Just got back from Maui this morning. 18 Degrees F here at home. Ouch.
This was a last-minute family vacation with some diving thrown in, but I thought I'd post a summary of our trip as some of you may be in the same boat as us (pun intended).
TRAVEL - Short layover in LA outbound to Maui. Only a few minutes to catch our connection. Our friends weren't so lucky - they got stuck in LA for 6 hours due to sitting on the tarmac in LA for 45 minutes due to "no gate". Act-of-God says United. Generally, United Airlines blows. In my opinion. Not impressed with them anymore.
ACCOMMODATIONS - Stayed at Honua Kai. Really nice, newer place. High end Viking appliances, many pools, Dukes restaurant on site. North end of Kaanapali. Great for both kids and adults.
RENTAL CAR - got some sort of Dodge minivan from Budget. Brakes were warped, but it started and despite the dive-gear stink we gave it after a few days, it was boringly fine. The price we pay for hauling 4 adults and 4 kids around, eh?
DIVING
We only had one scheduled dive time, and the rest, we planned at the last minute as time and babysitting duties allowed.
We did a two-tank shore dive with Shaka Doug. He's really a Maui ambassador. The kids got a huge kick out of the bubble-blowing scuba bus and his pre-dive shaka signal rundown. The kids made up a few more shaka signs for Doug's aresenal.
Doug was great - nice long pre-dive brief with an overview of conditions, sea life, shore entry, signals, safety items. Nice pace. We dove 5 Graves and the shallow conditions were murky due to the surge/swell. Saw a White Tip, many turtles, and a Fire Angelfish. Very nice.
Second dive was at Ulua beach. Great vis, saw a frogfish, octopus, etc.
Overall, we highly recommend Shaka Doug. He also was nice enough to show the 4 kids the Scuba Bus interior!
We took a day off of diving and two of us rented road bikes and road up Haleakala. I posted a question here about doing this ride to 10,000' the day after diving. We had 24 hours between the dive and a long, slow ride up the mountain. Started at the beach in Paia and started the ascent to the top. No problems, but we did make sure to stay hydrated and did not try to set any records riding up. West Maui Bikes rents some decent road bikes ($60/day ouch). Mine could have used a tune up , but they are generally a decent shop.
We picked up a 10 tank card and flag rental at Maui Dive Shop for some shore diving. They have 63s and 80s available, and despite the multiple receipts and signatures, etc. for a simple tank rental, it all worked well. There was some confusion if tanks could be rented at one of their (many) outlets and returned at another, but they seemed flexible enough.
We shore dove Mala Wharf and had a very nice dive. Eagle rays in the distance, many turtles, but we couldn't find any frogfish. This is a really neat dive and we would have done it many times if our schedule allowed.
We also dove Old Airport beach and did a one-way swim/dive back to our hotel (North). Saw a huge Crown of Thorns starfish and a big old fat eel. Not much else, but it was a neat one-way navigation dive.
We decided to try Molokini Crater and took Shaka Doug's advice and went out with Dive and Sea. John and Emi run a nice operation and have a very cool dive boat. The boat was "ship shape" clean and organized and you can tell they have pride in both their operation and the boat itself. Emi has tons of energy and is a very enthusiastic DM.
The Molokini dives were neat - 120' vis is the highlight. Saw a shark and some big jacks and other typical creatures. I'm glad we did this dive as the crater is so unique. We saw whales on the way out, so that's a nice benefit.
The next day, the kids wanted to snorkel Molokini and the other adults wanted to dive, so as luck would have it, Dive and Sea wasn't booked. We booked the whole boat as a dive/snorkel hybrid. Turned out to be a FANTASTIC day. The kids were waterlogged when we got done. They saw a shark which was the highlight of their vacation. Once again, John and Emi were very accommodating and it made for a great day. We saw a pod of spinner dolphins on the way out, too.
If you are looking for boat dives, and appreciate a laid back, but efficient and clean operation, I'm not sure you could do better than Dive and Sea.
Well, that's it. We had a great time in Maui, and look forward to coming back and doing more dives!
