Maui in January

[FortWorthDiver]

After much debate the wife and I have decided to head west this year. This will be my first trip to Hawaii and her 2nd (first as a diver) - we are pretty set on Maui as the location, just wondering where on Maui to stay. We will probably log between 20 - 24 dives over the week and boat dives do not bother us at all. But I also want to see the sites and do a little topside exploring. Have read alot on Kihei being better dive access, but Lannahi having better accomodations.(sp?). A little help would be much appriciated, and by the way how is the water in January?

Thanks.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

I'm not much of a west end fan as it's pretty darn crowded then. If you need very good accomadations you can find those in Kihei. I do dive the west end while I'm there as there are some great dive spots but I head up there early before breakfast, get in a couple of dives and then get out before the tourists sober up and plug up the roads.

 

[FortWorthDiver]

Al, can you recommend a higher end place in Kihei - most of what I have seen online, outside of the $500 a night hotels, look like they are straight out of the 60's. We don't want anything over the top - just nice.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

You might find this fist link useful as it's condos privatly owned, not sure if that's what you're interested in.

http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/region/usa/hawaii/maui/south-maui/kihei

But some of the nicer ones seem to be here but honestly I don't know if you want those 500 dollar a night places or not. This first one is about 200 a night.

http://www.hawaiianbeachrentals.com/Hawaii/Maui/Kihei/RQMauiHill-2BedroomGardenView.htm

A lot of people like the Maui Banyon. I'm more into spending money on the boat dives and staying in dumps. I pay 40 a night there. We do have a time share at the embassey but hate it as it honestly isn't our style. Our style is...diving I guess. Have fun.

 

[KrisB]

You might consider the Mana Kai. I think most of the rooms there are pretty nice, and ~$200/night. It's oceanfront, and right on the border between Wailea and Kihei...

http://www.aaoceanfront.com/content.cfm?property_id=6

I'm staying at the Maui Vista right now, and this unit is pretty nice. Not oceanfront (not even oceanview) and it's ~$80/night for stays less than a month, but more than 7 nights.