Vacation Help

[Jpenn]

The husband and I are planning our fall diving vacation in Hawaii and I'm feeling overwhelmed which islands to stay on/visit, which part of the island to dive, which dive operator, shore diving, lol?!
We're planning 10-14ish days in September, and I we'd like to stay on 2 islands to limit the travel time and logistics of lodging, etc. I think we have it narrowed down to Maui and Kauai, but we're open to other options/ideas. I have no idea which part of the islands to stay on - Kihei or Lahaina, etc? We like seeing everything underwater, but I guess for DH sake, we'd prefer larger... Not fussy on swim throughs, etc.
We have our AOW and will have over 200 dives by September. The focus of the trip is diving, and usually that's all we do, but we will be doing some land base activities this trip as there are so many to do.
I would love feedback, ideas, options... Thanks

 

[Scubanoobi]

I'll give my 2 cents. I'll first confess that the Hawaiin islands are my favorite place on earth and have spent 2 weeks on each the Big Island, Maui and Kauai over the last 3 years.

I dove Maui and Kauai, didn't dive the BI. The Big Island is supposed to have the best diving in the state. I would choose Maui and the Big Island if you're narrowing down to 2, here are my reasons:

1) I found the diving on Kauai to be not as good as Maui (and I imagine the BI), unless you love lots of turtles - I saw 50 turtles on one dive there. But Maui and BI has more life under the sea (lots of corals).
2) On Kauai , you can only really dive out of the North (shore dive at Tunnels) or South (Poipu) - at least after all the research I've done with numerous dive shops. It's about 1.5 hours driving between those 2 locations.
3) I think both Maui and BI have very easy (and plentiful) shore diving options, Kauai does not (unless you're in Poipu or Tunnels)

Now where to stay:

Maui: We stayed in Kihei on Maui, it felt like more of a small town vs a resort area (compared to Kanapali), which I liked. Lots of dive shops there and lots of beaches, you will likely need a car if you stay in Kihei and want to see the island. However if you stay in South Kihei, you can probably walk to the harbour that the dive boats leave from. The great thing about Kihei, is you can do two early dives and be back at the harbour before 10am.

Big Island: Kona or Kohala coast, either would be fine, they are about 35 minutes apart. Depends if you want to be right in the City.

Kauai: Loved the North (Hanalei/Princeville) and would definately stay there the next time. We stayed in Kapa'a and it was a 35 minute drive to the Boat in Poipu.

My favorite island is BI followed by Maui for scuba/beaches/scenery.

Here are some videos you may want to look at from my trips:
Kauai: https://vimeo.com/72626934
Kauai Scuba: https://vimeo.com/72313353
BI: https://vimeo.com/51416741

Sorry for the rambling post - I love Hawaii, headed back to BI or Maui in the summer.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

If you're coming to HI mainly for diving, and at a time when there's little chance you can get from Kauai to Niihau, the Big Island should be the focus of your trip. Maui is probably your best bet for a 2nd island, though Oahu has neat wrecks if you like that sort of thing, while Maui has one that's not particularly exciting IMO.

If you're on Maui, look at doing a day or two in Hana in one of the sea-side cabins with a hot tub. You'll be too far from anything to do much except for relax, ride horses, hike, and eat but it's worth it.