I’m in Maui on a vacation with diving and in the past, have always dove from the shore with a local guide. This time I wanted to boat dive, so because of time and schedule limitations, went with Yonegan Prodivers. There’s an online waiver to fill out after booking, and a newer state law for Hawaii requires you to fill out the standard student diver medical questionnaire, even though you aren’t in a learning scenario.
Both trips were on their twin hull aluminum boat, the Kilikani II, which according to some other divers I met, was Ed Robinson’s boat before he retired. Check in time is at the Kihei boat launch at 6:15 am. There is no marina in that harbor so all boats are launched by the many operations that use this as a base. Best parking is secured by arriving a bit earlier (it’s free) and getting to the smallish paved lot above the launch area. There’s a dirt overflow lot to the right as well. You check in with the crew while the boat is on the trailer and then wait with everybody going out with any operation at the picnic table to the side of the ramp. It’s a good chance to meet people. If you have your own gear, you can hand it up to the crew in the trailer before going to the waiting area.
You’ll board at the dock after the boat is launched. If the water level of high enough, the side door will be open, otherwise you’ll have to step over the door, which some people found tricky.
The tanks are stored vertically at deck level in the center with seating against the side. Air only, no nitrox unless you brought tanks with you from somewhere else. Getting set up is not as easy as on the Newton boats I’m more familiar with. Once the BC is set up, a crew members will help lift the setup onto the side bench seat and assist in donning it while you are next to the side door. Entry into the water is giant stride out of side doors and reboarding was using twin stern ladders. There is no tag line or active management, so use your best judgment and talking to other divers to safely get aboard. You step onto the bottom of the ladder with fins on and then doff them and hand them up to the deck before climbing onboard. Surface intervals are about an hour, and water and a light snack is provided.
Day 1 was advertised as inside Molokini and another site at captains discretion. The inside Molokini trips are a mix of divers and snorkelers, with a guide for each party. We did two dives, one at the inside west tip of Molokini (Reef’s End), and one at the inside east tip of Molokini (E’nenue, I think). Both were moored dives, entry off the side of the boat, swim to bow mooring line, then descending as a group. I was solo and actively partnered up with another solo diver. Visibility was excellent, water temperatures in high 70s at depth, both dives were in the 60-70 foot range, saw a couple of grey reef sharks, trevally, barracuda, lots of smaller fish. Current was fairly mild. Both dives 45 minutes with 50 minute surface interval. It’s a nice easy dive site and most divers will be newer.
On dive 1, my low pressure house to my primary developed a leak in the middle, so on dive 2 the crew lent me a regulator set (Atomics) and a BC (Oceanic jacket). My BC had AIR2, so not compatible with their reg set. Shout out to the crew for helping me out. They recommended Maui Scuba Dreams as a shop that could get me a new hose, even though that shop is affiliated with Island Style Divers, a competing boat operation out of the same harbor. Maui Dreams replaced my hose, no muss, no fuss, so I could dive the next day.
