WarmWaterWeenie
Registered
Hi all,
My wife Stephanie and I just got back from a trip to Lanai and Maui. I will report on my experience with Trilogy from Lanai in another post (not good). This one is about my three days of diving with B&B out of Kihei last week.
B&B is just a great operation with great people. Alan was the captain and was very friendly, professional and helpful. Blesi, Brad and Stan were the DMs. One of the days, Brad couldn't make it, so they had Shaka Doug come along to lead a group. All were just awesome. I can't imagine a more professional yet fun-loving and relaxed group to dive with.
We met at the Kihei boat ramp at 5:30. It's early due to the dredging they are doing. They expect to complete this in the next few weeks. We were the first boat out so we had our choice of sites at Molokini. All equipment is provided, including Suunto Gekko computers on the console. We were provided with 5/4mm wetsuits, which we were grateful for. I personally think 3mm is a bit thin but then again, take a look at my handle
. Upon hearing that Stephanie really chills easily, they gave her an extra skin. They provide water, juice, coffee, tea or sodas throughout, cookies and pineapple during the surface interval, and yummy turkey sandwiches, cookies and pineapple after the second dive. Due to the shallow second dive (around 50'), there isn't a need for a long surface interval, so we got back to the ramp around 9:30 or 9:45. Even though the ramp was closed until 11:00, Alan would pull the boat in close to the dock, and we would jump out and walk in (about 5' deep). Or you could hang out on the boat with them. It was great being able to do two dives and still be back at the hotel by 10:00! Oh, and not once did they mention tips. While I don't mind a friendly reminder since I know many divers don't think to tip, it was refreshing to not get the pitch.
Diving: Stephanie was newly certified and dove two days. This was her 3rd through 6th dives after getting certified. I added an extra day due to how great it was. To be honest, I left it open for either Stephanie to join me or give me the flexibility to call Mike Severns or Ed Robinsons if I didn't like B&B. But after the first day, I didn't hesitate to add a third day with B&B. The crew made both of us perfectly comfortable. We never had more than the DM and four divers per group. The first day, I believe there were 11 divers, and we got split into 3 separate groups. For our first dives, we did Reef's End, Shark Condos and a drift dive starting from inside the crater drifting to the back wall. The second dives were off South Maui. We did Five Graves twice and Red Hills. Bottom times were 55-60 minutes on the first dive (except Shark Condos where it was around 50 minutes) and 60-65 minutes on the second dive. Nice long dives! They're safe but not restrictive. You're able to explore if you want. If someone is low on air, all other divers aren't required to ascend. Water temp was 79 degrees. Visibility was up to 100' and low as 60' at Molokini and less than that off South Maui.
In addition to the usual coral and reef fish, we saw reef sharks, a manta ray which just wouldn't leave us alone, octopus, tons of eels including a crocodile eel!, nudibranchs and worms (hard boiled egg, kangaroo and blue dragon to name a few), harlequin shrimp, frogfish, leaf scorpionfish, tons of huge turtles, tiger cowries, etc. During a safety stop at Molokini, we were joined by several bottlenose dolphins! Blesi took us to a cleaner station where she showed me how to get a cleaner shrimp to jump in my mouth and clean my mouth! Great experience. I'm sure I'm missing some stuff. As mentioned by countless others here on SB, the DMs are great at finding critters. Blesi was awesome and it was clear that Brad and Stan were also. They know these dive sites like the back of their hands. Shaka Doug was also great at finding critters during his day with us. The DMs carry slates, so they write out what they are showing you.
I couldn't have had more fun than I did those three mornings with B&B. Thank you to all here on SB for your recommendations. You were very helpful in helping us pick B&B. And a huge Mahalo! to Blesi, Brad, Stan, Alan and Shaka Doug for showing us a great time. We will be back as soon as our schedule and wallet allow. We highly recommend all divers, experienced and not-so-experienced, to give B&B a call when diving out of Kihei.
This was my first effort at taking U/W pictures. I will post some pics later once I process the pictures and figure out how to post here.
Thanks for taking the time to read this tome.
