Maui Budget Diving Holiday

[DiveMaven]

Marine life should be identical between the Big Island and Maui. If you were a good critter spotter on the Aggressor, you'll probably be fine on Maui.

Remember, you'll need to tow a flag when you shore dive. They do check and you can get a ticket if you don't have one.

 

[FishDiver]

Hawaii has so many amazing creatures, including some great endemic marine life you can't see anywhere else in the world. But if you don't know what you're looking for, you're likely to swim right by and see nothing by hard coral and lava rock.

Do you mean small sessile creatures or fish that hide in the rocks? I don't quite get the sense that my concept is common or even well-conceived. Is Maui considered a shore diving destination or not? There appears to be no lack of sites in the guide books and shorediving.com.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Maui is the most popular island vacation destination in the world.

Maui is not considered a dive destination, even though there are many dive sites here that are known worldwide.

Dive History
Australia: Sydney, Cairns (GBR), Jervis Bay, most of NSW coast

Mexico: Cozumel, Playa, Yucatan cenotes
Hawaii: Kona coast

California: Monterey/Big Sur, Channel Islands

Maui's shore diving is usually easy and usually the conditions are beautiful, but usually a destination diver with a resume like yours does not find the unusual and unique experiences that are at nearly every location without an experienced guide or buddy.

Is Maui considered a shore diving destination or not? There appears to be no lack of sites in the guide books and shorediving.com.

I'm of the opinion that they got the information and pictures for all those shore diving books and web sites by following local guides.

 

[chez BA]

If you're looking for a cheap rental car, check out Maui Cruisers. They are best deal on the island with the flat rate of $20/ day for a 2 or 4 door Toyota or Nissan that have the "local" look and therefore, don't draw much attention to themselves.

 

[Huck BB62]

Shore diving on Maui is one of the only things I've found there to be very inexpensive. If you get a 10 tank card rental at Maui Dreams in Kehei it's only $40. Weights and flag rental(required for shore diving) also very cheap. There are some great sites for shore diving in South Maui. Wailea beach, 5 graves, White Rock beach(Haloa point), to name a few. The Mala Wharf in Lahaina is also a great shore dive. 3 of us dove those sites among others and saw all kinds of stuff though we go very slow and look in all the nooks and crannies. Lots of various eels, frogfish, nudibranchs, turtles, white tips, lobsters, octopus(harder to find than our giant pacific here), manta, eagle rays, and lots of variety of reef fish. We also did 2 boat charters but actually saw a lot more on our own. 3 tank with Ed robinsons ($220 with tax and nitrox) and a 2 tank with Mike severns ($145 with tax). If you have never done it the Molokini dives are great due to the reliably good viz (100+ ft) most days. If you are solo Maui Dreams has a buddy book or try to hook up with some of the sb's here. Most shore dives max out at 40 feet so expect lots of bottom time. We averaged 80 min on al 80's with a couple of 100+ min dives too. There are some pictures on my profile if you want to see some shots from Sept this year.

Just to add some more spots that are favorites of mine:

Ahihi. It's amazing.

La Perousse Bay. Great stuff.

Also at the Makena resort down by the pool, they have shore scooter excursions. It makes for QUICK trips out to the landing craft site etc. Do that dive by boat, it takes half a day. Go rent a scooter with those guys and you'll be back in an hour to an hour an a half!!!

If you take time to look at the coast, you can see lava extensions out from the shore. Anywhere this happens, there's wild life to be observed from mundane to holy cow. I've been thirty feet off shore in front of our condo and had turtles, mantas and rays around us on the same day!

For top quality eats and drinks, do the happy hour thing. Good stuff!

Last Maui tip: If it's ever dead calm, get down to a place called Pinnacle Point. The bottom structure and reef life are amazing. That area way down south sees so much less traffic that it just seems like there's a lot more life.

Also, if you're a fit person, you can grab your snorkel gear and paddle out to Molokini in a kayak and all up and down the coast weather permitting. Not bad eh? I haven't done it but have observed some locals doing just that.