Day 2 was a 3 tank day. The divers were more experienced as the operator wanted AOW and 40 dives for Molokini backwall plus 2. The guide was very explicit that he was there to guide but that he expected everybody to be know their weighting, maintain buoyancy, know their computer, watch nitrogen loading across all three dives without deco, and perform a safety stop in open water without a mooring line. Dive 1 was a drop on the backside of Molokini drifting east to west. I paired with another solo diver and the group stayed between 65-80 feet close to the wall. Saw eagle ray, reek sharks, and smaller fish that hid inside the cracks in the wall. A light was useful to peek and bring out color in the reef. There was up and down gentle surge against the wall so that you would go up and down 5-10 feet. It was a bit weird in the beginning, but easier to accept it than to fight it. The safety stop was done away from the wall, and instead of a DSMB, the guide used his secondary to generate a bubble marker. No tag line, swam to the rear of the boat with props in neutral, climbed up as before. Dive 2 was at E’nanuae, on the inside of the eastern tip of Molokini. We swam at around 65 feet over a ridge and around the backwall of Molokini for a drift dive. The wall was not as steep here, lots of reef sharks deeper, found some old shells (USN ammo, not mollusk), and marker for last third of dive was a large unexploded bomb at 45 feet. Again, safety stop away from wall, boarding as before. Dive 3 was at the St. Anthony wreck and artificial reef. We were hot dropped on the wreck with quick descent. It’s a small fishing boat with an artificial reef made of tires in concrete to the east with lots of nooks and crannies to look for stuff. Unlike Molokini with 80+ foot visibility, this one was a bit silty with visibility around 40 feet. The group got separated with a guide in each group, but it was okay with experienced divers. This was my favorite dive of the three. I had an Aeris Epic computer that I was using as my main computer but brought along my Cressi Leonardo to see what would happen. Sure enough, old Leo put me into deco 10 minutes into the dive, with a 40 min obligation by the time I ended the dive on the Aeris still in NDL. All dives were 45 minutes with surface intervals of one hour.
My hand mirror elicited the most number of questions, and it was useful keeping track of my partner and other divers. I did have my PLB and a small and large DSMB but nothing about this was mentioned in the briefings, and I don’t know if other divers aside from the guides had a signaling device, as most people had rental gear. This was the first time I brought regulators, BC, and wetsuit for vacation diving. I usually bring a mask, fins, and old Leo. I think he’s only good for 1-2 dives a day at best, and I’ll retire him until I’m only good for 1-2 dives a day.
Would I dive these locations again? Yes, but my standards are pretty low for a good dive (my normal dive is 55 degrees, drysuit, 30 feet, visibility 3 feet).
Was Molokini backwall difficult? It’s like diving palm beach with less current and without a hard bottom (well, there is one at 300 feet).
Did I learn anything from diving here? 1. If you are nice and bring snacks for the boat, the crew will help you out in a jam. 2. If you have AIR2 or other non standard inflator, you are in a bigger jam than if you had a standard inflator. 3. There are many divers from California visiting here, and they are very friendly and willing to share their diving experience both here and in California. Catalina and the other Channel Islands keep on coming up.
Both trips were on their twin hull aluminum boat, the Kilikani II, which according to some other divers I met, was Ed Robinson’s boat before he retired. Check in time is at the Kihei boat launch at 6:15 am. There is no marina in that harbor so all boats are launched by the many operations that use this as a base. Best parking is secured by arriving a bit earlier (it’s free) and getting to the smallish paved lot above the launch area. There’s a dirt overflow lot to the right as well. You check in with the crew while the boat is on the trailer and then wait with everybody going out with any operation at the picnic table to the side of the ramp. It’s a good chance to meet people. If you have your own gear, you can hand it up to the crew in the trailer before going to the waiting area.
You’ll board at the dock after the boat is launched. If the water level of high enough, the side door will be open, otherwise you’ll have to step over the door, which some people found tricky.
The tanks are stored vertically at deck level in the center with seating against the side. Air only, no nitrox unless you brought tanks with you from somewhere else. Getting set up is not as easy as on the Newton boats I’m more familiar with. Once the BC is set up, a crew members will help lift the setup onto the side bench seat and assist in donning it while you are next to the side door. Entry into the water is giant stride out of side doors and reboarding was using twin stern ladders. There is no tag line or active management, so use your best judgment and talking to other divers to safely get aboard. You step onto the bottom of the ladder with fins on and then doff them and hand them up to the deck before climbing onboard. Surface intervals are about an hour, and water and a light snack is provided.
Day 1 was advertised as inside Molokini and another site at captains discretion. The inside Molokini trips are a mix of divers and snorkelers, with a guide for each party. We did two dives, one at the inside west tip of Molokini (Reef’s End), and one at the inside east tip of Molokini (E’nenue, I think). Both were moored dives, entry off the side of the boat, swim to bow mooring line, then descending as a group. I was solo and actively partnered up with another solo diver. Visibility was excellent, water temperatures in high 70s at depth, both dives were in the 60-70 foot range, saw a couple of grey reef sharks, trevally, barracuda, lots of smaller fish. Current was fairly mild. Both dives 45 minutes with 50 minute surface interval. It’s a nice easy dive site and most divers will be newer.