--Sirk
My wife Stephanie and I just got back from a trip to Lanai and Maui. I will report on my experience with Trilogy from Lanai in another post (not good). This one is about my three days of diving with B&B out of Kihei last week.
B&B is just a great operation with great people. Alan was the captain and was very friendly, professional and helpful. Blesi, Brad and Stan were the DMs. One of the days, Brad couldn't make it, so they had Shaka Doug come along to lead a group. All were just awesome. I can't imagine a more professional yet fun-loving and relaxed group to dive with.
We met at the Kihei boat ramp at 5:30. It's early due to the dredging they are doing. They expect to complete this in the next few weeks. We were the first boat out so we had our choice of sites at Molokini. All equipment is provided, including Suunto Gekko computers on the console. We were provided with 5/4mm wetsuits, which we were grateful for. I personally think 3mm is a bit thin but then again, take a look at my handle
. Upon hearing that Stephanie really chills easily, they gave her an extra skin. They provide water, juice, coffee, tea or sodas throughout, cookies and pineapple during the surface interval, and yummy turkey sandwiches, cookies and pineapple after the second dive. Due to the shallow second dive (around 50'), there isn't a need for a long surface interval, so we got back to the ramp around 9:30 or 9:45. Even though the ramp was closed until 11:00, Alan would pull the boat in close to the dock, and we would jump out and walk in (about 5' deep). Or you could hang out on the boat with them. It was great being able to do two dives and still be back at the hotel by 10:00! Oh, and not once did they mention tips. While I don't mind a friendly reminder since I know many divers don't think to tip, it was refreshing to not get the pitch. Diving: Stephanie was newly certified and dove two days. This was her 3rd through 6th dives after getting certified. I added an extra day due to how great it was. To be honest, I left it open for either Stephanie to join me or give me the flexibility to call Mike Severns or Ed Robinsons if I didn't like B&B. But after the first day, I didn't hesitate to add a third day with B&B. The crew made both of us perfectly comfortable. We never had more than the DM and four divers per group. The first day, I believe there were 11 divers, and we got split into 3 separate groups. For our first dives, we did Reef's End, Shark Condos and a drift dive starting from inside the crater drifting to the back wall. The second dives were off South Maui. We did Five Graves twice and Red Hills. Bottom times were 55-60 minutes on the first dive (except Shark Condos where it was around 50 minutes) and 60-65 minutes on the second dive. Nice long dives! They're safe but not restrictive. You're able to explore if you want. If someone is low on air, all other divers aren't required to ascend. Water temp was 79 degrees. Visibility was up to 100' and low as 60' at Molokini and less than that off South Maui.
In addition to the usual coral and reef fish, we saw reef sharks, a manta ray which just wouldn't leave us alone, octopus, tons of eels including a crocodile eel!, nudibranchs and worms (hard boiled egg, kangaroo and blue dragon to name a few), harlequin shrimp, frogfish, leaf scorpionfish, tons of huge turtles, tiger cowries, etc. During a safety stop at Molokini, we were joined by several bottlenose dolphins! Blesi took us to a cleaner station where she showed me how to get a cleaner shrimp to jump in my mouth and clean my mouth! Great experience. I'm sure I'm missing some stuff. As mentioned by countless others here on SB, the DMs are great at finding critters. Blesi was awesome and it was clear that Brad and Stan were also. They know these dive sites like the back of their hands. Shaka Doug was also great at finding critters during his day with us. The DMs carry slates, so they write out what they are showing you.
I couldn't have had more fun than I did those three mornings with B&B. Thank you to all here on SB for your recommendations. You were very helpful in helping us pick B&B. And a huge Mahalo! to Blesi, Brad, Stan, Alan and Shaka Doug for showing us a great time. We will be back as soon as our schedule and wallet allow. We highly recommend all divers, experienced and not-so-experienced, to give B&B a call when diving out of Kihei.
This was my first effort at taking U/W pictures. I will post some pics later once I process the pictures and figure out how to post here.
Thanks for taking the time to read this tome.
--Sirk
