Headed to HI (Kauai, Maui) Dive Tip/Suggestions?

[Skeptic14]

I'm now leaning toward just using Shaka Doug on Maui and doing a bunch of guided shore dives, after reading some other reviews. His guided dive price is really good and includes the gear rental. And we don't have to get to the boat ramp at 6AM!

But will we be missing out big by not diving molokini?

 

[Montana Diver]

This critter was at Molokini Reef's End. One of my favorite dives. It's an easy drift dive around the West edge of the crater. Dive starts inside and the drift is easy enough that I was able to snap several shots of this conical shell critter eating a Crown of Thorns.

I am going back to Maui with a strobe for my camera this year!

Dennis

 

[abies]

I've only dove with severns so I can't comment on Ed, but they are the dive op I compare all others too, and I haven't found one better yet for what I like. What I like is a through dive briefing on what there is to see especially habitat and behaviour which severns does very well. Then they have a nice pace make sure everyone gets to see the cool stuff and a good assent policy.

As far as what you are missing if you only go shore diving I'm going to say not much, although I haven't done much shore diving in Maui yet, I hope to rectify that in March. The only caution is the shore diving I have done the vis has only been so-so, so you will miss out on amazing vis, and if the weather isn't right it could boarder on crappy not mountain lake crappy but not what it could be.

Ben

 

[Skeptic14]

As far as what you are missing if you only go shore diving I'm going to say not much, although I haven't done much shore diving in Maui yet, I hope to rectify that in March. The only caution is the shore diving I have done the vis has only been so-so, so you will miss out on amazing vis, and if the weather isn't right it could boarder on crappy not mountain lake crappy but not what it could be.

Ben

Thanks for the info.

A few years back we did some shore snorkeling on Maui, and the vis seemed incredible. Black Rock in particular seemed to have visibility forever. The so-so vis you've experienced, how many feet would you estimate?

Thanks!

 

[DiveMaven]

Shore diving can frequently have poor to so-so viz due to swells that kick up the sand, or rain that drives silt into the water. We go to Maui 4-5x per year for a week or two at a time and have had entire trips where we haven't been able to shore dive at all. We've learned to always book 2-3 boat dives to guarantee we'll be able to dive.

I define poor as less than 10' of viz, and so-so as 10-20'

 

[Skeptic14]

Shore diving can frequently have poor to so-so viz due to swells that kick up the sand, or rain that drives silt into the water. We go to Maui 4-5x per year for a week or two at a time and have had entire trips where we haven't been able to shore dive at all. We've learned to always book 2-3 boat dives to guarantee we'll be able to dive.

I define poor as less than 10' of viz, and so-so as 10-20'

Yeah I would be bummed with only 10' of visibility. If it was at least 30 that would be good, and better would be awesome.

What is your experience with makena landing or other spots? Any more susceptible to getting blown out certain times of the year?

Thanks

 

[DiveMaven]

Yeah I would be bummed with only 10' of visibility. If it was at least 30 that would be good, and better would be awesome.

What is your experience with makena landing or other spots? Any more susceptible to getting blown out certain times of the year?

Thanks

Makena is arguably our favorite shore diving spot since there's always something to see/find, entry is super easy, and it requires no navigation. Plus being so shallow we always get at least 90 minutes out of a tank, with 1 hour 50 minutes being our last two dives there in December.

We haven't noticed that certain times of year are necessarily worse than others, but we're only there a week or two at a time, which isn't enough to see patterns. Shaka Doug could probably shed light on that since he dives all of the time.

 

[abies]

I would echo DiveMaven's definition of poor and so-so, my experiences are all in January if that matters and we have had reasonably bad luck around rain and surf. We will be going back to Kihei area again this year and the plan is more shore diving so I hope we hit good vis. If we find some good dives I'll let you know but for now we haven't planned anything yet and will work around weather when we get there.

Ben

 

[AquamanKauai]

Consider sending ShakaDoug a PM. He's a very knowledgeable source here on the board regarding diving Maui waters. With all the shore dives avail on Maui there's always some place you can get in and find good vis. Of course huge swells and heavy rains often are the exception but I'd consult an expert like Doug. As for Kauai waters our shore and boats have been fantastic this winter with the exception of an odd day or 2. Koloa Landing was 30ft vis in the shallows today (10-20ft depth) and 40-60 ft vis throughout the rest of the site.

Hope you find and make fantastic dive plans. It's been a great winter.
A