Professional Dive Boat - EPIC FAIL

[MMM]

Which island? If you were on Oahu, the diving there isn't all that great anyways (in my experience. And if the latter, you were probably at Hanauba (sp?) Bay. I snorkeled there long before I was certified and I remember the guide telling me that "the other side of the rocks" was for divers. I did only one 2-tank dive on Oahu after I was certified and would not recommend anyone dive there as it was a hideously boring dive. I far preferred the Big Island for diving. Have been there twice.

 

[lonebrave]

Which island? If you were on Oahu, the diving there isn't all that great anyways (in my experience. And if the latter, you were probably at Hanauba (sp?) Bay. I snorkeled there long before I was certified and I remember the guide telling me that "the other side of the rocks" was for divers.

Hanauma Bay (hanaumabay, Official Web Site for The City and County of Honolulu) is a Nature Preserve with restricted activity...e.g. no boats in the bay.

I did only one 2-tank dive on Oahu after I was certified and would not recommend anyone dive there as it was a hideously boring dive. I far preferred the Big Island for diving. Have been there twice.

Oahu only has two dive sites? I wish someone would have told me before I wasted my time at the 22 I've been to in the last year (oh, there are plenty more I haven't been to). Some have been better than others. Some I would prefer not to go back to, mostly because there are more exciting sites to dive.

Edit: What operator did you use? I wonder how much of the hideousness was a result of the choice of operator.

 

[CaptFlyingDutchman]

Which island? If you were on Oahu, the diving there isn't all that great anyways (in my experience. And if the latter, you were probably at Hanauba (sp?) Bay. I snorkeled there long before I was certified and I remember the guide telling me that "the other side of the rocks" was for divers. I did only one 2-tank dive on Oahu after I was certified and would not recommend anyone dive there as it was a hideously boring dive. I far preferred the Big Island for diving. Have been there twice.

BRAH!?!. I have been actively driving on Oahu since 2003. There are many great sites, on the South, East, West, and North sides of Oahu. Some good wrecks too. Dont believe, check my SB and FB underwater photos. But agree, not every site is epic.

Is it the coral issue? Agree some reefs are pretty dead, but in Oahu there is surf. Long, ornamental coral is fragile and breaks easy. So Hawaii has more encrusting coral.

 

[stanky1]

We did our homework before leaving for Maui. Thanks to many helpful comments on this site and shorediving.com, we had planned out a fun week of diving some great spots off Maui's beaches. It was going to be topped off with a trip to Molokini to dive the back wall or possibly reef's end. We recognized that this was probably one of our last trips as a family. My kids are 22 and 24 yrs old and they have jobs and other things they like to do, so hanging with their parents is not so big on their list anymore.

We rented a boat in Kona last year and had an awesome time diving there. We are experienced, confident and capable divers, so going out on our own like that was not an issue. We planned to do the same thing in Maui on this trip.

Unfortunately, the marine weather forecast for Maui changed the day before our flight to the island. Small craft advisories were in effect 24/7 and it appeared that the wind condition would last the entire week. Our plans had to change and adapt.

When our plane touched down in Maui the wind was howling. The entire island was surrounded by whitecaps. I thought we were doomed to replace our dive plans with road trips to Hana and Haleakala. We've done those before and once was enough.

On our second day, the morning winds were not so bad. We started snorkeling the spots that we had hoped to dive. We are not the kind of snorkelers who just float at the surface. We had a great time and felt satisfied that we had thoroughly seen the highlights of those dive sites using just our masks and snorkels.

Getting to the back wall of Molokini was still the goal of this trip. The experience is supposed to be very different from what we had seen on Maui so far. We could see the island of Molokini from our condo. From our vantage point, we saw that boats were still going out to the island in the morning. The ones that came down from Lahaina were getting their butts handed to them on the return trip in the wind. It looked like the dive to the back wall might be back on the table, but not in the 17 ft RIB that we had planned to rent.

We got on the phone and started making a few calls. The best boat was booked solid for the entire week and beyond. They referred us to this other outfit which had space available. Yes, we made it abundantly clear that we wanted to dive Molokini's Back Wall, and that Reef's End was an acceptable alternative. They assured us that one of those two dives would happen for us, depending on diving conditions of course.

Well, you know the rest.

By the way, our chance to dive the Back Wall or Reef's End was not precluded by poor conditions. We saw divers entering the water at Reef's End from the best boat. When our snorkel dive with tanks was over we saw other boats out there too.

 

[DebbyDiver]

Did you discuss your dissatisfaction with the dive op? Did they offer credit or a voucher for another trip?

 

[DiveMaven]

Would be extremely helpful to know who to avoid in the future. Please tell us the name of the operator.

 

[Shaka Doug]

Dude! You can't just come on here all bent out of shape about a bad dive in Hawaii, make a fuss about it, then not even mention which island or operator.... It gets people riled up. You said "EPIC FAIL" yet YOU failed to let us know what you were all upset about. There are 8 main islands here that have all types of diving available. See how people reacted to your first post? Then you come on talking about how the "Best Option" was booked (we can only guess who that might have been) and then you say you got a mediocre dive at Molokini. Come on, throw the readers a few more clues... there could have been MANY reasonable reasons that you got a dive that didn't meet your expectations. Simply walking without leaving a "tip" might not have done much good either (except to make you feel better).

