Great Maui Dive sites

I am going to be on the island March 26-apr 2nd. Can anyone here recomend some great dive sites? Shore and boat? We already have the Molikini dive booked, but I am looking for some more. We are staying just north of Ka'anapali.

Anybody else going to be there during this week? Care to hook up for some diving?

Thanks!

Cory-

For shore dives definitely do Black Rock by the Sheraton, Honolua Bay north of Ka'anapali, Makena Beach if the tiger sharks leave it alone and possibly the Coral Gardens. There is also a cleaning station just out from the Ka'anapali Beach Club.
Hope you have a great time! As far as boats, try Cathedrals too!

I would highly recommend a half day (2 tank) trip over to Lana'i from western Maui. I went with Lahaina Divers and would recommend them. The cathedrals are unique sites and there are very few other boats out there. In fact, we saw no other divers when we were diving Lana'i. The difference between the Lana'i dives and the dives we did off the boat near Lahaina were night and day - Lana'i was so much more pristine, colorful, and full of life.

5 caves is an awesome dive to try. Hope this helps!!!

Can't give any advice but I'm heading there April 25th and would love to hear some feedback on what dives you ended up doing, so please post up when you get back.

I am flying in March 20 for a week. Staying in Kahana.

Watching this one closely.

Just got back from Maui last week.

Did 3 dives with Shaka Doug (look him up here on ScubaBoard) and I'd highly recommend him if you want a guide. He's very passionate and knowledgeable about diving. Our dives were south of Kihei, I'll get the location names tomorrow when I have access to my dive log.

We also did a couple dives up near Kaanapali since we were staying up there. Meh. They were good, and I was thrilled with them, but then I'm thrilled if I can see my feet underwater. Not sure how much experienced divers would like it the places we went. I'd also like to recommend Black Rock if you are staying on the north side to dive.

Heard so many whales underwater. Saw lots of turtles, sharks, humuhumu fish, cute little black fish that I haven't figured out what they are, butterfly fish, was fabulous.

Maybe I should go back to the island and drive you around, I'm getting real experienced with the traffic jams on the Pilani Highway.

My wife and I were there end of November. We really enjoyed "Turtle Town'' and the "5 Caves" , lots of life and really neat formations. Enjoy.

Since you are going to be in the north end, I would HIGHLY recommend doing the Mala Wharf dive. Although the legal entry is a bit of a PITA (wading through coral heads) the dive is still worthwhile. There is a resident white-tipped reef shark, and I have seen schools of snapper, turtles, and nudibranchs there. The structure makes for great swim-through opportunities. The dive is shallow and full of light. It's one of my very favorite Maui dives.

Old Airport, just north of Lahaina, is another very easy dive. It's a site commonly used for training, but you can see a fair amount of interesting stuff there.

Honolua Bay is beautiful when the water is calm. You can swim out along the wall on your left, and then come back in very shallow water over the reef top. It is a good long walk from the parking to the water, though, and don't leave anything valuable in the car.

In the south end, Ulua Beach is a very pleasant, easy dive. Get there early in the morning to get parking. The first reef is the one you can see extending from shore into the water, and then there is about a 50' gap (at 240 degrees) to the second reef. There is a turtle cleaning station there, so you often see them.

A little further south, Polo Beach was a WONDERFUL dive. The coral is in amazingly good shape, full of color and with quite a lot of life. Again, it's a good hike from the parking to the north end of the beach, which is the entry site, and there can be surf there.

Molokini is fun, if you haven't done it before. My favorite charter is Mike Severns, because Pauline, one of the owners, is the co-author of a book on marine life of the islands, and she is a very good guide. I thoroughly enjoyed the pinnacles and the Cathedrals off Lanai as well. If you use Lahaina Divers, be aware that you CAN request larger tanks (at an additional charge). They use 72s normally.

Check out Home Page for more information on Maui shore diving.

Have a great trip! It's so much fun to dive in warm water you can see through . . .

I'll second the recommendation for Honolua Bay up north. It's a favorite spot. Regarding being eaten by a tiger shark down at Makena, I thought that was the routine at Coral Gardens!

I haven't tried many spots up north, but have liked the shore diving at every beach from south Kihei to Makena Landing.