One day to dive in Maui, where to go?

[phuertas]

When are you coming to Maui? Which ship will you be on and will you be overnighting?

We will arrive on Sunday Oct. 13 at 8 AM and depart Monday October 14 at 6 PM, so we are overnighting in Maui. We're on NCL Pride of America. We will probably rent a car while we are on the island.

Thanks!

 

[diversteve]

You're going to be too late for morning dives anywhere on Sunday. Porting in Kahului or Lahaina?

From Kahului the boat ramp in Kihei is slightly closer. You'll also have to be up pretty early to drive across on Monday as boats leave there between 5:30-6:30 to beat the tradewinds coming back - they're smaller boats. Or you could rent tanks and shore dive Sunday morning - most of the Maui Dive Shops have rentals - the store list is on their website. In Kihei, Maui Dreams Dive Co. or B&B Scuba are also options for that. B&B might be a good option for both.

One other option if you are driving over from Kahului is Maui Diamond II out of Maalea. I don't have any personal experience with them but they advertise smaller group diving. Most of the Kihei boats are limited by boat size to a dozen or less also - they launch the boat off the ramp daily.

If you're porting in Lahaina, Lahaina Divers has the luxury of leaving later from Lahaina since they have two 46' Newton dive boats. It's still a 7AM check-in though. They also run to Molokini in addition to Lanai (different boats) With them you'd have to dive Molokini on Monday morning - they use the same boat for their 4 tank Lanai all day trip on Sat. They dive Lanai on Sun morning also. http://www.lahainadivers.com/reservations

Lahaina Divers also does two- tank afternoon dives. One trip is to the Carthaginian - on Monday. Or they dive Turtle Reef every afternoon. They get back at 4:30 so that would be an option even if you're porting in Kahului. It took us about 40mins. to drive to Kahana from Kahului which is a slightly farther distance north of Lahaina. On a Sunday afternoon.

Hammerheads/Molokai is out since they only do that dive on Tues/Sat.

Extended Horizons to Lanai (only) is another option there - they have a smaller boat so it can be more crowded if full. I'd guess some of your fellow cruise pax might be on either one - depends on your arrival time. Maui Rafting Adventures is a third option if you don't mind staying wet the whole time...

 

[phuertas]

I knew I was leaving something out. We are porting in Kahului. Thanks for the information, I keep looking at the companies.

 

[diversteve]

Trips that do go out in the afternoons aren't going to go deep since they often have Discover Divers or new certs on board. Except the Carthaginian trip since the deck is at about 95'.

Most Maui shore diving is shallow also - you have to work to break 50-70' at a lot of the sites. If you wanted to start with an easy shore dive try Old Airport Beach - the reef is 100yds. out, it's shallow and the entry is off a sandy beach that you can park near. Parking at a lot of shore dive sites will be hard to find later in the day - especially the popular ones in the Kihei/Waimea area. Another nice shallow dive is Kapalua Bay on the north end of West Maui. You could drive up there, look around (it's called the best beach on Maui), dive - then drop back down into Lahaina for lunch. There's a Maui Dive Shop in Kahana Gateway Mall along the main road for tanks/gear rental if needed.

Or get tanks at Lahaina Divers since that's probably your best option for Sun. afternoon boat dives. The Kihei boats only do two morning dives.

Or see what Shaka Doug can do for you. Diving with Doug is basically a private guided shore dive.