Mr. Schnitzer:
We're both certified Open Water divers. She gets a little sea-sick if the sea is choppy and the boat is rocking, and that's in the Carribean! I'm wondering how she'll fare diving in Kauai & Maui since the boats will have to sail on the open Pacific Ocean and not the relatively calm Carribbean. Bonine anyone?
We'll be there end of June through mid-July...
Should we stick to shore dives? Are there good shore dives in these locations? We'd prefer a small dive operation (8-10 divers max) to take us to good dive spots and show us around...
thanks in advance!
For Maui, I'd agree with Diveme and go with someone who has a bigger boat like Lahaina Divers - I dove with them a few years ago. Robinsons, Severns and anyone who launches from the Kihei
Boat Ramp - tend to have smaller boats so they can launch there. So it's probably a rougher trip across to either Molokini or Lanai - which is where a lot of the Maui diving is.
If you plan to dive Molokini, the backside is rougher than the inside - although better. Inside the crater, it's pretty calm. For an even better ride over go with Pride of Maui or one of the big dive/snorkel powered catamarans, they rent tanks to certiified divers as they'll also do a discover diving course on the boat. As long as there's two of you, you're free to do what you want. It costs more, but the food's better, they have a grill onboard and do a full lunch.
Once at the Cathedrals it was rough with people getting sick on the boat - surprisingly even my buddy. The other time it was smooth as glass. In general Lanai seems to be a little rougher, one dive at Shark Fin rock, we had to time the ladder in the water to get back onboard, it was pitching a good 3-4'. Even the DM's thought someone was going to get hit.
Good advice (from Diveme) about diving in the morning before the swells pick up. Some of the diveboats leave at 7am for that reason.
There's some good shorediving on Maui. In addition to Black Rock, there's Airport Beach to the north and Wailea Beach and Makena Landing/Five Graves to the south. At Wailea you can usually get tanks at the resort next door, at Airport get them in Lahaina first. I also like Ulua Beach for a nice easy first dive of the trip, it's along the road between Lahaina and Kihei so bring all your own gear. Easy entry, they teach there, so there's other divers around.
On Kauai the North side is rougher, I've read that big waves coming from overseas hit there hard. And Niihau is a long, rough o/w crossing. Probably an Advanced AOW dive too. Most of the shoredives on the northside are AOW also.
South at Poipu Beach is a good, easy, shallow dive. Twice there were sea lions in the area sunning themselves, but I don't think you're supposed to approach them. Even if you don't dive there, go to Poipu Beach for the day, there's tangs and butterflyfish in 2-3' of water near the rocks.
Another good easy dive is Sheraton Caverns, you can go on a boat or even swim out. However, they rescue people regularly at the Caverns who can't make the swim back in so I'd suggest a boat dive - it's a great dive, lots of sunken in lava tubes and usually big turtles in the area - I got my picture taken next to one that must have been 200lbs. The DM's have their own pet morays there too.
I've been to Hawaii several times in the last decade, usually at the same time you're going, so I'm guessing you can expect similar conditions.
http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/Hawaii/index.htm for info/pictures on shorediving sites on both islands.
Steve
