My Deepest Apologies To Kidspot and Gilligan

[socaldiver]

We were on Maui 6/25 to 7/2 with 5 other family members, who are non-divers. The wife and I hauled our dive gear and golf clubs with us in hopes of getting in a little of each. I had been PMing Gilligan and Kidspot to hook up with them for some shorediving.
Guys, I am so sorry we didn't get together, especially you Kidspot.

What we ended up doing, with the family of course, was play 3 rounds of golf, take in a luau, shopping (the women insisted!!) and one day of renting Harley's and doing the tour of the West Maui Mountains and Haleakala. We went to the pools and blowholes which were neat. I thought the ride on the westside was actually even better than the Road to Hana, which we had done 3 times previously. Riding the bikes to the top of the crater was awesome.

The wife and I did manage to get in one day of diving though. But we ended up going out with Lahaina Divers and doing a dive at Cathedrals II and Sargeant Major. Both nice dives but been there done that. Our Cathedrals dive was to a depth of 65 fsw for 39 minutes and the other dive was to 48 fsw for 45 minutes. (We were restricted to 35 minute dives on both but were able to extend a little further, especially on the second dive since we had so much air left. In both cases we came bac on board the boat with over 1200 psi).

Saturday we were planning on meeting Kidspot and others for their monthly dive at Ahihi Bay but things really went downhill Friday afternoon. The wife started getting sick with headaches and tingling in her feet. After getting the run around from 2 medical facilities in Lahaina we ended up going to a doctor at the Hyatt. After her treatment she recommended we go to Maui Medical Center in Wailuku. We did. Our excursion started at about 4PM and she was finally released from the hospital a little after midnight with nothing resolved. Maui Medical had done a series of test with nothing out ofthe ordinary.

On our flight home the symptoms returned so upon reaching home it was back to the hospital and after 2 1/2 days of test and treatments, including 2 1/2 hours in the chamber, the diagnosis came out she got a migrane. Never had one before so wasn't thinking along those lines.

So, again I apologize for not hooking up with the islanders. I guess the one good thing about the trip is I was able to line up a job with the hotel over there starting in October if I am interested in making the move.

Mahalo anyway Tim for your kindness.

Aloha

 

[ckharlan66]

I hope she is feeling better now.

Good to see you on the board.

Chad

 

[KrisB]

We were restricted to 35 minute dives on both but were able to extend a little further, especially on the second dive since we had so much air left. In both cases we came bac on board the boat with over 1200 psi

Why were you restricted to 35 minute dives?

 

[socaldiver]

The DMs on the boat during dive briefings said 65 fsw max for 35 minutes on first dive. 45 fsw for 35 minutes on second dive. Fortunately our DM was a little more liberal with us on the second dive since we all had so much air left. We were the first group in the water and the last to come out.

 

[KrisB]

The DMs on the boat during dive briefings said 65 fsw max for 35 minutes on first dive. 45 fsw for 35 minutes on second dive. Fortunately our DM was a little more liberal with us on the second dive since we all had so much air left. We were the first group in the water and the last to come out.

That's kinda sad that those were the limitations -- that's still 5 minutes away from DSAT NDL's on the first dive and 21 (assuming 1hr SI) on the second.

Were you diving with a computer? Were those that were allowed to follow their computer's NDL?

(I'm just trying to understand Lahaina Divers policies).

Thanks,

 

[kidspot]

sorry to hear about your wifes troubles this trip. I hope she is ok.

no worries about missing saturday either - we had a great dive and you are welcome to join us next time you are on island.

Aloha, Tim

 

[DiveMaven]

That's kinda sad that those were the limitations -- that's still 5 minutes away from DSAT NDL's on the first dive and 21 (assuming 1hr SI) on the second.

Were you diving with a computer? Were those that were allowed to follow their computer's NDL?

(I'm just trying to understand Lahaina Divers policies).

Thanks,

We dive with Lahaina Divers to Lanai when we're on Maui, so maybe I can explain further.

