spoolin01
Contributor
If it was me and all about the diving, I'd stay on the Big Island outside Kailua. There are tons of shore diving sites on Maui, but my possibly inexpert opinion is that the sites near Kona are much better - better coral, better visibility, more extensive, less trafficked. I see a couple of other advantages too - most of the shore diving I've found on Maui requires going in from a beach, then out or over to the rocky points. On Kona you have lava bench entries to many sites. That makes sea state *slightly* less concern on Kona, since you don't have to go through shallows and breakers to get in. Don't take the sea lightly in either situation and don't go if you don't understand how to assess things, but my opinion is that it's easier to find a choice entry and exit from a lava bench when the swells are up a bit, than off the beach. A second Kona advantage is that you can stay in a $100/night condo on the shore south of Kailua and walk from your room right off the lava bench and into a very nice dive. There may be spots in Maui like this too - the big hotels in the Wailea district or north of Lahaina - but they cost more.
The one caveat in this analysis - most of my experience is winter/spring diving in the southwest districts. I hear the wintertime north swell switches around the to south in summer, making for good surfing in those spots, but not so much the diving. Both islands have NW-facing shorelines up north, maybe those are better in summer. It also seems that shore access is not at all as good in the northern districts. Hopefully someone else can fill in some information about summertime diving and the relative appeal of each island.
I've not had much luck finding bigger tanks in either Maui or Kona. There is one small shop in Kihei (near the WorldMark complex) that had two AL100s two years ago. For shore diving this is a shame, but that's the way it is.
The one caveat in this analysis - most of my experience is winter/spring diving in the southwest districts. I hear the wintertime north swell switches around the to south in summer, making for good surfing in those spots, but not so much the diving. Both islands have NW-facing shorelines up north, maybe those are better in summer. It also seems that shore access is not at all as good in the northern districts. Hopefully someone else can fill in some information about summertime diving and the relative appeal of each island.
I've not had much luck finding bigger tanks in either Maui or Kona. There is one small shop in Kihei (near the WorldMark complex) that had two AL100s two years ago. For shore diving this is a shame, but that's the way it is.
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