies that sometimes take a whole convention or tour group out.
I personally know of no official compliants against my company here on Maui. The Better Business Bureau recently contacted me to ask me to become a member because I have no official business related complaints either. I take a proactive approach already to minimize my impact on the overcrowding situation. If the park is too busy, I go elsewhere. I also typically operate at times when there is less of a demand for space at the parks. I avoid the crowds. It's better for me, my clients, other users, and the beach parks to work this way. These new rules will make it almost impossible to do that. As SCUBA operators here on Maui, we could all use the support of the entire SCUBABOARD user group to lobby in our defense to keep these rules from being implemented. Please PM me for info on how you can help.
There is a deadline of May 7, 2008 for us to submit written comments to the Parks Department regarding this draft. They can be reached at
parks.dept@mauicounty.gov. They also said there will be a notice of public hearing published in the Maui News newspaper 30 days prior to the public hearing. They say they will consider new comments at that time.
I am preparing to celebrate ten years in business as Shaka Divers this year on Sept. 18th, 2008. I hope I don't have to close up shop before that happens. I want to extend a big huge "Thank you" to all of the SCUBABOARDERS who have been out to dive with me over the years. I hope we get the chance to dive together again!
