Maui Trip Report: The Great, The Good and The Ugly

[purcellj]

Maui Trip Report from Sunday Nov 21st to Friday Nov 26th (2010)

As a little background, our group of 3 has dove around the world, including Big Island 4 yrs ago. I don't want to portray a group that has no fear, but for us depth and deco is not something to be feared, but simply a variable. Our objective was to have a good time searching for and communing with the ocean side of Mother Earth.

We dove with;
Ed Robinson (3 days) -- The Good
Shaka Doug (2 days) -- The Great
Hawaiian Rafting Adventures (1 day) -- The Ugly

The first day with Ed Robinson was a bit of challenge. We experienced a number of equipment issues. Nothing serious, but I wondered if I was ever going to get in the water, since I was the group technician. A brand-new Zeagle integrated 2nd octo had a steady leak, and I forgot our 2 DIN to yoke converters. [After a little soak time, the Zeagle octo was fine] After swapping a 1st stage and borrowing a converter, we got things straighten out. The seas were flat and the crew ventured down south from Kihei. The dives off of Apartments were nice, but frankly nothing special.

The 2nd and 3rd days were with Shaka Doug. In the meantime I secured 2 DIN to yoke converters (Maui Dreams and B&B). Doug is a blast. Shore diving is always more work than boat diving, but it was very well worth it. The highlights from 5 caves and other sites included turtles, flame angel (my personal favorite) and a manta. All dives were over 70 minute bottom time (no deco). Doug really understands how much attention a diver needs. For our group it was no-baby-sitting just cruising the reef. But I could easily see Doug giving lots of attention when necessary.

** Maui Dreams rented me a converted. However the process was challenging. When the person in the shop doesn't know what converter is, but required a C-card, you kinda wonder about their policies. If you need a wetsuit, bring your C-card...enuff said.

** B&B lent be a converter. Please note that I said lent, not rent. The professionalism of the shop was great. I felt sorry that I wasn't diving with them. I would next time.

The 4th and 5th days were back with Ed R. The boat was made up of mostly intermediate divers. The crew wanted to limit our bottom time to deco limits (which I have no issue with). We did both the front and back side of Molokini. Whale song was present on the front side of Molokini, but not on any other day.

The 6th day was with Hawaiian Rafting Adventures. Group 1 was reserved for the experienced divers, while the 2nd and 3rd groups were very inexperienced (cattle boat). I appreciated the segregation. We were doing 60 minute dives while the other groups were 30-40 minutes.

At the end of the 2nd dive, things got tense. I was trailing our group, and spotted an octopus. I called our group back and everyone enjoyed what the octopus wanted to give us. At this point, I made a critical mistake. I pointed out the octopus to the next group (leader). The leader of that group started poking and prodding with a stainless steel rod. Ultimately the octopus came out and was caught by this leader. For the next 5 minutes I watched as the octopus was passed from person to person in groups 2 and 3. It escaped multiple times, but was re-caught each time. It was completely out of ink.

I finally intervened. I scooped up the octopus from another diver and I started heading back to his hole. He escaped from me (which was ok with me). Unfortunately was recaptured by the same leader. I grabbed the leaders' arm, looked him dead in the eye and told him it was enough. The octopus was released and went to his coral head.

I headed back to the anchor to start my hang. The leader followed me and gestured for an apology. Back on board, a heated exchange started between this leader and myself. He couldn't understand why I was offended. Towards the conclusion of this exchange, a deck hand intervened and said "others kill them [octopi]".

I would never tell a hungry person not to hunt. But no one on board was hungry. Much less than for calamari. I consider HRA's behavior to be animal abuse. I am not naive, I know this behavior occurs, not just in Hawaii but elsewhere. In my opinion, we should never tolerant this behavior.

For the divers in group 2 and 3, I believe that they believe this is acceptable diver behavior. I also understand that some diver operators need to entertain divers. I don't prescribe to this behavior.

Once back at the shop I confronted the charter leader. His response was simple. "Well a steel rod is better than pulling the octopus from his hole by hand". As far as I am concerned , he just didn't get it.

I made 2 mistakes: (1) pointing out the octopus to the following group, and (2) not intervening earlier.

I would never recommend HRA to anyone.

We are shepherds of our planet. We need to act like it.

For restaurants we ate at Fred's Mexican (Taco Tuesday's), Thai Cuisine (next to Ed R.), the Waterfront (Maaleae) and Sansei (aka sushi -- try the Panko Tuna). All are worth the trip! We also visited the Lavender farm, which was kinda interesting.

For anyone reading this I would recommend diving with Doug and Ed. Doug is special. But they should strongly consider B&B for boat diving (I would try B&B over Ed next time). If you need to do Lanai, try Lahaina Divers. I wish I never went with them over HRA.

John

 

[acooper]

Thanks for the report. I have to go with your policy on handling marine life, I will do it on occasion, but limit the stress to the animal to a brief encounter. Everyone says good things about Doug, if ever diving Maui...

I faced the same decision earlier toady... A Whitetip sleeping in an alcove. I really want a decent photo of a Whitetip Shark, and have somehow failed to get one over the years and many encounters. This shark was sleeping, no movement as I shined my light into the cave.

