(I started typing before I realized you'd already made the trip, but I wanted to post my remarks anyway for the next person.)
You made an excellent choice with Mike Severns. Pauline and the rest of her team are fantastic, and their genuine enthusiasm and knowledge shine through. You'll learn something while you're having a great time. We've dived with them several times, and enjoyed Molokini every time. You won't be disappointed going twice on the same vacation, and it's entirely likely you'll be at two different mooring balls.
I'd go tomorrow if I were there and they had room on the boat.
I think 5 Graves is a bit much for a new diver without a guide for entry and exit. It definitely helps to have someone who understands the right timing and foot placement there. It's not advanced, but it's not trivial for your first few dives on your own.
Meeting up with DiveMaven was a great idea -- and definitely a generous offer.
We stay in west Maui right on Old Airport. That's definitely beginner-friendly, and a night dive there or at Black Rock is fine. It's a full 45-minute drive for you, though.
I've been meaning to write up a trip report, but just haven't gotten around to it. I figured I would just respond to this thread with the basics. We ended up only doing 5 dives because we had so much else going on.
DiveMaven was awesome! We met up with her at Makena Landing on our first morning in Maui. The dive at Makena was really cool, especially being our first ocean dive after the first 12 were in a Virginia quarry. DiveMaven showed us a lot of things that we wouldn't have seen if we had done it on our own, including some tiny little eels that stick their heads out of the sand. We peeked into a few of the caves, but only stayed around the entrance. All around, it was a great dive and an excellent way to be introduced to the ocean. We can't thank DiveMaven enough!!!
Our second dive was a night dive back at Makena Landing. There was a surprising lack of life during that dive. We went with a guide from Maui Dreams Dive Co., and he was fantastic, but the dive was underwhelming. The highlight of that dive for me was seeing a minuscule, translucent jelly fish that just happened to float right in front of my face.
Our next two dives were a few days later with Mike Severns. AJ was our guide and we both really liked her. She was super knowledgeable about the local marine life. Her briefs were quite involved, going over all the different things we might see, which we both enjoyed. The first dive was at Molokini Crater. This was our least favorite dive of the trip. We saw a few really cool things, such as a Fire Dart Fish, a "garden" of Garden Eels, and a Conger Eel, but in general, the dive site was pretty barren regarding life.
The second dive site with Mike Severns was a site called "Tank and Landing", which is a sunken WWII Tank and a Landing Craft about 100 yards apart. We enjoyed this site much more than Molokini. There was a lot of life around and in between each site. Some of what we saw included two Mantis Shrimp, a Harlequin Shrimp, two big Morays, and Cleaner Shrimp that got all of our fingernails and my teeth
There were a bunch of schooling fish, but I have no idea what they were.
Our last dive was at Mala Pier, and it was AWESOME! Mala was, by far, our favorite dive of the week. The walk from shore to where it was deep enough to swim was pretty brutal, especially for my buddy who was wearing soft-soled booties. She was regretting the dive before we even descended, but once it was over she was raving about how the terrible entry was worth it. There was so much to see at Mala. We saw massive schools of fish directly underneath the pier, a turtle cleaning station with 5 or 6 turtles waiting their turn, Box Fish, two sharks (I think they were White Tips - highlight of the dive for me), Gobies, and plenty more. It was a great way to end our diving in Maui.
All around it was a great trip and we can't wait to go back!
A few pictures from a camera we rented for Mala Pier:
