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- 63,269
- Reaction score
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Very interesting! I found Lahaina divers to be extremely efficient like a well-oiled machine. The shop is very well organized....stations for paperwork, lots of stuff to buy, wet gear area laid out optimally for work flow. 90% of staff very friendly and helpful. The boat was big and carried 24 divers across the 50 minute crossing at a nice clip. I'm not one for big boats with many divers but I must say they pulled it off very smoothly. I ventured into three other shops along the way and was told I would be diving with the "Scuba Nazis" by all three shops. :11: I can see where they get that, orders are given at every turn. When to take shoes off, when to sit, when to move (a little like being on a commercial plane) But, lets face it, diving that many people with all that gear...you sort of need some order. Loud announcements like "IF YOU EAT TWO COOKIES---YOU WILL BE EATING SOMEONE else's cookie", are a bit of a turn off to me, but what the hey. The head was the cleanest I have ever encountered on a boat! So a big kudos for that! No slackers on this staff, they worked together very efficiently.
Another mild complaint, I overheard someone ask "will someone hand us our camersa?" and the answer given was "No--you will all be jumping in with your cameras" :11doh:
No photog special status on this boat! Also, the drift pick-ups on a boat this size with this many divers could use a deck hand accepting fins and taking cameras, from my perspective. (Maybe there was and he was somewhere else when I was coming up the ladder) I could not see the captain in the flybridge, but I could hear his orders and he sounded pretty serious screaming "60 seconds, 30 seconds!" The weakest diver in the group got to the ladder first, as luck would have it and spent a bit too long holding up the show as the boat swept closer to the rocks. Once he finally got his fins off (ask Santa for some spring heels, brudda!) I was hustling to get aboard and a swell took a fin off the deck. I considered dropping down for it but opted not as time was running out and so I scurried aboard about five seconds before the props were fired up (yikes, I hope he could see me, cause I couldn't see him!) IF you don't have spring heels and are having trouble, the side of the ladder is a good spot to struggle without blocking the entire ladder. This way, once you are a good to go you can swing around and climb aboard.
We circled back for the remaining 20 divers and they threw out a very long tag line and began ordering divers to remove their fins and pass them up) I am not a big fan of this, although I do understand why they felt the need to get people aboard rapidly in the swell. We had a strong group of divers but not quite moving fast enough for a stress-free pick up. The issue was a bit of current carried us back from where we had swam out for the pick-up. I think it would be better in this situation to do a slow finning deco as opposed to a stationary one that moved us back towards the wall.
On the 15 ft safety stop, I started to deploy my SMB (boat traffic concerns) and was told not to. I think they like the procedures executed the same way every time and I was told later the captain watches for our bubbles. (that always feels like a "trust me") hey, I am stuck in my ways, so any change is an exercise in *hanging loose*.
All in all, great dives (lots of sharks) and I saw some nice sized Ulua. Dive guides gave us a max depth of 80 ft (reasonable with a group that size, trying to time a unified pick-up with Al 72's)
All-in -all a good operation, especially if you value organization and running on a tight schedule! Coffee and pastries in the am and a good lunch on the surface interval.
Tim (kidspot, an A plus partner) Always cheerful, reasonable and a huge plus to any charter, IMO. He spotted the early stages of my camera demise on the stop. It was sad seeing the housing slowly fill with sea water, but not a darn thing you can do really. On the boat we joked about closing it's eyes and "draping the body" with a towel. I'm not sure how it happened. Was it the jump off? (I had stepped off backwards to break the impact) or the *vertcial diver* that managed a good kick on the dome port? ...I'll just never know. A right of passage, I suppose. he he..they call Molokini back side "The Dark Side" as it is shaded from the light untill mid day, so it is almost always in the shadows on an am dive. Some black coral around 80-90 ft, I noticed.
The theatrical show Ulalena I enjoyed very much! The music/ vocalists were exceptional as were the props and lighting. EEEEeee, I entered the restroom and there was not a soul. Upon leaving, it was a long walk of shame...rows and rows of men at urinals. Oops.
Another mild complaint, I overheard someone ask "will someone hand us our camersa?" and the answer given was "No--you will all be jumping in with your cameras" :11doh:
No photog special status on this boat! Also, the drift pick-ups on a boat this size with this many divers could use a deck hand accepting fins and taking cameras, from my perspective. (Maybe there was and he was somewhere else when I was coming up the ladder) I could not see the captain in the flybridge, but I could hear his orders and he sounded pretty serious screaming "60 seconds, 30 seconds!" The weakest diver in the group got to the ladder first, as luck would have it and spent a bit too long holding up the show as the boat swept closer to the rocks. Once he finally got his fins off (ask Santa for some spring heels, brudda!) I was hustling to get aboard and a swell took a fin off the deck. I considered dropping down for it but opted not as time was running out and so I scurried aboard about five seconds before the props were fired up (yikes, I hope he could see me, cause I couldn't see him!) IF you don't have spring heels and are having trouble, the side of the ladder is a good spot to struggle without blocking the entire ladder. This way, once you are a good to go you can swing around and climb aboard.
We circled back for the remaining 20 divers and they threw out a very long tag line and began ordering divers to remove their fins and pass them up) I am not a big fan of this, although I do understand why they felt the need to get people aboard rapidly in the swell. We had a strong group of divers but not quite moving fast enough for a stress-free pick up. The issue was a bit of current carried us back from where we had swam out for the pick-up. I think it would be better in this situation to do a slow finning deco as opposed to a stationary one that moved us back towards the wall.
On the 15 ft safety stop, I started to deploy my SMB (boat traffic concerns) and was told not to. I think they like the procedures executed the same way every time and I was told later the captain watches for our bubbles. (that always feels like a "trust me") hey, I am stuck in my ways, so any change is an exercise in *hanging loose*.
All in all, great dives (lots of sharks) and I saw some nice sized Ulua. Dive guides gave us a max depth of 80 ft (reasonable with a group that size, trying to time a unified pick-up with Al 72's)
All-in -all a good operation, especially if you value organization and running on a tight schedule! Coffee and pastries in the am and a good lunch on the surface interval.
Tim (kidspot, an A plus partner) Always cheerful, reasonable and a huge plus to any charter, IMO. He spotted the early stages of my camera demise on the stop. It was sad seeing the housing slowly fill with sea water, but not a darn thing you can do really. On the boat we joked about closing it's eyes and "draping the body" with a towel. I'm not sure how it happened. Was it the jump off? (I had stepped off backwards to break the impact) or the *vertcial diver* that managed a good kick on the dome port? ...I'll just never know. A right of passage, I suppose. he he..they call Molokini back side "The Dark Side" as it is shaded from the light untill mid day, so it is almost always in the shadows on an am dive. Some black coral around 80-90 ft, I noticed.
The theatrical show Ulalena I enjoyed very much! The music/ vocalists were exceptional as were the props and lighting. EEEEeee, I entered the restroom and there was not a soul. Upon leaving, it was a long walk of shame...rows and rows of men at urinals. Oops.