On dive 1, my low pressure house to my primary developed a leak in the middle, so on dive 2 the crew lent me a regulator set (Atomics) and a BC (Oceanic jacket). My BC had AIR2, so not compatible with their reg set. Shout out to the crew for helping me out. They recommended Maui Scuba Dreams as a shop that could get me a new hose, even though that shop is affiliated with Island Style Divers, a competing boat operation out of the same harbor. Maui Dreams replaced my hose, no muss, no fuss, so I could dive the next day.
Day 2 was a 3 tank day. The divers were more experienced as the operator wanted AOW and 40 dives for Molokini backwall plus 2. The guide was very explicit that he was there to guide but that he expected everybody to be know their weighting, maintain buoyancy, know their computer, watch nitrogen loading across all three dives without deco, and perform a safety stop in open water without a mooring line. Dive 1 was a drop on the backside of Molokini drifting east to west. I paired with another solo diver and the group stayed between 65-80 feet close to the wall. Saw eagle ray, reek sharks, and smaller fish that hid inside the cracks in the wall. A light was useful to peek and bring out color in the reef. There was up and down gentle surge against the wall so that you would go up and down 5-10 feet. It was a bit weird in the beginning, but easier to accept it than to fight it. The safety stop was done away from the wall, and instead of a DSMB, the guide used his secondary to generate a bubble marker. No tag line, swam to the rear of the boat with props in neutral, climbed up as before. Dive 2 was at E’nanuae, on the inside of the eastern tip of Molokini. We swam at around 65 feet over a ridge and around the backwall of Molokini for a drift dive. The wall was not as steep here, lots of reef sharks deeper, found some old shells (USN ammo, not mollusk), and marker for last third of dive was a large unexploded bomb at 45 feet. Again, safety stop away from wall, boarding as before. Dive 3 was at the St. Anthony wreck and artificial reef. We were hot dropped on the wreck with quick descent. It’s a small fishing boat with an artificial reef made of tires in concrete to the east with lots of nooks and crannies to look for stuff. Unlike Molokini with 80+ foot visibility, this one was a bit silty with visibility around 40 feet. The group got separated with a guide in each group, but it was okay with experienced divers. This was my favorite dive of the three. I had an Aeris Epic computer that I was using as my main computer but brought along my Cressi Leonardo to see what would happen. Sure enough, old Leo put me into deco 10 minutes into the dive, with a 40 min obligation by the time I ended the dive on the Aeris still in NDL. All dives were 45 minutes with surface intervals of one hour.
My hand mirror elicited the most number of questions, and it was useful keeping track of my partner and other divers. I did have my PLB and a small and large DSMB but nothing about this was mentioned in the briefings, and I don’t know if other divers aside from the guides had a signaling device, as most people had rental gear. This was the first time I brought regulators, BC, and wetsuit for vacation diving. I usually bring a mask, fins, and old Leo. I think he’s only good for 1-2 dives a day at best, and I’ll retire him until I’m only good for 1-2 dives a day.
Would I dive these locations again? Yes, but my standards are pretty low for a good dive (my normal dive is 55 degrees, drysuit, 30 feet, visibility 3 feet).
Was Molokini backwall difficult? It’s like diving palm beach with less current and without a hard bottom (well, there is one at 300 feet).
Did I learn anything from diving here? 1. If you are nice and bring snacks for the boat, the crew will help you out in a jam. 2. If you have AIR2 or other non standard inflator, you are in a bigger jam than if you had a standard inflator. 3. There are many divers from California visiting here, and they are very friendly and willing to share their diving experience both here and in California. Catalina and the other Channel Islands keep on coming up.
