Life has blessed me with a trip to Hawai'i next week (5/10-5/18)....But

I am going to be on a Hawaiian cruise next week from the 11th to the 19th, but unfortunately I wont have a dive buddy with me. Being someone who has never been to Hawaii, I am looking for some advice on best/easiest dive shops to go to. I will be bringing all my dive gear (bcd,regs,wetsuit). A little history of me, I was certified in April 2011 and got my AOW and Rescue certs with NAUI in Nov 2012. My Rescue cert was the most amazing class ever. And I finished my Master diver through NAUI this week (collage classes are great.) I have 28 cold water dives in Monterey Ca, I am conftorble in almost any condition that Monterey can offer, low vis, high surf entries, high surge. I love to take things nice and slow and enjoy the critters.

I will be in Kahului on Sunday and Monday and would love to do a boat dive out to Molikini but I think it wont work out with the group I am with. What do you guys recommend in a way of shore diving close by and a dive shop that I can rent a couple of tanks and weights from.

In Kona I only have about 9 hours docked (really annoys me as I wanted to dive in Kona the most) So I was looking to maybe get a dive in at eh old airport or another shore site close by. Is there any dive shop that makes thing easy right off the dock and is it relatively easy to find a buddy there? or am I gonna be straight out of luck?

The last place I will be that I would like to dive is Nawiliwili Kauai. is it possible to dive anyplace there without having to rent a car to get somewhere on the island? I will be there on the 5/16 and 5/17 and would love the chance to see some good site (heck any dive sites will make my day) any recommendations?

I want to thank everyone in advance. I am totally excited to get a chance to go dive a warm water location.

I think there's only one shop in Kahului. Don't know the name. And only 1 or 2 shore dives nearby. There's a Maui Dive Shop in Wailuku nearby but they don't have dive gear at that location according to their store directory. You might check recent threads in this forum, someone recently mentioned the name of the Kahului shop. I might also be gettting confused with Hilo on the Big Island.

Almost All the shore diving is in South or West Maui. You're probably right about Molokini also, the boats leave early from the Kihei ramp - some as early as 6-6:30AM to beat the tradewinds coming back (they're smaller boats as they really do launch from the ramp) so I don't see how you could get over there in time.

There are options in Ma'alea Harbor for the afternoon, Maui Dive Shop has a boat there and does 2 tanks. I doubt they'd go out to Molokini, probably just stay along the Maui coastline. Which is not bad either, it'll be Turtles and lots of fish. There's also a Manta cleaning station a little farther north - you might ask for it if they ask for suggestions.

Another option in that area is the Maui Ocean Center - do that in the morning with your friends then boat dive in the afternoon. You actually can do both there, they have a Shark Tank dive. Tell all your friends back home you dove with Tiger Sharks on Maui...

Or there's one of the big Snorkel Cat trips out to Molokini. Pride of Maui is one, they offer both snorkeling and diving - the diving IMO is overpriced but it's diving... Also they have some sort of provision to shuttle you to Ma'alea for their departure. There's also another boat that does a similar trip - I can't think of the name but they're somehow tied in with whale watching so Google should find it. Your friends might enjoy snorkeling Molokini also.

Since it's an 85' Cat, they're much less affected by the tradewinds. We did it once with the family, decent trip, I buddied with an instabuddy and we headed back towards Maui. Saw some whitetips sleeping in the sand at about 60' and one scorpionfish.

On Kona, Jack's Diving Locker is about 200? yards south of where you'll disembark. They're also very highly regarded. They do an escorted shore dive for $85 - sometimes at Kailua-Kona Pier - conveniently the pier where you will be anyway. They also bring tanks. Another member here recently did it and was pleased with the dive and their operation.

Old Airport isn't too far either but I think you'd need a car - or reliable cab driver who'll pick you up afterwards. Of course your cell phone will work if you have a waterproof case for it. Jack's may go there instead also or another site nearby - there's one outside the boat harbor that's a very good dive. A tougher carry but shore diveable as well.

From Nawiliwili you'd have to get to Kapaa to the 2nd Seasport shop for tanks afaik. From there you could dive Ahukini Landing but not by yourself - you need someone to show you where to go. Also don't touch the ordinance rolling around on the bottom, it's live and corroded.

A better shore dive is Koloa Landing south in Poipu. The other Seasport shop is literally a couple blocks from Koloa Landing, arguably the best shore dive on Kauai. And if you have time to boat dive, both Seasports and Fathom Five's boats leave from a harbor near there. FF is also near Koloa Landing, just a little farther up the street.

The best dive is Sheraton Caverns just off the Sheraton in Poipu. It looks shore accessible but it's not, you can get out but often not back. They rescue people occasionally who thought they could. Both operators go there - it's the signature Maui boat dive.

You might check with both of them as I think they do a cruise program also. But you need a car for any Kauai option most likely. I'm sure there's also a shuttle down to Poipu from the cruise port - it's the best beach on Kauai and really popular.

If you haven't seen it: http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/Hawaii/index.htm for all your options.

One last comment - the lava rock is sharper than it looks. So be careful picking your entry/exit points.

lordhelmet:

I am going to be on a Hawaiian cruise next week from the 11th to the 19th, but unfortunately I wont have a dive buddy with me. Being someone who has never been to Hawaii, I am looking for some advice on best/easiest dive shops to go to. I will be bringing all my dive gear (bcd,regs,wetsuit). A little history of me, I was certified in April 2011 and got my AOW and Rescue certs with NAUI in Nov 2012. My Rescue cert was the most amazing class ever. And I finished my Master diver through NAUI this week (collage classes are great.) I have 28 cold water dives in Monterey Ca, I am conftorble in almost any condition that Monterey can offer, low vis, high surf entries, high surge. I love to take things nice and slow and enjoy the critters.

I will be in Kahului on Sunday and Monday and would love to do a boat dive out to Molikini but I think it wont work out with the group I am with. What do you guys recommend in a way of shore diving close by and a dive shop that I can rent a couple of tanks and weights from.

In Kona I only have about 9 hours docked (really annoys me as I wanted to dive in Kona the most) So I was looking to maybe get a dive in at eh old airport or another shore site close by. Is there any dive shop that makes thing easy right off the dock and is it relatively easy to find a buddy there? or am I gonna be straight out of luck?

The last place I will be that I would like to dive is Nawiliwili Kauai. is it possible to dive anyplace there without having to rent a car to get somewhere on the island? I will be there on the 5/16 and 5/17 and would love the chance to see some good site (heck any dive sites will make my day) any recommendations?

I want to thank everyone in advance. I am totally excited to get a chance to go dive a warm water location.

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Hey Lord... An unexpected trip to Maui!! I would be stoked if I was you too!!

Shoot me a PM if you want to see what I have going on that day. I do a lot of "later in the day" dives and I have taken lots of cruise ship folks out here on Maui's south shore. I might be able to show you some really cool stuff!

Shaka!