Two weeks in Hawaii....

[ligersandtions]

My husband's family has decided to take the entire family on a vacation for a week at the end of June / beginning of July. They do not dive, so hubby and I are planning to go a week earlier or stay a week later. During the week that we are with family, we will be staying on the Big Island. We are planning to do a manta dive one night while we're there, and also planning on sneaking in some shore diving (probably early in the morning while they're still sleeping or just getting up...).

I know that I've read that the Big Island and Maui seem to be the two with the best diving. If it were you, would you spend that extra week diving Big Island, diving Maui, or diving a combination of both? I would think that spending half a week on either island would just not be enough to get in the really great dives.

I've also read that most dive ops do two morning dives as the trade winds pick up in the afternoon. Is it possible to do shore dives in the afternoon? If your decision were based on doing two morning boat dives and two afternoon/evening shore dives, which island would you choose?

By the time the trip comes around, we'll have about 100 dives under our belts. We dive mainly socal shore dives (~10 feet visibility most of the time, contending with surf entry/exit, cold water). Although I have technical aspirations, we will not be trained to dive in overhead situations (caves, wreck penetrations, etc) and I make it a point not to dive beyond my comfort and certification level....so if that factors into what island will make for the best bang for our buck, there ya go

We aren't big into night life kind of stuff, but would like to take some time to check out some of the natural sites (although much of that will be done in the week we are on the Big Island with family).

Suggestions and recommendations are greatly appreciated. Also, if you know of relatively inexpensive accommodations (<$100/night) that are diver-friendly, that would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks for all your help! I can't wait to come visit....if only the seven months would go by faster!

Nicole

 

[Nikolai]

Hey Nicole,

I don't know anything about the Big Island. I can tell you there are some great dives at Maui. There is plenty of great shore diving there. Also from Maui you can very easily jump onto a dive boat to Lanai, which has some fantastic dives. Molokini crater is the most popular Maui boat dive, though I'd say its a must do for a dive or two, then move on, I got bored with it after diving it 3 days in row, though seeing mantas in the wild (not a "manta dive" where they get em used to coming to a certain area for food, thus altering their natural behavior) and having 100' plus visibility is hard to get bored of.

If you do dive on Maui I would recommend B and B scuba if you're interested in Molokini, Brad, Blesi and the entire crew are great, and they run a great schedule where you get out to Molokini for one dive, a selected off-shore dive, and get back to the boat ramp by around 10am so you still have the day to spend putzing around the island. Ask Blesi and she will tell you about a lot of the shore dives there and will not try and sell you a guided dive, matter of fact she told me not to waste my money and just told me spots to go!

By all means avoid Maui Dive Shop. They are the dominant provider on the island and you will see their adverts anywhere. I went on one trip with them over a year ago when I was newly certified and watched the "DM" ignore the group for about 10 min's, while harrassing an octopus with a plastic shark he carried in his BC, the proceeded to rip open the coral to get at the octopus to play with. Yes I made sure he signed my logbook so I had his cert # and reported him. This company will not get any more of my money.

Molokini charters are best booked out of the Kihei area, as the boat trips are short. I believe most or all of the Lanai charters leave out of the Lahaina area.


Trust me Nicole, the next 7 months are gonna go by slowly lol....

 

[KrisB]

There are a few locations where having a local around would be a very good idea, whether they're hired or not... we do know the sites and where to find some of the cool stuff (and even differentiate what's really cool and what's not) that you just won't get on your own.

I know of a bunch of people that have been told exactly how to find the caverns at Makena Landing (aka Five Graves / Turtle Town), but have swam right by the entrances, for instance.

I'm not sure about the operators on the Big Island, but if the boats on Maui are full-ish, you're going to probably end up repeating sites if you dive more than 2-3 days with them, as there's some favourites that are common. Then again, I've put in a couple hundred dives at Ulua Beach and still love diving there...

The Cathedrals off Lanai are considered caverns (never outside of the natural light area, nor further than 130' swim from the surface), and some even refer to them as swim-throughs (multiple entries/exits). They are *not* to be missed! I *really* like Hawaiian Rafting Adventures for that trip... their boat seems to be the perfect length and design to make the crossing smooth, even in big seas.

