Trip Report: 4 Days of Diving in Maui

[SusanWH20]

Just got back last night from a wonderful week in Maui.

My husband and I dove 4 out of the 7 days we were there. Unfortunately, we were traveling with non-diving family otherwise there would have been more days underwater than on land. We both have our Advanced OW and Wreck Specialty (got the specialty when we went to Aruba in May). Hubby just hit 49 dives, I am at 57 and we try to do a week long trip every 6 months (yes I know Lake Michigan has amazing wrecks but they are in water colder than I care to dive...)

Normally, I would set us up with one operator for the entire trip. But we wanted to dive the Molokini Crater and the Cathedrals so I opted to book 2 days of 2 tank dives with B&B and another 2 days with Extended Horizons.

We were staying up by Kannapali (SP I'm sure) so we had to leave by 4:30 am to meet up with B&B on time. My husband and I are not morning people (we work in advertising so life doesn't start before 9 am). However, promise us good diving and we'll be there. I am happy to report that B&B did not disappoint us. We were given the treat of being able to dive Pinnacles 110 and Red Hill the first day and then Molokini (Reef's End) and 5 Graves the next day. Because I had talked to Brad about Molokini Crater specifically in our email exchanges before I booked our dives, Brad made it a point on the first morning to ask if we were okay with diving elsewhere and if we were okay with going a bit deep (we ended up getting our Nitrox certification because of it which made us pretty happy). I have always figured that the dive shop I am diving knows where the "good stuff' is so I'm open to site suggestions.

From what I gathered, most of the group diving with B&B on the first day knew each other and had pretty solid levels of experience. Sometimes, that means the "newcomers" end up talking to each other and that's about it. Not this time. Everyone was friendly and just happy to be there. It really gave the boat a great vibe. There also wasn't a single mention of tips by the crew (not sure if anyone else experiences the "tip speech" but we have - don't mind it because some people need reminding but it's nice not to hear it). Never once did I feel like we were afterthoughts or did I need to repeat a question. It was definitely full-service all the way and somehow the crew gave everyone their undivided attention. When we stopped at the shop to get our Nitrox paperwork and textbooks, we had the same experience there too. On the second day, there were more divers and a bigger range of experience but that didn't seem to matter.

The dives themselves were phenomenal (at least IMHO). Mother nature was our friend so on every dive we saw turtles, a great array of fish life, eels and some of the tiny stuff like shrimp. We saw a white tip reef shark at Reef's End and were super lucky to spend time with a manta at 5 Graves (he just was getting breakfast). On the 5 Graves dive, Blesi was awesome and found us 2 octopi. I know that manta rays and such are more about luck but it did seem that Stan and Blesi knew where to go for the best chance to see interesting things.

After 2 days with B&B, we dove with Extended Horizons. We were grateful for the 6:45 am check in time since we were only 15 min away from the boat ramp in Lahania (on the second day, we were given an extra 10 minutes since we'd heard the initial briefing). On the first day, we dove Paradise and 1st Cathedral. On the second, after making sure everyone was okay with it, we dove Monolith (deep dive) and 2nd Cathedral. There definitely was a range of experience of divers on both days. However, we were lucky on both days so that it was 4 divers to one DM on all of our dives (there was an effort to group divers by experience). We dove with Eric and Maren. Both were great. There is a definite "educational" focus which we liked (reviewing how to make the 2nd dive better, focus on fish ID, etc.) While we were asked to stay with our DMs, we were by no means made to feel like they were "babysitters." And, even though there were groups, if one set of buddies ran through air before the other, the dive wasn't over for everyone when one pair hit 500 PSI. I appreciated that because on the first day, we didn't go through air as quickly as the other pair and on the second day, we were the first pair to run through our air (It's bad enough to have a "short" dive but to involve innocent bystanders... LOL). While we didn't have manta rays, we did get to see a lot of rare and small stuff, which admittedly we might not have noticed without our DM's help.

Overall, this probably was one of best dive trips we've had. We were lucky to see so much but the dive operators made the dives fun and enjoyable. I think next time we might stay closer to Kiehei next time but I would dive with both again. Now I just have to figure out how we can afford to go to Maui in February to see the whales....

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed diving Maui. It's my favorite place ever. Brad always does a good job and there is never a tip speech on that boat. I believe he has the same opinion that I do, if you do a good job the tips will show up. If you have to beg for them you didn't earn them.

 

[DiveMaven]

Thanks for the great report. I have to say that your experience sounds like pretty "typical" Maui diving, which is why we go back annually instead of trading our timeshare. Fabulous, eh??

You really do want to plan your next trip during whale season. It's just so amazing to not only see them topside, but to hear and feel their song underwater. The first time you feel a song vibrating through your body is something you'll never forget.

 

[kidspot]

Glad you had such a good trip - Don't forget on your next trip that Maui has some great shore diving too

Aloha, Tim

 

[SusanWH20]

Also want to add that I pretty much checked out B&B and Extended Horizons based on what I read in the forums. Thanks for not steering me wrong!

I also forgot to add that we did take my in-laws to Black Rock to snorkel (thanks for that suggestion too!) and it was a lot of fun. We did witness some extremely unnatural turtle behavior. Apparently some swimmers have been feeding them so the turtles come around in the afternoon looking for a handout. Obviously we didn't touch or feed them (despite being buzzed numerous times) but it was a great opportunity to photograph turtles at a close range. I did try informing a few about the law and the fine but I think it pretty much went on deaf ears. However, I felt better when I heard a girl explain to her friends that touching was off limits. I also noticed that when the turtles had enough of the people in the water, they would either swim off or go down deep enough that most couldn't dive down to bother them. I must admit it was great to be just floating and have one surface right in front of me so we were eye-to-eye.

Kidspot - I'm hoping we can do a bit of shore-diving next time. We might ditch the non-divers on that trip.

 

[KrisB]

We did witness some extremely unnatural turtle behavior. Apparently some swimmers have been feeding them so the turtles come around in the afternoon looking for a handout. Obviously we didn't touch or feed them (despite being buzzed numerous times) but it was a great opportunity to photograph turtles at a close range.

That doesn't sound terribly unnatural for the turtles around here. They seem to all be very OK with humans around, and I don't know that the feeding thing has been happening. They do tend to flock to some designated areas, but that's typical of most animals.

I did try informing a few about the law and the fine but I think it pretty much went on deaf ears.

You're welcome to make a phone call to report them to the DLNR if you feel strongly about it.

For the most part, I haven't seen much of this actually happening, though I haven't spent much time at Black Rock.

I think it's only a matter of time before the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle is removed from the endangered list... from what I understand they don't really qualify any more and the only reason they're still there is that people are afraid of what will happen to them again if they are removed.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I think it's only a matter of time before the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle is removed from the endangered list... from what I understand they don't really qualify any more and the only reason they're still there is that people are afraid of what will happen to them again if they are removed.

That talk has been going on for some time, but many think de-listing is highly unlikely. As I understand it is there is no such thing as Hawaiian green sea turtles, they are just every day normal green sea turtles that happen to live in Hawaiian waters. The EPA is not likely to make a different law for Hawaii, considering that the green sea turtle is truely endangered most everywhere else. :no

I could see the argument for culturally signifigant subsistance gathering by Hawaiians with a family history of same, if the Hawaiians could ever get together on one issue. Recent history has shown that uniting the Hawaiians is extremely challenging, especially on this and similar issue. As with sharks, some ate 'em and some considered them amakua (great grandpa). :11:

Most of the talk I think originates from surfers and maybe spearo's, who think the tiger shark population is too large due to the profusion of turtles.