Kama'aina diving deals

I live on Maui and I am trying to find the best dive deals for kama'aina (locals) like myself. Often times these deals change so I thought this would be a valuable thread that folks could continually post to and update. If people would like to post deals they've heard of for the other Hawaiian islands, that would be great too.

Thanks,
James

unfortunately the best deals I have found are still 100% above online prices. So I set up an account with mar-vel.com and really like their service, plus they will ship using USPS (if you don't mind waiting for USPS to deliver things)

Pacific Dive has been pretty good on prices with 15% for Kamaainas and discounts on bulk air fills ($2 or $2.50 can't remember) - and B&B has seemed to have the best prices on classes that I've found so far. Fortunately their reputation for instruction seems to be about the best around also (I am about to take my first course with them)

Tim

kidspot:

unfortunately the best deals I have found are still 100% above online prices. So I set up an account with mar-vel.com and really like their service, plus they will ship using USPS (if you don't mind waiting for USPS to deliver things)

Pacific Dive has been pretty good on prices with 15% for Kamaainas and discounts on bulk air fills ($2 or $2.50 can't remember) - and B&B has seemed to have the best prices on classes that I've found so far. Fortunately their reputation for instruction seems to be about the best around also (I am about to take my first course with them)

Tim

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Is there some reason UPS or Fed Ex doesn't deliver? Or is it expensive?

For some reason, receiving something UPS ground in Hawaii seems kinda hilarious to me today...

I know of several people (including me) who would rather not have UPS or Fedex deliver something. Mostly due to cost, sometimes due to the fact that it takes longer for them to deliver than USPS/CanadaPost.

I realize it's not quite the same with cross-border, but sometimes it seems as though Hawaii is a separate country still.

When we order something we really prefer USPS - it's cheaper and it's easier to pick it up if they try to deliver when we are not at home.

justleesa:

When we order something we really prefer USPS - it's cheaper and it's easier to pick it up if they try to deliver when we are not at home.

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Not to hijack the thread . . .

But one of my peeves are companies that charge extra shipping on mail/online orders just because we live in Hawaii. It always comes USPS - but they'll still charge the extra $10 or so just because it's Hawaii. I refuse to order from these companies - but unfortunately, there aren't many (that I'd like to order from) that don't practice this.

Continental US orders - they get all the free shipping deals. Hawaii - gouge us another $10 on top of regular shipping rates for regular USPS delivery.

Back to the topic - the best dive deal I've found so far is a dive club that does boat dives for $35, including tanks. Awesome!

Are you looking for equipment deals, diving tour deals, deals on lessons? I can offer some suggestions here in Kihei that you might not have explored yet.

Shaka Doug:

Are you looking for equipment deals, diving tour deals, deals on lessons? I can offer some suggestions here in Kihei that you might not have explored yet.

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Doug,

I am looking for any deals, be it equipment, tours, lessons, anything. The reason I started this thread was for people like me who can't afford to pay the tourist rates but still want to dive the awesome sites of maui, or any of the islands for that matter. My hope is that when people hear of a good deal, they could post it on this thread. I don't know how ScubaBoard would feel about operators "advertising" their kama'aina discounts, but I think that is useful. There are a ton of dive shops and operators here on maui, and it's hard to keep track of the different rates they all offer, especially since the kama'aina rates are never published, you have to call them and ask or happen to hear about it from a dive buddy. I would love to hear any of the discounts or deals that you know of, or offer yourself to kama'aina. An off topic example of what I'm interested in: If you flash your Hawaii Driver's license at Ruby's Diner in the Queen K mall in Kahului, they give you a 10% discount off your meal. If you flash your Hawaii Driver's license at the Feast at Lele luau in Lahaina, the price for an adult drops from $99 to around $60. I believe that Lahaina Divers offers a 10% discount to kama'aina on all their dive tours and merchandise, but I'm not sure if that's accurate. I am hoping that people can pass along their knowledge of these diving related deals, or make a note when you hear about this kind of deal and post that info here. Thanks for the response Doug, and happy diving.


Peace,
James

scubasean:

Is there some reason UPS or Fed Ex doesn't deliver? Or is it expensive?

For some reason, receiving something UPS ground in Hawaii seems kinda hilarious to me today...

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UPS and FedEx only deliver 2n'd day air to Hawaii - minimum shipping is $20 for the first pound.

I once had to order a replacement belt for an answering machine (basically a proprietary rubber band) and the shipping was $10 because the company only ships via UPS - the belt cost .57 cents! (I ordered several to "save" on future shipping)

USPS is "usually" pretty quick and between $5-$10 for 3 day shipping of most packages (I'm currently waiting for a package sent "priority" mail 4 weeks ago . . . sometimes it goes the slow way, which can mean up to 16 weeks for delivery) Just make sure it's insured - otherwise it's your loss . . . frequently I've found . . .


Tim

chepar:

But one of my peeves are companies that charge extra shipping on mail/online orders just because we live in Hawaii. It always comes USPS - but they'll still charge the extra $10 or so just because it's Hawaii. I refuse to order from these companies - but unfortunately, there aren't many (that I'd like to order from) that don't practice this.

Continental US orders - they get all the free shipping deals. Hawaii - gouge us another $10 on top of regular shipping rates for regular USPS delivery.

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To be honest with you, you guys are all the way out there in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and it's just not all that easy or convenient to get there

Seriously though, the reason you get charged extra is because it DOES really cost extra to ship stuff to you. It's either by boat (slow) or by air (expensive). When things are shipped by ground in the continental US, shippers are taking advantage of the vast trucking and railroad networks; nobody has to make a "special trip" just for you, which is pretty much what they're doing when they ship stuff to Hawaii or Alaska or any of our territories that haven't become states yet.

There is no such thing as "free"; someone, somewhere has already paid for the expenses associated with that item or service. To have free shipping to Hawaii would mean everybody else (meaning us mainlanders) would have to bear the brunt of that, in the form of higher prices. And when there's 48 of us and one of you, well you can see where the scale is gonna tip.