Maui Dive Trip Tips

[DiveMaven]

I wouldn't be caught dead on a Lahaina Divers boat with the French instructor who works there. He can suck all of the relaxation and enjoyment out of a dive quickly with his abrubt and bossy style of leading dive.
QUOTE]

Do you remember the "French instructor's" name? We were on a Lahaina Divers boat to Lanai in December and didn't encounter anyone French. Since we're planning to dive with them to Lanai later this year, I'd love to know which DM to avoid. Thanks!

 

[Sasquatch]

This thread has become a nice, tidy package of useful information and inside tips for someone, like me, that likes to know what he's doing when he goes somewhere new.

Thanks once again!

 

[Rescue Diver68]

DiveMaven

I don't remember his name, we referred to him differently than his real name "if you know what I mean". We only had him for one day- the backside of Molokini. We politely requested to be on opposite boats from him for the rest of our trip. I checked LD's website and I don't see him on there. The only one name I recognized from our trip was Dan. He was cool. Have a great trip.

 

[DiveMaven]

Thanks Rescue Diver68, I know quite a few of the long time DM's with Lahaina Divers so I'll check with them prior to our trip later this year. Thanks for the heads up, you may have saved me a huge headache!!

 

[StuartT]

Hi there. For boat diving I have been out with mike severns and ed robinsons and both were awesome. Did the 3 tank adventure with ed robinsons and they also offer nitrox. They only take divers with 25+ dives and have dove recently. I would agree with others about staying in south maui in kehei or wailea. I also have done some shore diving in south maui which was great. We also have a condo in wailea for rent. You can chek it out at Palms at Wailea 703 or Wailea, Hawaii vacation rental by owner: 2 bedroom Condominium rental that sleeps 4. Luxurious, Remodeled, Private Condo at the Palms at Wailea 703 Its not the cheapest accomodation but it is a very nice place.

 

[Blazinator]

Ditto to everyone's post, and will add that staying at the Hale Hui Kai just south of the Kihei boat ramp, next to Mana Kai hotel was a very good value for four of us, as we were able to dive off the house reef just by walking out the back of our condo. Not as big as Ulua beach reef, but saw plenty of critters like imperial nudibranchs, octopus, turtles, leaf scorpionfish, and all the usual Hawaiin suspects.

Dive with Shaka Doug - well worth it, and you will experience way more than shore diving on your own. We then decided go to Molokini through John at Dive and Sea Maui Dive & Sea Maui -Why Us and they are a top notch operation - Brand new catamaran boat - no seasickness, and full length dives. He even had an AL100 for my big lungs.

Maui Dreams Dive co was very close to us for tank rental (near Foodland), and wayyy more hospitable than I've ever been treated in any dive shop (go there to see their color-changing nudibranch).

I still plan to post an official trip report here as soon as I get the last video made from my Molokini trip, but there's the cliffnotes.

Turn sound down if you watch the videos - bad software

[vimeo]4983413[/vimeo]

[vimeo]5069794[/vimeo]

 

[drgreenthumb]

Not only that Mon-Thurs travel will always be the cheapest BUT you should also consider comparative search for vacation package from kayak and travelocity. Most of the packages that we've gotten comes out cheaper if you had to assemble them altogether (flights + hotel+ car). The other advantage of the packages are also less prone or more delayed in terms of price hikes when planning the trip last minute (less than 2 weeks) as compared to the rapid increase if it was only flights involved. When we were there, we stayed in Kihei due to the 20$ difference on the cheapest package that was so close to tha airport.

For me, we dove along the western side Maui near the shores. We also dove Molokini due to that it was unique site that it was actually a half submerged volcano. But we were expecting more marine life there though. The visibility is much better in the morning where more boats anchor usually catering more to snorkellers and the visibility deteriorates after lunch so it wouldnt be an excellent choice for the 2nd or 3rd tank.

Dont forget to adjust if you plan to drive and hike on top of Haleakala volcano. Some of the divers told us stories about other divers that tend to forget it has serious elevation gains (from 0 to 10,000ft or 3,000m). The sunrise views are surreal (above the clouds sensation) and requires a good windbreaker or even a down jacket! Someone told us there can be snow patches at times!

Enjoy your time there!

