Scuba Diving Maui, particularly at Night

[SCUBABruin]

I am heading to Maui in two weeks with my 13 year old son. He has more than 50 dives under his belt including night diving and shore diving in Hawaii. We live on Oahu and shore dive frequently.

I am considering doing a night dive on Maui at Black Rock. Any suggestions on how to best do this. COmpanies want 120+ to do a single tank shore dive and that in my opinion is nuts.

Alternatively, does anyone recommend any companies that do good night dives there, perhaps from a boat? We are already scheduled to do a three-tank to Molokini and a two tank to lanai.

Thanks for your your thoughts!

Brian

 

[diversteve]

I'm pretty sure the easy way is to get tanks up in the Lahina/Kaanapali area either at Lahaina Divers in town, Extended Horizons on the north side of town or Tiny Bubbles in Kaanapali. As a last resort the Maui Diveshop in Kahana Gateway Mall. The other MDS shop in Whaler's Village only rents snorkel gear now.

Park in the Sheraton Garage )Pricey) and walk down to the beach (5mins) Go off to your right on the surface till you get to the cove entrance. There's boat traffic in that area but I believe it's mostly during the day - I haven;t been there in about a decade though. It wouldn't hurt to check it out in daylight, I believe Whaler's still has free parking and you can easily walk over from there.

Maui Beach Diving - Black Rock
Scuba Shore Diving Site Page for: Black Rock (Sheraton) of Maui, Hawaiian Islands

There's also a north of Black Rock drop-off - but IDK any details. You would have to drop gear/son and go find parking. Ask Lahaina Divers.

Are you set on Black Rock? Lahaina Divers used to boat dive Mala Wharf at night also - possibly still does - the easy way to do that dive. That's arguably one of the best dives just off the Maui shore. It seems silly to take a boat to a dive you can reach from shore but the legal entry there is pretty rough.

 

[AquamanKauai]

The shore diving at many locations on Maui is super user friendly! Black Rock is certainly a good night dive. Due to it's location it is impacted by north swell so you'll want to keep that in mind. Down south I highly suggest checking out Makena Landing. It's super easy in and out with simple navigation. The depth will ensure really good bottom times. Regardless of where you go just be sure to use a marker buoy. Your best bet is Extended Horizons if you are up that way in my opinion. At the same time I think with your experience and knowledge of Hawaii diving you can easily do this one on your own. I always drop gear at the north end of Black Rock and park down in the free parking garage less than 1/4 mile back down the road. It's only got about 15 or spots but with a little patience I've always gotten a spot. I gauge current to determine how far around I'll go - but always get out on the north end as well. Again, this wouldn't be ideal in north swell - but hopefully you wouldn't be doing Black Rock if it is pumping up there anyway.

I second the thought on doing Mala Wharf (again DIVE FLAG A MUST) as it is an awesome dive that can be done from shore with a little more effort. It's a pier wreckage that is littered with nudibranchs, inverts, and usually several frogfish. It's not at all uncommon to see both turtles and whitetip reef sharks there as well. You'll be hard pressed to break 35 ft in depth so you'll get crazy bottom times.

If you are willing to travel a bit to do your boat diving (in my humble opinion) nobody beats the experience given by Pauline and her crew at Mike Severn's diving. While they go out of Kihei we always drive down south to dive with them when we do our yearly trip over there.

Maui has a shore diving guide that you may consider picking up. There are literally dozens of great shore dives there.

Hope you have an awesome trip over there. If I can provide (or at least attempt to provide) and specifics just let me know. Oh, and the aquarium over there is really fantastic and worth checking out.

Aloha
A