One reason the dive profiles are so restrictive is because of the short SI of approximately 45 minutes between dives. Another is the time constraint of getting back across the channel before the trades pick up too much, as well as their need to get back for their afternoon charters.

We've found that during the dive briefing, the DM's will often say that the profiles are only "written in stone" for those diving guages, and those with computers will be given more latitude. We always speak with our group leader prior to the dive and have always been allowed to extend our bottom times, particularly on our 2nd dive. We also ask to be the first group in the water so we can be the last ones out, and usually are.

In looking back at our last four dives with Lahaina Divers to Lanai, our first dives were 39 and 40 minutes, our second dives being 47 and 51 minutes. With AL72's, we were coming back on board with an average of about 900psi.

An important point is that Lahaina Divers really is geared toward the beginner or vacation diver. They do an excellent job of "babysitting" those that need it and are extremely safety conscious. Since we were certified with them, we know quite of a few of the DM's and Captains, and we don't hesitate to speak with them about our desires for extra bottom time and a little less supervision on the dive. We've always had our requests met since we understand their time schedule, and typically we are left to simply loosely follow our guide on our dives (bringing up the rear). On our trip to Maui in December, I'm going to request that we be in the first group to the Cathedrals and be allowed to enter first so we can take pictures without all the silt from the other divers. I have no doubt that our request will be honored.

Although we would definitely prefer an Ed Robinson's type of dive profile, we prefer the comfort of the big boats for the (sometimes very rough) crossing, and frankly love to go back each year and dive with people that we really like. We love diving with our OW instructor and showing him what a great job he's done in teaching us our skills.

 

[socaldiver]

The wife and I both dive with dive computers and were well within NDL.

Kidspot, glad to hear Saturday's dive was good. I am sure there will be other times.

Just to clarify something. The wife was certified in Monterrey Bay and I was certified off Catalina. We have logged over 100 dives each off the California coast. Not hardly what one would call vacation divers, although lately that seems to be more the case.

We met the people from Lahaina Divers at the Scuba Show in Long Beach 6 years ago and because of their close proximity to where we stay and their friendliness we enjoy diving with them. However, our original plan on this trip was to do shore diving only. Like any plans not etched in stone, they are subject to change.

 

[DiveMaven]

The wife and I both dive with dive computers and were well within NDL.

Kidspot, glad to hear Saturday's dive was good. I am sure there will be other times.

Just to clarify something. The wife was certified in Monterrey Bay and I was certified off Catalina. We have logged over 100 dives each off the California coast. Not hardly what one would call vacation divers, although lately that seems to be more the case.

We met the people from Lahaina Divers at the Scuba Show in Long Beach 6 years ago and because of their close proximity to where we stay and their friendliness we enjoy diving with them. However, our original plan on this trip was to do shore diving only. Like any plans not etched in stone, they are subject to change.

Gosh, I sure didn't mean anything negative when I said that Lahaina Divers caters to the vacation diver. Heck, by that definition you can say that I'm a vacation diver too, since that's the only time we dive (we don't dive cold). The only difference would be that we take vacations TO dive, which means we dive 2-5 tanks per day, in contrast to the folks that dive once or twice as part of their vacation.

In any case, I wasn't trying to put down Lahaina Divers or anyone else. We dive with them when we're on Maui because we really like the DM's, the boats, and are extremely comfortable diving with them. We're happy to give them our business for our Lanai dives....and they are close to where we stay on Kaanapali Beach as well.

Sorry if that came out negatively in any way.

 

[melfox26]

35 min bottom time? Ridiculous. I would have asked for a refund. No matter how "comfortable" the boat is for the ride to/from Lanai, paying $120 for a little over an hour of total bottom time? :huh: No thanks.

That's exactly why I chose to book my Lanai dives that I did last week with Extended Horizons. I got about an hour bottom time on 3 of the 4 dives I did with them and 45 minutes of bottom time when we dove "Monolith" with a 120 fsw max depth.



Mel