Professional Dive Boat - EPIC FAIL

[TSandM]

It's annoying to be promised one thing and to get another, but it's not clear to me from your post whether ANYBODY dove the back wall that day. It's a dive that's highly dependent on wind and water conditions, and the operators often won't do it.

Personally, I found it to be one of less interesting dives I've done on Maui. But then, diving a wall is not a novelty for me. There is far more life inside the crater or along the "arms", for my money.

It's also unclear to me what the problem was with the dive you did . . . Molokini Crater has topography that offers something to people at all levels. Yes, folks snorkel there, but I've dived inside the crater and gone down and seen sharks and garden eels, and endemic nudibranchs, and octopuses. I don't think I'd be horribly disappointed, if the boat told me we had to stay inside the crater and dive.

 

[DiveMaven]

We just did two dives inside the crater today, one at Ene Nue and the other at Mid-Reef. There's a south swell making the backwall a bad choice, and making the shoreline sites a bit too "dirty" to dive. Saw lots of great stuff, and the snorkeler on our boat enjoyed herself as well.

Also not sure who the "best boat" on the island is supposed to be that the OP refers to. We dive with three different operators and would classify them all equally excellent. Some days are better than others when the experience level of the divers on the boat matches ours and the critters are out in force, but other days aren't as great when there are lots of newbies and not a lot of critters to find. It's the luck of the draw.

 

[Nicole_de_reve]

We just did two dives inside the crater today, one at Ene Nue and the other at Mid-Reef. There's a south swell making the backwall a bad choice, and making the shoreline sites a bit too "dirty" to dive. Saw lots of great stuff, and the snorkeler on our boat enjoyed herself as well.

Also not sure who the "best boat" on the island is supposed to be that the OP refers to. We dive with three different operators and would classify them all equally excellent. Some days are better than others when the experience level of the divers on the boat matches ours and the critters are out in force, but other days aren't as great when there are lots of newbies and not a lot of critters to find. It's the luck of the draw.

Could you tell us which 3 operators you consider excellent? I'm going to Maui with my family this weekend and next week. Thanks!

 

[Midge907]

Could you tell us which 3 operators you consider excellent? I'm going to Maui with my family this weekend and next week. Thanks!

I have only dove with B&B scuba which I was happy with, but my other two choices from the research I did was Ed Robinsons, and Mike Severns Diving. The Boat that B&B owns, is one of the nicest I have ever been on, although I love Kona Dive Companys boat also, I think I have a thing for Catamarans.

 

[DiveMaven]

Could you tell us which 3 operators you consider excellent? I'm going to Maui with my family this weekend and next week. Thanks!

Sure, we like Makena Coast charters, Dive & Sea, and Ed Robinsons. However, B&B is highly regarded here as is Mike Severns...we just haven't been out with them so can't give a first hand recommendation.

 

[stanky1]

I don't think I'd be horribly disappointed, if the boat told me we had to stay inside the crater and dive.

Good for you.

I've read that the Back Wall is one of the best dives in Hawaii. Maybe it isn't, but we paid to try it for ourselves.

I'm not sure why you need to know if anyone else dove the Back Wall on that day. If it wasn't dive-able, don't you think the crew would have said so? We saw divers at Reef's End and we didn't go there either. When the Dive Master outright tells us that we are being screwed in favor of the snorkeler, should we not believe it??? Or is that what they tell you in Hawaii when they actually mean "the conditions are bad at the Back Wall"??? Please clarify.

With regard to our SCUBA dive at the snorkel site, we could have done that for $29.95 using just our masks and snorkels on a cattle boat. It was not much different from what we'd already seen for free all week around the southwest shores of Maui, especially in the Ahihi Reserve. In fact, we saw more fish in the Ahihi Reserve. We were looking for something different, in case you didn't read my earlier post.

---------- Post Merged at 12:25 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 12:01 AM ----------

And still no names.

But I'm contemplating it...

 

[TSandM]

It was not much different from what we'd already seen for free all week around the southwest shores of Maui, especially in the Ahihi Reserve.

Well, that's kind of Maui . . . we have almost stopped doing boat dives there, because you can basically see all the same things on the shallow inshore reefs. The boat dives are best when the surf is strong, though, because the shallow viz is poor then.

I think it's highly unlikely that you would have seen anything extraordinary on the back wall. I only mentioned the conditions to point out that it IS a site the boats can't always do. Your boat may well have decided to avoid it because of the snorkeler. In that kind of situation, some of us make lemonade, and some make complaints.

 

[HIDives]

I did a 2 tank charter off of Maui a few weeks ago. The crew and shop staff were horrible. I would not recommend this shop to anyone. They arrived late, didn't know much about the dive sites. My first tank had an o-ring failure. The staff didn't have any extras. Luckily another diver on the boat had some.

Anyway...do not use this shop. Worst dives in over 3 years.

So, does this post help anyone out with anything. I didn't give you any names or anything. So, not very helpful, huh?

So, if you're posting here to help people and steer them to good shops and help avoid bad ones, names are very helpful.

My scenario above didn't happen...I was just trying to make a point.

 

[DiveWestOahu]

just because you see a boat diving a site doesn't mean it's safe or good (vis current ect) to dive, sometimes we have to think about our customers limitations. Not every diver is superdiver

 

[grandizer52]

I'm glad the local divers have jumped in to defend this. alot of visitors post and bash a bad diving experience, and it makes hawaii look bad...but also if you have a bad time, talk to the shop/boat/manager...you don't talk to anyone, the problem may still exist. internet bashing is so easy and teen-ageery (not sure if that's a real word yet!!!) there are crappy shops in hawaii that only care about making a buck, and there are awsome shops out here that still have a passion for diving, and I have seen them have a bad day, and when visitors are griping and you tell the got talk to boss man, they just walk away griping how they got stiffed out of vacation $$$. don't bitch if your not going to try and fix it...although the internet is a powerful tool (look what it did for the FL life guard) on here it makes just anger. noticed most of the posters on "OHANA" aren't even living in hawaii so we need to make sure we are representing strong. that this is 'THE BEST DIVING OUT THERE"!!!!!
laytahs