Need help deciding - Lanai or Molokini Crater for family of four

[biologyteacher]

Hello!
I am bringing my family to Maui and we have very varied dive experience. I am advanced/rescue and my husband is open water (but with about 50 dives). My son is 17 and interested in pursuing marine biology - very comfortable diving but gets seasick. My youngest is still a bit fearful of diving and hasn't had great experiences (14). We are staying in Maui and planning to use Lahaina divers.

We have one or two days to dive. I will likely dive twice with my oldest son but want my youngest to have a really good dive. Would you recommend Molokini Crater or Lanai for the full family dive and why? I'd like to see as much marine life as possible.

I know there was another thread about this but it was a little old so I wanted to revisit. Thank you for your help.

 

[muddiver]

Go Molokini, Lanai is a long ride and often a rough ride. You son will be sea sick guaranteed going to Lanai. Also, Molokini offered a number of option for different levels of divers. There is shallow rock reef for the beginners and deep sand, rock and coral for the advanced. I see reek sharks there every time I go. Good times.

 

[DiveMaven]

Make sure your son take some sea sick meds before getting on the boat. You're smart to go with Lahaina Divers since their big 46' Newton dive boats give you an extremely smooth ride and can handle the roughest seas. I would say that the ride from Lahaina to both Molokini and Lanai are similar in length and water roughness, and although I think both are great choices, Molokini will give you 100+ foot visibility that makes for an amazing experience.

Let the boat crew know about your daughter being a bit aprehensive and they'll take good care of her. Lahaina Divers does an amazing job with new and less experienced divers and usually go above and beyond to make nervous divers more comfortable. That's another good reason to go to Molokini, the great visibility will help your daughter feel more comfortable, and Lanai usually involves at least one Cathedral, which has a swim-thru...not the best choice for an uncomfortable diver.

 

[diversteve]

Agreed.^

I've been at 1st Cathedral (actually w/MDS but the same sized boat) once. When we entered it was almost flat calm. 45mins. later it was pitching so bad the fear was that the ladder was going to get someone. Even the DM's seemed concerned. Having dove in SoCal, it wasn't an issue for us. By the time everyone got back on board several people - including my buddy - were sick. The op with the big Zodiac was nearby, they looked like they were having a rougher time than us.

Inside Molokini Crate you don't get any of that, the bulk of it shields the dive areas. It's only a slightly longer ride - maybe 5 miles?. I think LD might stay near Maui and cut over somewhere around Kihei. From south Maui it's only about 3 miles across in open water.

I have seen bigger schools of fish off West Lanai. But those are drift dives that you likely wouldn't be doing with your family anyway since they require an Advanced card. We did those with Lahaina and had no problems with the conditions that day. But we also moored in a little protective cove and dove out into it, the current was ripping u/w. Pretty calm on top though.

There's also lots of fish off Molokini since the snorkel operators have been feeding them for decades. We saw white tips once out there in the sand at about 60' - each time we got close (20') they'd move another 100'. The 2nd time we let them go. I saw my only leaf scorpionfish ever there also - out in the open in a field of brown staghorn. Green like a toothpaste color with brown spots - no fear I guess.

 

[Steve Eady]

I take Bonine, but start taking it the day before the dive and the morning of the dive. I never ever felt sick again. I have been over to Lani a few times and Molakai in some pretty rough seas. It also does not make me sleepy. I will be headed to Lani next month again when we head back to Maui. Enjoy your diving. If you want to try something real fun try these out www.mauiscooterdivers.com Great fun and Great people.

 

[TSandM]

I'd recommend contacting Shaka Doug and doing some shore diving. There's even a recent report here that agrees with my opinion, that the shore diving on Maui is as good, or sometimes better, than what you get from boats. Shore diving will avoid the whole seasickness issue altogether, and will keep the dives relatively shallow, so your novices will be less stressed.

I only occasionally do a boat dive on Maui any more. The shore diving is too good.

 

[Token]

I too would recommend shore diving with Shaka Doug. He knows all the best spots and is a fun guy to boot. Your kids will like him, for sure.

 

[drdrakeremoray]

Another vote for shore diving. My inexperienced group (including two 14 year olds) did Black Rock and Mala Pier and we had a great time. Easy dives (30 ft max), no boats (so no seasickness) and tons to see. We also did a night dive on Mala Pier. Again, easy and fun and lots to see. I am looking forward to getting more experience for deeper and more challenging dives, but after this trip and these easy dives, my confidence is way up! We used Extended Horizons (and Keith Saddler as a guide specifically) and we had a great experience.

 

[DiveMaven]

The only problem with shore diving if you need specific days, is that conditions might prevent diving. When we arrived on Maui last week, we couldn't shore dive the first couple of days due to rain and run off, then we would have been prevented from shore diving today when they closed to beaches due to a serious shark bite incident. We've had quite a few days in the past year where shore diving has been only fair at best or didnt happen due to swells, weather, and poor viz.

IMO if you only have a couple of specific days that you can dive, you're better off going with the sure thing of a boat charter.

 

[scubahawk27]

Pretty tragic shark incident at White rock yesterday.


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