Suggestions for Maui

[DiveMaven]

That's a tough one IMO. The past couple of years we've been so disappointed in our Lanai dives that this past trip (last 2 weeks) we didn't bother to go at all. The surrounding reefs at both Cathedrals were covered in plant life, and the number of fish and marine creatures was disappointing. Perhaps this year it was better....?

We did quite a few dives at Molokini last week and the week before and saw a LOT of stuff, including 5 eagle rays, many white tip and grey sharks, octopus, many nudis, lots of different types of fish, eels, sponge crabs, frog fish, etc. Whale song was also VERY loud on quite a few of our dives.

If you dive with Lahaina Divers, you'll get 2-tanks at Molokini guaranteed. If you drive to Kihei and catch a boat there, you'll likely do one tank at Molokini and one in S. Maui off shore. Some of the S. Maui sites are fantastic for marine life. Going to Kihei will require you to leave the Ritz at about 5:15 to get to the boat ramp, returning you to the Ritz at around 1:00pm. Going with Lahaina Divers means you don't have to check in until 7am in Lahaina, and you'll be back at the Ritz by around 2:00pm.

 

[notsochubby]

Maui is great. We also stay in Kihei (did not read all the repsonses). We dive with Maui Dreams (great boat and shore dives) and we also dive with "Shaka" Doug Corbin. Doug is great for shore dives and will take you to different places. From where you are staying it is maybe a 30 min drive (no traffic) Check them both out!

 

[DiveMaven]

I'll have to politely disagree that Kihei is 30 minutes from Kapalua. It takes 40 minutes from Kaanapali to Kihei at 5:30 in the morning, and Kapalua is a good 10 minutes north of Kaanapali...at least this was the case 2 weeks ago when I was making the drive. From Kapalua, I'd plan a good hour to drive to Kihei in case you get behind a slow tourist.

 

[PriusDrIVER]

I really appreciate the feedback from everyone, I was already leaning towards diving Lanai but it sounds like I "can't go wrong" with either choice...I'm sure both would be better than any south sound diving right now

I will trust what the operator suggests when I talk to them later this week, it is probably in their best interest to have a happy customer so they aren't likely to mislead me. I will avoid going on a trip to Molokini if its just going to be watching someone do their first OW dives, not down with that. Nothing annoys me more than dive shops that mix OW cert dives and pre-certified divers on the same boat and then applies a single blanket policy to everyone for the lowest common denominator.

 

[Gopherdown]

I really appreciate the feedback from everyone, I was already leaning towards diving Lanai but it sounds like I "can't go wrong" with either choice...I'm sure both would be better than any south sound diving right now

I will trust what the operator suggests when I talk to them later this week, it is probably in their best interest to have a happy customer so they aren't likely to mislead me. I will avoid going on a trip to Molokini if its just going to be watching someone do their first OW dives, not down with that. Nothing annoys me more than dive shops that mix OW cert dives and pre-certified divers on the same boat and then applies a single blanket policy to everyone for the lowest common denominator.

Sorry I was late coming to this one, but my perspective is from another who spends most of their diving in cold dark waters.

If you have not been diving for a year, I come down strongly on the side of bartering for 2 days. Your first day will not be as fun or comfortable as your second day. You are guaranteed to say after your fist day, "damn that was some great visibility, I need to go again".

On the "bartering with your better half" side, Lahaina Divers does take snorkelers on their boats. My wife feels the same way as yours and although the cathedrals at Lanai is not the best snorkeling site, she enjoyed it and of course she had a ball being the only snorkeler on a dive boat at Molokini.

 

[PriusDrIVER]

On the "bartering with your better half" side, Lahaina Divers does take snorkelers on their boats. My wife feels the same way as yours and although the cathedrals at Lanai is not the best snorkeling site, she enjoyed it and of course she had a ball being the only snorkeler on a dive boat at Molokini.

Thanks for the suggestion, we've worked around that in the past when we travel with friends by "chartering" a boat with the ~6 of us, usually 50% divers and 50% snorkel only. I will talk to Lahaina Divers about that option, that would consolidate our trips to Lanai, as otherwise we were thinking about doing just a snorkel trip there on a separate day.

Now to decide if I lug my under water housing and strobes, gotta find a creative way of packing them without forcing another checked bag.

 

[Charlie99]

After your trip, please post about your experience and your recommendations.

Each year I try to do at least one trip with each dive operator. I have from now until 3/31 to do it.

It's a rough job, but somebody's gotta do it.

 

[PriusDrIVER]

Trip Report:

Maui had some pretty intense weather starting the day after we arrived. Parts of West Maui received in excess of 14" of rain which created a bit of a mess. All of the diving was canceled anywhere close to an island in Maui county due to the run off. I had scheduled diving for Wednesday morning with Lahaina Divers, I received a call early Wednesday morning (while I was driving in the then river they call Front Street) letting me know it was canceled. I stopped in the shop since I was close by and tentatively scheduled another dive trip, which also ended up being canceled.

Overall, I was very happy with Lahaina divers. The first cancellation was really due to the weather watch and "seek safe harbor" warning from the Coast Guard, however the other days Lahaina Divers canceled knowing the diving would be less than desirable rather then going with the "you get what you get" approach that I have read about before. They ended up putting together a "special", outside of normal scheduling, trip to Molokini and called to invite me to come along.

Molokini was great, visibility was top notch...which was surprising because the waters close to the main island looked like chocolate milk, with brown waves rolling in instead of white. The boat was fairly full, we had ~4 groups of 6-divers each (I think, didn't count) but the boat was spacious. We did our 2 dives with perfect conditions and viz of 100'+, at the end of the first dive I we saw an eagle ray.

The sound of the whales was impressive, anytime you weren't actively exhaling you could hear them singing out. The trip back got delayed a bit due to the whales being in our navigation path, so we got a "free" whale watch during our return to harbor.

The Lahaina team were all very friendly and easy to get along with, I would dive with them again if the opportunity presented itself. I was happy that they would rather cancel dives (and revenue) rather than have me dive in pea soup.

It rained enough that roads between Lahaina and Kihei were all flooded and closed, we tried to head "south" to get away from the rain...which took a while due to the sections of 1-lane only due to flooding, mud slides, etc.

We didn't get any snorkeling in, as the water close to shore was a complete wreck. On our final day, Sunday, it was starting to clear up but I didn't want to deal with wet snorkel gear to give it a chance.

The trip ended up being relaxing, as we were forced to "slow down" a bit due to the weather...and that is OK by me

 

[DiveMaven]

Too bad the weather wasn't favorable, but Molokini doesn't usually disappoint, and it sounds like it was good diving for you. Guess you'll just have to return to get more diving in next time!!

 

[Bappelt]

Nice to hear that Lahaina Divers took care of you but sorry to hear that the weather was so bad.