I let sleeping sharks lie.

 

[KrisB]

FWIW, I have had similar experiences with ERDA manipulating wildlife in Molokini crater where it is not only ill-advised, it's illegal.

Just sayin'...

 

[DiveMaven]

We're hoping to dive with Doug one of these trips, but for now we stick pretty exclusively with Ed Robinsons as we've always had excellent experiences with them.

As I understand it, there was one DM who regularly handled marine life in the past, but he was tuned up and doesn't touch anymore. We never experienced it personally, but in talking with Ed a a couple of years ago, he relayed that information to me. Perhaps he was the DM that Kris had experience with.

To the OP, I'm glad to hear you had the cahones to stand up to the crew. More of us need to do that when we see animals mishandled, particularly to the extent that poor octopus was. Although I personally don't believe in touching, I've seen DMs handle octopus without them ever inking.

 

[Rescue Diver68]

Kudo's for confronting the octopus molester and thanks for the report.

 

[B4UDIVE]

Mahalo for your report. I believe that education is everything and as the dive industry continues to grow, respect for our marine life cannot be stressed enough. Unfortunately, as your report points out, it is with the local DMs that need the MOST education, as they are setting the example for every diver they take out.
By the way, if you make it back to Maui, I would highly recommend Extended Horizons. Their professionalism, coupled with almost 3 decades of experience in Maui's waters has earned them top ranking in my book. It starts with their boat (they are the first and only boat at this time in Lahaina running on 100% biodiesel), extends to their equipment, and tops off with their knowledgeable crew (trained naturalists).

 

[bmrwizard99]

+1 on Shaka Doug. Did about 10 dives with him a few years back and he was great at certing my two kids (14, 12 at at that time), he was great with some friends (55, 12) doing an intro and was great with me 150+ dives.

Good post. Keep defending the sea creatures.

 

[Shaka Doug]

Awww shucks.....I just let the turtles do the work and the rest just falls into place...Thanks you guys!!!

 

[Huck BB62]

I'd like to add a little bit here in defense of the enthusiastic wildlife handlers: There's a LOT of good to come from people getting "personal" with the sea critters. I know, I know, I read it all, and heard the complaining, and know the laws. I'll put it in context with another of my life's passions: Hunting. (and I could care not one bit about offending people on this because if they ARE offended, it means they're ignorant on the subject and not worth having a dialogue with in the first place) All the tree huggin', law making people added up in this world don't do more for the quality stewardship, care, and propagation of wildlife species in the U.S. than hunters. It's the intimacy that makes people give and care for the environment.

If you look at who actually spends the most time, the most money, and the most effort into ensuring the environment for our animal kingdom, it is NOT the "you should"ers.

There's a balance. You let a kid have an octopus wrap around his arm, I'm willing to bet you he has much more of a tactile and emotional grasp of reality on the subject of protecting our oceans than a kid who read about it or saw one peeking out from under a rock from ten feet away.

After you've swam with the great beasts in the ocean, heard their song, felt the current push your body around as they swim by you, looked them in the eye, felt their skin, well, I believe an lifetime advocacy that's supported strongly is established. It's the same as someone who actually harvests his food from the wild by hunting or fishing. It'd be a largely ignorant person who didn't want to sustain the healthy habitat for the animal life they depend on for sustenance.

Seriously, people EAT octopi. Octopi don't live very long. Having sex makes them die. They tear each other limb from limb regularly. I'm quite sure that if you could talk to an octopus, getting played with by a diver is very very very low on the list of it's life and death concerns.

That said, in the preserves, where it's the law to not touch? That is the law, plain and simple. Over the years I've noticed something. Molokini's not quite the same. I don't know how or why but maybe 2000 snorkelers a day might change the habitat. All of us who love that place to death (I'll NEVER understand why people would say "Not Molokini again" ) know that the reef fish are sensitive. If you lie very still and watch across the length of it when no one's around, you can see the reef take on a whole different look. The way the fish act, how they're moving, how far out into the water column they venture, how they're interacting. And a shadow will come over or a large jack and the whole reef shivers and contracts. I think that too many shadows (people) for a prolonged period of time can't be good. I'd like to see them establish a few no visit days during the week to see how it'd affect the place. I'm betting it'd help.

You can tell that some operators LOVE to get out there early early early. (too danged early for me!) because there's more critter action before a lot of people hit the place. It's a shame because even though there's more critters to see, it'd dark. The sun isn't up, the light's bad. (not to mention it's colder etc.) Just some thoughts.

I'm sitting here petting my big old golden retriever. I know what it takes for him to be happy and healthy much more than a person who read about him in a book or looked at him from across the street.

 

[H2ODoc]

There seems to be a regional acceptance for handling different creatures. We are relative newbie divers, but I've seen divemasters grab octopi and pull them out of their holes, yet scold people who try to touch turtles.

In my example, I have heard that turtles can contract diseases from contact, so maybe that's the reason we shouldn't touch them.

For me, I'd rather leave everything alone since I'm in their house. I'd hate for an octopus to come into my house and twirl me above his head and bounce pass me to his buddy.