Maui - January 2017 - Lahaina/Kannapali Beach Area - Dive Shops?

[PACKRMAN]

Absolutely love Lahaina Divers.
My experience with them has been that they will evaluate you as a diver the first day out. On future trips with them they will kind of place you on the boat based on that evaluation. Best divers at the back, brand new towards the front. Placement, of course, will change day to day depending on who is diving. Groups of six will go in the water with a guide. After a short tour, you are free to dive within sight of the boat, as your air allows. Typically that means those with the best air are first in and last out. I particularly like the crews. Safety is #1, if they have to hurt your feelings to keep you safe they are not afraid to do it.

 

[VirginiaScubaGuy]

My wife and I are looking at a trip to Maui too, I called Ed Robinsons yesterday about pricing and to get a feel for the shop vibe, they seemed really laid back and very knowledgeable, they did mention to book ASAP, as my wife and I are planning on an early january trip. I'm also looking for a shop that can accommodate another couple that is planning on coming with us that are not very experienced divers and will both need to take the refresher course, while my wife and I (both over 1000 dives) can feel confident our friends are taken care of while we cruse around with our cameras looking for critters.

When are you planning on going to Maui? Maybe we can meet up? Shore dive? Boat dive?

I'm arriving in Maui on January 1 and leaving January 12. I am going to be staying in the Kannapali Beach / Lahaina area. I am probably not going to be down in the west Maui areas near Kihei / Wailea. I think in the end I'm going to get a drift diving specialty from Lahaina Divers and then probably do a few more dives with them. If i get super motivated, I'll drive one morning down to Kihei. However tp get there by 6 am, I would probably have to leave Kannapali Beach by 4 or 430 am... yikes!

 

[VirginiaScubaGuy]

Absolutely love Lahaina Divers.
My experience with them has been that they will evaluate you as a diver the first day out. On future trips with them they will kind of place you on the boat based on that evaluation. Best divers at the back, brand new towards the front. Placement, of course, will change day to day depending on who is diving. Groups of six will go in the water with a guide. After a short tour, you are free to dive within sight of the boat, as your air allows. Typically that means those with the best air are first in and last out. I particularly like the crews. Safety is #1, if they have to hurt your feelings to keep you safe they are not afraid to do it.

I think I'm going to end up using them because their size allows for more different kind of dives, but at the same time they try to keep particular tours small.

 

[bperc]

I'm arriving in Maui on January 1 and leaving January 12. I am going to be staying in the Kannapali Beach / Lahaina area. I am probably not going to be down in the west Maui areas near Kihei / Wailea. I think in the end I'm going to get a drift diving specialty from Lahaina Divers and then probably do a few more dives with them. If i get super motivated, I'll drive one morning down to Kihei. However tp get there by 6 am, I would probably have to leave Kannapali Beach by 4 or 430 am... yikes!

If you go with Ed Robinsons, the adventure dive is really cool. It is very similar to Lahaina Divers drift dives. Ed was guiding dives when I went two summers ago. They aren't hand holding on these dives. You can go as deep as you like and dive your tank. I didn't have to surface until I was low on air. Ed stayed in the water with me until I wanted to go up. You will enjoy diving with him if you go.

 

[salmon]

We went with Ed Robinson's a couple weeks ago. We did the adventure dive, and ended up hitting the Back Wall of Molokini. It was a great dive. The captain was not very friendly, and I would not recommend them for novice divers that need some hand-holding, but if you just want to get out and get in the water and do your thing, they are great. I checked out Maui Dreams Dive shop. I rented a few tanks for shore diving from them. I liked their staff and operation a lot. If I could do it again, I'd probably book a boat dive trip with them to Molokini.

 

[salmon]

I just returned from a dive trip to Maui, Kauai, and TBI.

On Maui, we used Ed Robinson's for Molokini dives, Extended Horizons for Lanai dives, Lahaina Divers for Hammerhead Dives, and Maui Dreams for renting tanks for shore dives.

Keep in mind that Lanai dives originate in West Maui, and most Molokini dives are better accessed from Kihei. So keep in mind where you are staying and the early morning drive you will have to make depending on the dive destination and operator.

For diving Lanai, and anything further north on the island, I would highly recommend Extended Horizons. They care deeply about sustainability, they run intimate dive trips, they have super knowledgeable staff, and it's a truly unique, high-quality experience. They were our favorite dive operator of our whole trip. I also like that their boat captain is a young female, something you don't often see. It's a nice change from Ed Robinson's grumpy old white male captain that got on my nerves. You won't regret going with them, and they let you dive your air as well.

If I could do it again, I would have used Maui Dreams for our Molokini charters. They also do advanced/adventure dives and they are only slightly more expensive than Ed Robinson's, but the staff is much more professional in my opinion. They were super helpful and kind in the dive shop, and they have more modern boats and dive equipment.

Lahaina Divers seems to be the largest operator on the island, and they have the biggest boats. That's why they are the only ones offering to do the Hammerhead dives which require crossing a sketchy stretch of ocean. I don't think the Hammerhead dive was worth the cost. I would have much rather preferred the Lanai Cathedrals again. We saw one shark about 100 feet away on two dives. The rest was just deep blue water, and nothing to see, so mostly just goofed around and did somersaults and took ridiculous pictures of ourselves underwater. Least favorite dive. The dive operator was professional, but again, not an intimate experience, and nothing close to Extended Horizons in terms of quality and attention to detail.

Try some shore diving. Makena Landing is super fun and easy, with a fresh water shower. Maui has great shore diving. We used this resource significantly: Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: Maui, Hawaiian Islands. Rent tanks from Maui Dreams for $5 a pop and you'll love it. They are super helpful in pointing you in the right direction as well.

 

[EricTheDood]

Rent tanks from Maui Dreams for $5 a pop and you'll love it. They are super helpful in pointing you in the right direction as well.

What size tanks do they rent?

Thanks for the writeup.

 

[salmon]

What size tanks do they rent?

Thanks for the writeup.

They rent 50, 63, 67, 80 and 100. They only have a couple of 100 tanks though. $5 for any of those sizes. They do 32% O2 fills for $12 per tank.

You're welcome!