Did you also ask for the Back Wall when you boarded the boat that morning or was it something the booking person promised you? (That can make all the difference right there) Who else was on the boat besides this snorkeler? Were the other divers as competent as your family? What was the explanation given by the crew? Where was dive # 2?

The Back Wall is one of those dives that gets mostly over rated if you ask me. Yes, it can be an AWESOME dive. It can also end up being a disaster and everything in between. Many divers consider it a "HOLY GRAIL" of Maui Diving kind of thing and when they do it and if it's their first back wall dive they end up having issues like : Changing Current, Low Air, Rapid Air Consumption, Bad Ears, Poor Bouyancy/Lack of Bouyancy Control/ Rapid Depth Changes Due to Vertical Currents, Diver Separation, Difficult Live Water Exits, etc, etc. I have made many back wall dives as a "guest guide" on several of Maui's BEST Dive Boats. I can tell you from my experience that MY Back Wall Dives are NEARLY ALWAYS CUT SHORT "thanks" to the other divers that dive it with me. If you really want to get the most out of that dive, you are as experienced as you say, and it is as important as you indicate that you accomplish it then I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you get a PRIVATE TOUR of it.

So, I'm sure everyone (myself included) wants to know: What did the operator say when you complained?

Here's a little something~something I made up about the Back Wall. Have a look see if you have a few minutes to kill and good luck next time...

I WANT TO DIVE THE BACK WALL

[video=youtube;UVLM0XJK7ZU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVLM0XJK7ZU&list=UU9xuFVfxFAeBm5L2_eNloCA& index=3&feature=plcp[/video]

SHAKA~!

 

[lonebrave]

I WANT TO DIVE THE BACK WALL

[video=youtube;UVLM0XJK7ZU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVLM0XJK7ZU&list=UU9xuFVfxFAeBm5L2_eNloCA& index=3&feature=plcp[/video]

SHAKA~!

Love that video!

 

[gunslinger808]

LMAO!!!! This is why we have liability insurance.

 

[grandizer52]

Which island? If you were on Oahu, the diving there isn't all that great anyways (in my experience. And if the latter, you were probably at Hanauba (sp?) Bay. I snorkeled there long before I was certified and I remember the guide telling me that "the other side of the rocks" was for divers. I did only one 2-tank dive on Oahu after I was certified and would not recommend anyone dive there as it was a hideously boring dive. I far preferred the Big Island for diving. Have been there twice.

oh look...another visitor bashing our island...not trying to start any kind of confrontation...but i have been out here since 01, and keep finding great sites out here. it's good that you tell people that oahu is not good, cause there will be less traffic on the roads and the boats...

---------- Post Merged at 02:58 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 02:54 PM ----------

Dude! You can't just come on here all bent out of shape about a bad dive in Hawaii, make a fuss about it, then not even mention which island or operator.... It gets people riled up. You said "EPIC FAIL" yet YOU failed to let us know what you were all upset about. There are 8 main islands here that have all types of diving available. See how people reacted to your first post? Then you come on talking about how the "Best Option" was booked (we can only guess who that might have been) and then you say you got a mediocre dive at Molokini. Come on, throw the readers a few more clues... there could have been MANY reasonable reasons that you got a dive that didn't meet your expectations. Simply walking without leaving a "tip" might not have done much good either (except to make you feel better).

Did you also ask for the Back Wall when you boarded the boat that morning or was it something the booking person promised you? (That can make all the difference right there) Who else was on the boat besides this snorkeler? Were the other divers as competent as your family? What was the explanation given by the crew? Where was dive # 2?

The Back Wall is one of those dives that gets mostly over rated if you ask me. Yes, it can be an AWESOME dive. It can also end up being a disaster and everything in between. Many divers consider it a "HOLY GRAIL" of Maui Diving kind of thing and when they do it and if it's their first back wall dive they end up having issues like : Changing Current, Low Air, Rapid Air Consumption, Bad Ears, Poor Bouyancy/Lack of Bouyancy Control/ Rapid Depth Changes Due to Vertical Currents, Diver Separation, Difficult Live Water Exits, etc, etc. I have made many back wall dives as a "guest guide" on several of Maui's BEST Dive Boats. I can tell you from my experience that MY Back Wall Dives are NEARLY ALWAYS CUT SHORT "thanks" to the other divers that dive it with me. If you really want to get the most out of that dive, you are as experienced as you say, and it is as important as you indicate that you accomplish it then I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you get a PRIVATE TOUR of it.

So, I'm sure everyone (myself included) wants to know: What did the operator say when you complained?

Here's a little something~something I made up about the Back Wall. Have a look see if you have a few minutes to kill and good luck next time...

I WANT TO DIVE THE BACK WALL

[video=youtube;UVLM0XJK7ZU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVLM0XJK7ZU&list=UU9xuFVfxFAeBm5L2_eNloCA& index=3&feature=plcp[/video]

SHAKA~!

ThaNX Doug...you hit the spot...not every dive op is going to be the greatest...sucks that the day you spent$$$, the shop/boat was having a bad day, or DM was his first day. there are boats in the state, that have left a bad taste,a and there are boats that got a second chance due to the moon and planets not being aligned and conditions weren't right, so one bad experience does not mean hawaii is a bad location...otherwise. it wouldn't be a top dive destination...stay classy