Maui County Delivers Final Blow

[bobmaggi]

OH dear. . . .

I 'love' the part about needing a copy of the certification and manual for being a snorkel instructor???!!!!??

take care, Maggi

 

[drmndiver99]

So...I have been traveling to Maui several times a year for more than 7 years now. I go, dive, I spend money. To dive safely and get the most from my dive, I hire trained , qualified dive guides to heighten my experience. I do this every trip. I usually visit 2-3 times per year. My average trip equates to thousands of dollars spent on the Maui tourism industry.
Politicians please note. I will no longer visit your island!! I will no longer bring friends and family there. I will sell what I own there and frequent a place that wants me and my hard earned cash. I will miss the whales and the people but I can always find a new second home.
I do hope many Maui voters read this. I do wish my friends there the best and will miss them.
It's time to meet Scotty the Duck on Oahu or perhaps just visit Turks/Caicos.
Please let us all know when it is safe to get back in the water!!!!!!!

Much love and alohas...

 

[KrisB]

So...I have been traveling to Maui several times a year for more than 7 years now. I go, dive, I spend money. To dive safely and get the most from my dive, I hire trained , qualified dive guides to heighten my experience. I do this every trip. I usually visit 2-3 times per year. My average trip equates to thousands of dollars spent on the Maui tourism industry.
Politicians please note. I will no longer visit your island!! I will no longer bring friends and family there. I will sell what I own there and frequent a place that wants me and my hard earned cash. I will miss the whales and the people but I can always find a new second home.
I do hope many Maui voters read this. I do wish my friends there the best and will miss them.
It's time to meet Scotty the Duck on Oahu or perhaps just visit Turks/Caicos.
Please let us all know when it is safe to get back in the water!!!!!!!

Much love and alohas...

Or go to Kauai or the Big Island.

There's plenty of other diving in HI -- and I'm told that Maui is on the upper half of mediocre, but doesn't compare to the diving off the Big Island.

 

[Lottifish]

Wow, that's a lot of legaleese! Shaka Doug - how does this affect our scheduled dive in September? Is there anything I can do to help?

 

[Shaka Doug]

Wow, that's a lot of legaleese! Shaka Doug - how does this affect our scheduled dive in September? Is there anything I can do to help?

we'll have to wait and see...On Sept. 1st the new rules go into effect. I wonder what kind of enforcement or changes will actually take place? DLNR is crying about budget cuts so they will lose some effectiveness. Maui County is running out of money so I wonder if they'll make the parking stalls thay are saying we have to use (as of the 1st). The parks enforcement officers working the beat now don't have answers so I wouldn't expect them to be 'On It' for a while either. Who knows?

So...Want to check out my artwork while you're here?

I was just told by a friend who reads our newspapers every day about two very interesting 'letters to the editor' in todays Maui News. There are two letters basically praising the Parks Department and Mayor passing these new rules. The interesting part is: how did these people even know they were passed? The news just leaked out yesterday. It has not been made public by any other previous newspaper article or TV/radio news shows. It would alost seem as though these two letters were planted as propaganda in support of banning commercial activities at our beach parks.

They seem so sneaky....

 

[StuartT]

Stay tuned...someone somewhere told me of something called a loophole. Imagine if there were loopholes here?

SHOW ME THE LOOPHOLES!

The new rules as I read them directly interfere with the safety of scuba. By limiting when and where we dive they create potentially hazardous situations for divers. The also create congestion and competition at permitted sites. The same is exactly also true for the other CORA disciplines (Ocean Snorkeling, Ocean Kayaking, Ocean Surfing, Ocean Windsurfing, and Ocean Kiteboarding). Why do they not recognize this? I have specifically pointed it out to them on several occassions myself.

Hi Doug,

Wondering if you can put in laymans terms what exactly this new thing means to the diving industry in Maui. P.S. I'll be in Maui Aug 29th- Sept 12 and will call you to do some diving as my wife doesn't dive and I haven't done a night dive there yet and don't have any buddies confirmed yet. I'll call you early next week. We are in South Maui.

Stuart

 

[ScubaSista]

Before I get serious here, let me just say that I LOVE this one from the county (which, by the way, CORA operators have tried to talk them out of - FOR THEIR OWN GOOD - for years now):

Instructor or dive master training: Provide
a copy of instructor or dive master training
manual and/or program and a copy of
instructor or dive master certification from
an appropriate organization for each
instructor;
Fellow dive instructors, you all know how big and heavy our manuals are. Can you imagine having a truck deliver these things to the parks dept. or Tamara Horcajo's office? This idea makes me feel positively gleeful!

 

[kidspot]

Sitting here reading excerpts from this with a friend, who loves studying world economies, he commented "Sounds like a third world country where all they want is control..."

btw - does this affect Boat operations as well? If so I can see the limits really hurting an place like Lahaina Divers and the big Molokini Snorkel tours...

Scuba Diving/Snorkeling
(1) At least one instructor per group of
eight students/patrons; and
(2) No more than eighteen individuals,
including instructors and students/
patrons, at a time, per permit.

I can't see them doing well with only 15 passengers on board (18 including 2 DM's and a boat captain)

 

[KrisB]

Sitting here reading excerpts from this with a friend, who loves studying world economies, he commented "Sounds like a third world country where all they want is control..."

btw - does this affect Boat operations as well? If so I can see the limits really hurting an place like Lahaina Divers and the big Molokini Snorkel tours...



I can't see them doing well with only 15 passengers on board (18 including 2 DM's and a boat captain)

Oddly enough, I remember when I first got to Maui, a business person there said to me "welcome to Maui... a third-world county."

 

[Shaka Doug]

Tim these rules only apply to CORA businesses who have permits for County Park Beaches. The boats are not included. A shop like Maui Dive Shop or Lahaina Divers or others may have permits for county beach parks as well as having boats that go to Molokini or elsewhere. These rules only affect the beach portion of their business. They have less to lose then guys like me who work solely from the shore.