Maui Dive Advice

I'll be on Maui Sept 12-17 to adjust time zones halfway home from Palau/New York. Jet lag kills me so we stop in Hawaii whenever we go to Palau, tough life I know. We've done the BI on our last 2 trips, I'd be happy just to do the manta night dive in Kona for the third time but the bride wants something different, Maui it is. We'll be staying in Kaanapali. I'd like to dive 2 days since Hana is a definite and the last day will be a lounging on the beach day. We're thinking about Molokini one day as I've heard good things about it. Need advice on who to dive with. Seems a lot closer from Wailea-Makena than Kihei, is there a big difference in the ride. For the second day, I'm open to suggestions. We both have over 500 dives so, basically, we're open to whatever. Not too sure if it will be getting into high season, will we need to book our dives ahead?

Thanks

Richie

It is a significantly shorter ride from the Kihei area to Molokini, and the drive early in the morning isn't bad. For people with your experience, I would HIGHLY recommend the Mike Severns boat. Pauline, who runs the boat, is the co-author of one of the guides to Hawaiian marine life, and the focus of the dives tends to be unusual endemic species. They have good critter ID materials on the boat, so you can review what you saw right away. They also tend to attract a somewhat more experienced clientele, and they will segregate divers so that the experienced ones dive in one group, and the newer divers in another.

For the other day, I would recommend shore diving. My favorite shore dive on Maui is up in Lahaini, the Mala Pier. The entry is a bit tedious (wading through coral heads) but the dive is worth it -- there is a ton of structure which makes for great photo ops, and the structure shelters an amazing amount of life.

But we also went out on the Lahaina Divers boat from Lahaina on this last trip, and did the Carthaginian wreck, which was covered in frogfish, and the Mala Pier at night, which was utterly incredible.

Check out alohashoredivers.com for information on shore diving sites, especially in your area. Have fun!

I did 2 days of diving with Lahaina Divers last month. Great op and very close to Kannapali. I did the dusk dive on the Carthaginian, awesome dive! Also you have to do a scooter dive with Greg, Scubahawk27 Maui Scooter Divers - Maui's Scooter Diving Specialists - Come scuba Diving with us!, coolest dive experience I've ever had!

bubba105:

Need advice on who to dive with. Seems a lot closer from Wailea-Makena than Kihei, is there a big difference in the ride. For the second day, I'm open to suggestions. We both have over 500 dives so, basically, we're open to whatever. Not too sure if it will be getting into high season, will we need to book our dives ahead?

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The Molokini dive boats all leave from the Kihei Boat Ramp - afaik there is no one going from Wailea to Molokini except one of the big sailing snorkel cats. Wailea is 5mins. south of Kihei so not a big difference anyway. Generally the boats are smaller since it really is a boat ramp.

They also leave really early in the morning - starting at 6AM - to beat the tradewinds when coming back from Molokini. From Kaanapali a fair estimate of the drive time is 45mins - assuming no delays or accidents. Often second dives are along the Maui coast also for the same reason.

For something a little more advanced, find someone diving the Molokini Back Wall. They all do, just at different days/times. The back wall can also be weather dependent - often it's a live drop also.

Ed Robinson's also has a 2 or 3 tank "Adventure" dive which will mostly be AOW divers. Just certain days of the week IIRC.

Lahaina Divers goes out to Molokini from downtown Lahaina. They have two 46' Newton dive boats with stabilizers so are less susceptible to the trade winds. I've been on their boat coming back early afternoon and it was a smoother ride. They also do a "Manta Point" dive - actually off Umekahame Beach so IDK why they call it a point. It's a near shore Manta cleaning station. My buddy did the 3-tank Adventure with Robinson's and the last dive at dusk was there. They saw 3..

Lahaina Divers also goes to the Cathedrals at Lanai - the other "signature" Maui dive. And do advanced drift diving off West Lanai. A good double would be to combine both?. And they do a weekly Blue water Molokai Hammerhead run - it's hit/miss though for sighting them. IDK how that is in Sept. either.

Another option for the Kaanapali/Lahaina area is Extended Horizons also in Lahaina. They pretty much only dive Lanai and West Maui.

One other option for Molokini that's less of a drive is Maui Diamond II. They're out of Ma'alea Harbor. But from there it's not much further to Kihei where you'd have a choice of Severns, Robinson's, B&B Scuba and another boat I can never remember. When DiveMaven sees this she'll add it...lol.

Nope, you've summed it up nicely!!

another boat I can never remember. <- this part. The Kihei boat you like.

When DiveMaven sees this she'll add it...lol.

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I will agree on this for sure, a must for diving in Maui Also you have to do a scooter dive with Greg, Scubahawk27 Maui Scooter Divers - Maui's Scooter Diving Specialists - Come scuba Diving with us!, coolest dive experience I've ever had!

Okay, okay.....there are two we like out of Kihei you didn't mention: Makena Coast Charters and Dive & Sea.

Thanks for all the help, sorry I haven't been back here sooner. I got busy planning my Cozumel trip and forgot I started this thread. Believe it or not I was diving Dalilah in Cozumel last week and right in the middle of the dive I remembered this thread. A lot to digest here and discuss with the better half. Thanks again for the help.

Just a side note, diversteve you mentioned mantas, this last week I did the snorkeling trip for whale sharks from Cancun/ Isla Mujeres and got the bonus plan of mantas. I saw at least a dozen mixed in with the 100's of whale sharks. If you haven't done this, it is a bucket list kind of thing, from mid June thru end of August, there is as near a guarantee as possible that you will swim with multiple whale sharks and now I know mantas are mixed in during at least part of June (my last trip in 2011 was in August with massive amounts of whale sharks, no mantas). Our trip this year was Wed. June 26th with the other half of our crew seeing the mantas/whale sharks the next day. I'm going to pass this info along in the Cozumel forum as well.

Staying in the Kihei/Wailea area, I'm partial to B&B. I've gone out with them many, many times, and I've always had a great time. For experienced divers like you, they figure it out quick and really don't get in your way (except if you want them to). Very nice, low key, relaxed boat.