 

[friscuba]

You can boat or shore dive or pretty much all day long in Kona because south of the airport you'll have a big old volcano blocking the tradewinds. Up in the Kohala direction, if you decide you want to try Puako, you're more exposed to the trades and the morning diving is definitely better.

If you decide you want to sit in one spot and dive/dive/dive, I'd do Kona because there's so much diving to do. For instance, we had a customer who did 27 dives with us this last June and I think only 3 or 4 were repeats, and those wouldn't have happened if we hadn't had a huge south swell for 2 solid weeks (very unusual) that took out about 40 percent of our dive sites. There are several very good shore diving opportunities in Kona too.

Mixing it up for a change of pace is always fun too, in that respect you can't really go wrong with a week each in Kona and Maui.

Rooms <100 bucks are kind of tricky. Check with the Kona Seaside for a basic hotel on the Big Island, if you can get a deal at the Royal Kona you can probably come in around that price. Both are smack dab in the middle of Kailua and walking distance to the tourist business areas. You will want a car to get around for most things though. Check out condos for rent at VRBO is Vacation Rentals By Owner . You can often pick up a pretty nice place with a full kitchen and more room than a hotel for that price range that way. We've used that site when we've gone to Maui, Kauai and even Vegas and have been happy with it.

Have fun!

 

[ligersandtions]

Thanks for all the info everyone! The decision is not getting any easier....I suppose that just means I'll have to find an excuse to come back and dive each island for at least a week each! Darn, more diving

BTW, for shore diving, we'd need to rent tanks....what kind of tanks do most shops rent out? I assume they'd be Al 80 with yoke valves....right? Trying to get all the info I can to make my best guess-timate for weighting....going from a 7mm or a drysuit and a steel 130 to a 3mm (probably) and an Al 80 could be pure craziness!

 

[boat sju]

Check this site out.

Scuba Shore Diving Region: Hawaiian Islands

 

[KrisB]

Thanks for all the info everyone! The decision is not getting any easier....I suppose that just means I'll have to find an excuse to come back and dive each island for at least a week each! Darn, more diving

BTW, for shore diving, we'd need to rent tanks....what kind of tanks do most shops rent out? I assume they'd be Al 80 with yoke valves....right? Trying to get all the info I can to make my best guess-timate for weighting....going from a 7mm or a drysuit and a steel 130 to a 3mm (probably) and an Al 80 could be pure craziness!

The standard tank is AL80's.

Many shops also have a limited supply of AL63's as well. Some shops have other size (AL50's, AL67's, AL100's), too.

 

[Teamcasa]

Ohh, Diving on Hawaii are we!

Jumping from Island to Island just waists diving days. Stick to one Island. Kona has some amazing dive sites, both by boat and shore. I would spend the whole time there, diving all the sites my wallet would permit.

I was able to rent steel tanks from Dive Tec Hawaii. Scuba diving in Kona Hawaii with DiveTEK adventures However most shops rent AL80 or AL63's

I have been to Kona several times but I have never been to Maui so my opinion may be skewed that direction. OTOH, If it was decided to add an Island, primarily for the diving, definitely go to Kauai and dive Niihau. Niihau has the best diving in all of the islands. Besides that, Kauai has some amazing shore diving and few tourists.

 

[ligersandtions]

I think it has been decided that we are going to stay on the Big Island and just dive, dive, dive! We are going to do a ton of shore diving, and make sure to get some boat diving in for those special dive sites.

BTW, thanks for that link, Dave! I'll check it out at home (or on my phone), because for some reason, my work seems to think it's a porn site, and has blocked it!

 

[Oside Jimc]

I wouldn't worry about the al80s, with a 3mm & my backplate I only needed 6 lbs, with a HP100 I would have no ditchable weight, and I have more "natural" flotation than you or your hubby. Besides, in the warm water I get about the same bottom time on an al80 as I do at home on my hp100!

I'll second the suggestion for vrbo.com that's where I got my condo in Maui last Sept and it was a much better deal than I could have gotten at any hotel, plus a full kitchen so we didn't have to eat out every meal (an expensive proposition in Hawaii).