rad21
Contributor
Shore Diving in Maui with Shaka Divers October 14 & 15, 2005
I took a short (5 night) trip to Maui and decided to do a few shore dives. This was my 6th trip to Maui and I prefer to do beach/shore dives since I dont care for the small, cramped boat diving that is available. I tried Ed Robinsons and Scuba Shack in the past but I always prefer beach diving on Maui. I guess I am spoiled by boats like Fifi's at Caicos Adventures in TCI and Reef Divers in Little Cayman...
I saw a few posts here by Doug of Shaka Divers and I contacted him by email. He responded right away and we talked on the phone to firm up the diving dates. The first indication that I made a good choice was that Doug showed up at my hotel exactly on time! No "island time delays here. We drove to Ulua Beach, the site for our first dive. What impressed me was how neat and organized Dougs' Scuba Bus was. Wow! Wetsuits, tanks, fins, weights all neatly arranged in the bus. We walked towards the beach and Doug discussed our dive plan in great detail. He also had a laminated card showing the exact dive plan we would follow. He then discussed emergency procedures and hand signals as well as a reminder not to touch anything and to watch my buoyancy over the reefs. We went back to the Scuba Bus and got our gear set up. I set up my own gear and then Doug and I did a final safety check and we headed down to the beach. Doug asked if there was anything I wanted to see and I mentioned I would like to see a frogfish. As soon as we descended, it was obvious that Doug is passionate about diving and loves to share his love of the ocean with other divers. So many divemasters go through the motions but Doug was so enthusiastic- he found a green leaf scorpionfish, a whitemouth moray eel, a yellow margined moray, turtles, nudibranchs and 2 frogfish hanging out together. A very nice relaxed dive.
The next dive we headed down to Makena Landing. Before we entered the water, Doug gave another detailed dive plan regarding the caves, the toiletbowl and the bubble cave. We saw a huge turtle in one of the caves along with a school of snappers. This was an easy entry/exit shore dive. Lots of fun.
Doug asked me if I wanted to try a scooter dive the next day and I decided to do it. We met at Keawakapu Beach and our dive plan was to scooter dive out to the wreck- St Anthony, which is next to the artificial tire reef. We approached the beach and Doug discussed our dive plan, what we would see on the way and our approximate bottom time. I was concerned about 2 things: how would be do our safety stop with a scooter and how would I be able to go 70 plus minutes on an AL 80. Doug explained that we would do our safety stop on the way back while we kept the scooter at 15-20 feet. He also mentioned that on the way out we would stay in midwater at about 30-35 feet. In regards to my question about my air, as we walked back to the Scuba Bus, Doug had an AL 100 for me to use on the dive. I decided to leave my UW camera in the Scuba Bus so I could enjoy the scooter dive without task overload.
It took about 5 minutes to get the hang of the scooter and how to angle the scooter to minimize drag. It was a blast! I followed Doug past various reefs, we slowed down to observe some Hawaiian Dascyllus swimming around some pristine Antler coral . As we approached the wreck, I noticed the tires at the artificial reef were becoming home to many underwater creatures. On the deck of the wreck sat a few huge turtles and frogfish. Below and around the deck were Longnose Butterfly fish, Puffers and Moorish Idols. After swimming around the wreck for a few minutes, we grabbed our scooters and headed back to the beach. It was an easy scooter trip back and it was nice to spend 70 plus minutes UW and not feel tired at all. I am glad I did the scooter dive, it was a great experience.
Doug took his camera and got some decent photos which he had ready for me the next day on a CD- a nice touch.
I had an excellent time diving with Doug and can enthusiatically recommend Shaka Divers for some great safe and exciting shore dives on Maui. I wish I had a few more days to dive on Maui, the weather was perfect, the water temp. was 80-81 degrees and visibility was good. Kudos to Doug for some lasting memories
I took a short (5 night) trip to Maui and decided to do a few shore dives. This was my 6th trip to Maui and I prefer to do beach/shore dives since I dont care for the small, cramped boat diving that is available. I tried Ed Robinsons and Scuba Shack in the past but I always prefer beach diving on Maui. I guess I am spoiled by boats like Fifi's at Caicos Adventures in TCI and Reef Divers in Little Cayman...
I saw a few posts here by Doug of Shaka Divers and I contacted him by email. He responded right away and we talked on the phone to firm up the diving dates. The first indication that I made a good choice was that Doug showed up at my hotel exactly on time! No "island time delays here. We drove to Ulua Beach, the site for our first dive. What impressed me was how neat and organized Dougs' Scuba Bus was. Wow! Wetsuits, tanks, fins, weights all neatly arranged in the bus. We walked towards the beach and Doug discussed our dive plan in great detail. He also had a laminated card showing the exact dive plan we would follow. He then discussed emergency procedures and hand signals as well as a reminder not to touch anything and to watch my buoyancy over the reefs. We went back to the Scuba Bus and got our gear set up. I set up my own gear and then Doug and I did a final safety check and we headed down to the beach. Doug asked if there was anything I wanted to see and I mentioned I would like to see a frogfish. As soon as we descended, it was obvious that Doug is passionate about diving and loves to share his love of the ocean with other divers. So many divemasters go through the motions but Doug was so enthusiastic- he found a green leaf scorpionfish, a whitemouth moray eel, a yellow margined moray, turtles, nudibranchs and 2 frogfish hanging out together. A very nice relaxed dive.
The next dive we headed down to Makena Landing. Before we entered the water, Doug gave another detailed dive plan regarding the caves, the toiletbowl and the bubble cave. We saw a huge turtle in one of the caves along with a school of snappers. This was an easy entry/exit shore dive. Lots of fun.
Doug asked me if I wanted to try a scooter dive the next day and I decided to do it. We met at Keawakapu Beach and our dive plan was to scooter dive out to the wreck- St Anthony, which is next to the artificial tire reef. We approached the beach and Doug discussed our dive plan, what we would see on the way and our approximate bottom time. I was concerned about 2 things: how would be do our safety stop with a scooter and how would I be able to go 70 plus minutes on an AL 80. Doug explained that we would do our safety stop on the way back while we kept the scooter at 15-20 feet. He also mentioned that on the way out we would stay in midwater at about 30-35 feet. In regards to my question about my air, as we walked back to the Scuba Bus, Doug had an AL 100 for me to use on the dive. I decided to leave my UW camera in the Scuba Bus so I could enjoy the scooter dive without task overload.
It took about 5 minutes to get the hang of the scooter and how to angle the scooter to minimize drag. It was a blast! I followed Doug past various reefs, we slowed down to observe some Hawaiian Dascyllus swimming around some pristine Antler coral . As we approached the wreck, I noticed the tires at the artificial reef were becoming home to many underwater creatures. On the deck of the wreck sat a few huge turtles and frogfish. Below and around the deck were Longnose Butterfly fish, Puffers and Moorish Idols. After swimming around the wreck for a few minutes, we grabbed our scooters and headed back to the beach. It was an easy scooter trip back and it was nice to spend 70 plus minutes UW and not feel tired at all. I am glad I did the scooter dive, it was a great experience.
Doug took his camera and got some decent photos which he had ready for me the next day on a CD- a nice touch.
I had an excellent time diving with Doug and can enthusiatically recommend Shaka Divers for some great safe and exciting shore dives on Maui. I wish I had a few more days to dive on Maui, the weather was perfect, the water temp. was 80-81 degrees and visibility was good. Kudos to Doug for some lasting memories
Much Mahalos!!! Glad to hear that you had a great time!