This was a last-minute family vacation with some diving thrown in, but I thought I'd post a summary of our trip as some of you may be in the same boat as us (pun intended).
TRAVEL - Short layover in LA outbound to Maui. Only a few minutes to catch our connection. Our friends weren't so lucky - they got stuck in LA for 6 hours due to sitting on the tarmac in LA for 45 minutes due to "no gate". Act-of-God says United. Generally, United Airlines blows. In my opinion. Not impressed with them anymore.
ACCOMMODATIONS - Stayed at Honua Kai. Really nice, newer place. High end Viking appliances, many pools, Dukes restaurant on site. North end of Kaanapali. Great for both kids and adults.
RENTAL CAR - got some sort of Dodge minivan from Budget. Brakes were warped, but it started and despite the dive-gear stink we gave it after a few days, it was boringly fine. The price we pay for hauling 4 adults and 4 kids around, eh?
DIVING
We only had one scheduled dive time, and the rest, we planned at the last minute as time and babysitting duties allowed.
We did a two-tank shore dive with Shaka Doug. He's really a Maui ambassador. The kids got a huge kick out of the bubble-blowing scuba bus and his pre-dive shaka signal rundown. The kids made up a few more shaka signs for Doug's aresenal.
Doug was great - nice long pre-dive brief with an overview of conditions, sea life, shore entry, signals, safety items. Nice pace. We dove 5 Graves and the shallow conditions were murky due to the surge/swell. Saw a White Tip, many turtles, and a Fire Angelfish. Very nice.
Second dive was at Ulua beach. Great vis, saw a frogfish, octopus, etc.
Overall, we highly recommend Shaka Doug. He also was nice enough to show the 4 kids the Scuba Bus interior!
We took a day off of diving and two of us rented road bikes and road up Haleakala. I posted a question here about doing this ride to 10,000' the day after diving. We had 24 hours between the dive and a long, slow ride up the mountain. Started at the beach in Paia and started the ascent to the top. No problems, but we did make sure to stay hydrated and did not try to set any records riding up. West Maui Bikes rents some decent road bikes ($60/day ouch). Mine could have used a tune up , but they are generally a decent shop.
We picked up a 10 tank card and flag rental at Maui Dive Shop for some shore diving. They have 63s and 80s available, and despite the multiple receipts and signatures, etc. for a simple tank rental, it all worked well. There was some confusion if tanks could be rented at one of their (many) outlets and returned at another, but they seemed flexible enough.
We shore dove Mala Wharf and had a very nice dive. Eagle rays in the distance, many turtles, but we couldn't find any frogfish. This is a really neat dive and we would have done it many times if our schedule allowed.
We also dove Old Airport beach and did a one-way swim/dive back to our hotel (North). Saw a huge Crown of Thorns starfish and a big old fat eel. Not much else, but it was a neat one-way navigation dive.
We decided to try Molokini Crater and took Shaka Doug's advice and went out with Dive and Sea. John and Emi run a nice operation and have a very cool dive boat. The boat was "ship shape" clean and organized and you can tell they have pride in both their operation and the boat itself. Emi has tons of energy and is a very enthusiastic DM.
The Molokini dives were neat - 120' vis is the highlight. Saw a shark and some big jacks and other typical creatures. I'm glad we did this dive as the crater is so unique. We saw whales on the way out, so that's a nice benefit.
The next day, the kids wanted to snorkel Molokini and the other adults wanted to dive, so as luck would have it, Dive and Sea wasn't booked. We booked the whole boat as a dive/snorkel hybrid. Turned out to be a FANTASTIC day. The kids were waterlogged when we got done. They saw a shark which was the highlight of their vacation. Once again, John and Emi were very accommodating and it made for a great day. We saw a pod of spinner dolphins on the way out, too.
If you are looking for boat dives, and appreciate a laid back, but efficient and clean operation, I'm not sure you could do better than Dive and Sea.
Well, that's it. We had a great time in Maui, and look forward to coming back and doing more dives!
