Planning to dive Hawaii in July!

[Michael SeaWolf]

I'm sure those of us who regularly dive on Maui...

Sure. I suggest that you take another look at the title of this thread, Lecter.

Even as a new user to this forum, it still doesn't surprise me to immediately run into that typical, provincial "those of us who regularly dive on Maui" attitude from some self-imposed, Cliff Clavin-inspired, 'veteran' of this forum.

Ironically, I would wager that you probably already scared the original poster away with the direction you took his original discussion. I am fairly certain that, like me, he was just looking for some local knowledge - and not a lecture on his and his fiancé’s diving 'limitations'. I'm hoping that this provincial, patriarchal attitude you've displayed isn't what we're about to encounter on our trip down there.

If you have anything further to add, I'll challenge you to contact me directly, vice showcasing for the audience here. Somehow, I don't think you'll be up to that though.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Back to the OP...

For Oahu, definitely check out Kaimana Divers (Gabe / Scotty the Duck on SB). A couple of people recommended his op to me last year and I enjoyed several days of diving while my wife did a conference. He will pick you up at the hotel, drive you the boat and if your booking several days take care to get you to different sites. Its a real nice operation. This year I hitched onto a couple of days via another conference on the Big Island and did the Manta dive (outstanding), previously did Maui. Unless your a dive snob, there are plenty of good dives on all the islands and they can keep you busy for some time, literally dozens of divers per island or more. The lee and windward sides tend to be different. I really would hesitate to island hop unless you are there for weeks. It really cuts into you vacation time, every hop cost you a day of vacation plus air fare and resettling in a new hotel / car. Pick one and concentrate on it as there really is a lot to do if you take the time to explore, for example some of the hikes are awesome and cheap to offset the expensive tourist stuff.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Sure. I suggest that you take another look at the title of this thread, Lecter.

Even as a new user to this forum, it still doesn't surprise me to immediately run into that typical, provincial "those of us who regularly dive on Maui" attitude from some self-imposed, Cliff Clavin-inspired, 'veteran' of this forum.

Ironically, I would wager that you probably already scared the original poster away with the direction you took his original discussion. I am fairly certain that, like me, he was just looking for some local knowledge - and not a lecture on his and his fiancé’s diving 'limitations'. I'm hoping that this provincial, patriarchal attitude you've displayed isn't what we're about to encounter on our trip down there.

If you have anything further to add, I'll challenge you to contact me directly, vice showcasing for the audience here. Somehow, I don't think you'll be up to that though.

The only thing further that I'll add is that, as between you and I, I'm the only one who's provided anything responsive to the OP's question. You seem more interested in playing Forum Police/Armchair Psychologist...to each their own. To play a bit of Internet Shrink myself, your framing of my response about diving Maui says more about you than it does me. While I'm well aware of the thread title, I'm also aware you tried to divert this thread to your Maui-specific issues rather than starting your own. Because I don't dive Maui very much, I have not responded to you; hopefully those of us who are Hawaii divers and who dive Maui regularly enough to help you out will chime in.

As a side note for clarity, you might want to look to the other local diver with whom I was conversing if you're going to white knight for the absent OP. He suggested there might be limitations involved; I said that the OW certification is not so limited. Tangentially relevant discussion of how AOW may or may not be demanded by Hawaii dive ops ensued, until you felt the need to take over the role of moderator.

 

[DiveMaven]

My wife and I will also be there July 2 to 9th, staying and shore diving off Kaanapali, and probably renting a bareboat to head out to Molokini ourselves on one day (anyone interested in sharing the boat with us?) - we're trying to determine the best shore dives along the west side from Black Rock south... any recomendations?

Before you make plans to dive Molokini from a private boat, you may want to check the rules since it's a marine preserve. I know you won't be able to use a mooring, and you can't anchor, so at best you'll be doing live boat dives.

As far as shore dive, north of Black Rock is Airport beach with good diving. Then south are Mala Wharf and Olowalu, and if you want to go as far as Wailea and Makena, there's Ulua, Wailea Point, 5 Caves/Graves, and Makena Landing.

We'll be on island at the same time as you but our place is in Kihei so we'll be doing all of our honored diving in that part of the island.

 

[Michael SeaWolf]

Thanks DiveMaven! The prospect of not being able to moor at Molokini was enough of a concern to me, so I just called Maui Boat rental and learned that there are 25 commercial mooring spots on the crater, and 7 private (or rental) mooring spots, so it looks like the preserve does have private boater support - it's just whether you can get there early enough to secure one of the 7, I'm guessing. Appreciate the heads up!

Actually - let me throw this out as well - we're looking to dive the crater either the 7th or the 8th, and if anyone else with dive experience wants to join us and contribute toward the fee, we're willing to rent a larger boat (maybe one of the 6-person cats)... this might be an option for maximizing the time at the crater?

If that's of interest, ping me offline.

 

[DiveMaven]

Thanks for posting what you found out, we had been told previously that you need a permit to dive Molokini and use the mooring balls, but it sounds like that isn't quite true. Bet our friends were referring only to commercial operations and not private boats.

Thanks for the invite to join you, but to be frank, Molokini isn't one of my favorite dive sites. We do have a few charters scheduled and plan to shore dive most other days.

 

[Shaka Doug]

Molokini is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Some moorings are for commercial use only. Depending on what time you arrive, there may or may not be lots of moorings available to take. It's first come first served. Do not drop anchor.

And to go back to experience, since this thread has been kinda hacked already; AOW, OW, SCUBA Diver, Rescue Diver... whatever your cert is, it should be accompanied with a LOG BOOK which actually documents your experience. Doesn't anyone keep a log book anymore? I do and it earned me a world record! See? (By the way, this photo is from 7 years ago. I'm proud to say that it's a bit taller now! )