 

[KrisB]

When we were there, we stayed in Kihei due to the 20$ difference on the cheapest package that was so close to tha airport.

Yes... don't waste your time or money staying near Kahului or Wailuku if you're wanting to dive. You'll likely spend twice as much on gasoline than you would on somewhere near the diving (either Kihei or Lahaina).

For me, we dove along the western side Maui near the shores. We also dove Molokini due to that it was unique site that it was actually a half submerged volcano. But we were expecting more marine life there though. The visibility is much better in the morning where more boats anchor usually catering more to snorkellers and the visibility deteriorates after lunch so it wouldnt be an excellent choice for the 2nd or 3rd tank.

Molokini marine life is usually superb. And the water is super clear -- anyone that claims visibility deteriorates in time for a 2nd or 3rd tank is being lazy and just trying to be closer to the boat ramp / harbour at the end of dive 2. I've done dives there where we do 2 in the morning, and the visibility has been excellent through both -- FAR better than if we were near shore. I've also done late afternoon & night dives there... also, nothing to complain about viz-wise.

Dont forget to adjust if you plan to drive and hike on top of Haleakala volcano. Some of the divers told us stories about other divers that tend to forget it has serious elevation gains (from 0 to 10,000ft or 3,000m). The sunrise views are surreal (above the clouds sensation) and requires a good windbreaker or even a down jacket! Someone told us there can be snow patches at times!

Yes, that's true. In fact, driving to the summit is worse than flying -- most commercial jet cabins are pressurised to 8,000' equivalence. It's best to give yourself 24 hours after doing a two-tanker. You're likely to find the snow in February-ish... not in the fall.

 

[Blazinator]

Molokini marine life is usually superb. And the water is super clear -- anyone that claims visibility deteriorates in time for a 2nd or 3rd tank is being lazy and just trying to be closer to the boat ramp / harbour at the end of dive 2. I've done dives there where we do 2 in the morning, and the visibility has been excellent through both -- FAR better than if we were near shore. I've also done late afternoon & night dives there... also, nothing to complain about viz-wise.

I'm sure Drgreenthumb didn't intend to bash the vis at molokini, but I can't see how vis could deteriorate from boat anchors and divers on any of the walls where you will be diving, unless you plan to dive exclusively in the sand basin in the center of the crater. Must have had bad currents?

We did second tank dives after leisurely SI's at about 1 PM and vis was still stellar.
We saw Garden Eels in the sand, sharks in all the caves, Morays everywhere, big Ulua all over, etc. I saw a Manta go under the boat after coming up from our dive, then jumped in to snorkel after it, and it made another pass, and was able to zoom in and photograph it from at least 85 feet away (60 ft depth, 60 ft away).

I even saw a Blue Dragon Nudibranch on the back wall. Pardon my enthusiasm, but my local Lake Erie gets 20 ft of vis on a very good day, where noon dives are night dives.

 

[stevejaz]

Just a couple of quick things about our trip last month that may help.

We too flew through Honolulu...BUT, on our flight there it stopped in Maui first, so when we checked our bags, we had them "shortchecked" for Maui instead. Got off in Maui and didn't catch our next flight to Honolulu. The airlines in the mainland (USairways) gave us grief about it, but all was good. So that saved us $100 flight back to Maui and the time. Then we just bought one ticket from Hawaiian airlines to get to Honolulu to catch our flight home. The other nice thing is that Hawaiian doesn't charge for baggage or at least the first one like USairways did. So, if catching a flight to HNU from Maui have them check your bags all the way through to your final destination unless staying in Honolulu and need them.

Also, I signed up for Maui Dive shops newsletter prior to going. Just prior to booking our dives with multiple places I got an email that had 2 for 1 dives, consequently we did most of our dives with them. We don't have enough dives to do Molokini backside and frankly Molokini front side was our least spectacular dive of the entire trip. My next trip will be primarily shore dives as those were great. While some may knock MDS, we had a good experience with them. Our Cathedrals II dive day was spectacular and only 8 people on the boat, we were 4 of them so we had our own dive "guide". The picture was taken around noon, apparently a rare occurance for it to be as calm as it was and our crew was stoked so it made for a really fun day.

We stayed in Kaanapali but hung out in Lahaina, Kehei was cool to, just didn't get as familiar with it.

Have fun,
Steve