Maui Shore Dive Sites

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SoCalOffshore

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What shore dives are good for the divers and non divers alike? My wife and I would like to do a shore dive or two and will be with a non diving couple. So a nice beach with some snorkelling would be good. What are the best stops? We are going to dive with Mike Robinson's for 3 days and want to sneak in a couple of shore dives. Thanks for any info.
 
There's Ulua Beach and Black Rock that both offer something for non-divers -- Ulua has been voted one of the nicest beaches in the world, Black Rock apparently has great snorkelling. I'm not sure what the snorkelling at Ulua is like -- the viz was pretty bad the day I dove there due to some wierd weather.
 
I agree that Ulua is a nice easy beach with decent snorkling as is Airport Beach and Kapalua. You can click on my link and you'll find others...

Shorediving Maui
 
Besides Olowalu (nice but better for snorkeling and tense because of the shark stories) and an ugly day cruising Kaanapali and Kapalua (just rotten luck it was blustery and churned), I've plopped in at Hana pier (nice, shallow, cold like a witch's ----), and a place called Anini Bay (?) at the end of the road beyond Wailea/Makena. On the wild side, I tried freediving at a spot at the base of the cliffs on the road to Lahaina (at the big turn past Maalaea) and at couple of spots down different gullies off the belt "road" in the dry stretch between Kaupo and Ulupalakua Ranch (mostly driveable except for the 1/4-mile stretch by Kaupo store which was nuts). These were nice spots but not very close to the road, very isolated (especially the Kaupo area), and while you could hump a tank up and down through all the rocks and thorny keawe -- you really really really have to want it in the worst way.
 
Good info, thanks. I think I will order the Maui Dive Guide.
 
SoCalOffshore:
What shore dives are good for the divers and non divers alike? My wife and I would like to do a shore dive or two and will be with a non diving couple. So a nice beach with some snorkelling would be good. What are the best stops? We are going to dive with Mike Robinson's for 3 days and want to sneak in a couple of shore dives. Thanks for any info.
If you're diving with ED Robinson's I assume you're staying south in Kihei/Wailea. So Airport Beach and Black Rock are a bit of a drive.

Although Black Rock might be a good joint dive/snorkel trip. But there's a LOT of snorkelers/divers in the water there all the time. I've also dove Airport Beach, it's kind of flat and shallow in places, but there's a couple of good lava/coral formations a little further out. The coral starts in less than 10' in a couple places so your friends would have something to do while you dove. And there's some old masts/pipes left over from the sugar cane boats that used to moor there, most are coral encrusted with little critters in them.

We actually used scooters to get farther out there, you can rent them at Pacific Dive in Lahaina.

If you're staying up north or not near Kihei, might want to rethink your dive op choice, it's a good 30-45 min. drive from Lahaina to Kihei when there's traffic - which is just about every day.

Close to Kihei in Wailea there's a couple of sites that might be of interest:

Wailea Beach Park, it's just south of one of the big resorts, there's parking - at least early in the morning on weekdays, it's pretty popular on weekends, and it's a small lot. The nice thing is that the diveshop for the resort is less than 100' north so you can get air there. It's a couple hundred yards to the beach so it's better to drop your gear by the bathrooms first and then try to find parking. If you see a space while driving down the hill, have your friend jump out and hold it, otherwise it'll probably be gone by the time you get back. We had to wait about 15min one day for someone to leave.

It's a short swim out to a 40' reef that's snorkeled all the time as well since some of the rocks are above the surface. Tell your friends not to get too close to the point there or they'll get pushed into the rocks by the surge. There's a second reef a little further out that's probably 50-60', and I was told of a small wreck out there but we never found it. Ask at the diveshop, they can point out the area from where they're located. We saw dozens of 2-3' long pipefish, several big puffers, lots of triggers and hundreds of tangs out past the first reef. The fish aren't tame, but used to visitors. Also supposed to be some resident turtles there but we didn't see any.

However that's about all that's there, the rest is pretty much sand with occasional coral outcroppings. It's a nice beach because of that. So not the best dive site, but it might be good to share with your friends.

Near there is 5Caves/5 Graves. It's a good site unless the waves are up, then go elsewhere, even if you fight past it, the viz will suck. Most people go to Makena landing when this happens.

There's also a kayak dive/snorkel trip out of La Perouse Bay on the far southern end. We didn't do it, but there's supposed to be lots of turtles.

We were in Wailea in summer 2001, so some of this might have changed.

Good maps/descriptions of all the shoredive sites are here: http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/Hawaii/Maui/

Steve
 
Al Mialkovsky:
I agree that Ulua is a nice easy beach with decent snorkling
If you're in S. Maui, I'll second this recommendation.

Easy entry, easy navigation, 1st reef is shallow enough for snorkerlers to enjoy. Almost always has multiple turtles on the SW corner of the outer reef, and a couple octopus holes on the NW outer corner. I've also seen manta rays about once per 10 dives, and other surprises, like a pair of 5 foot milkfishes in the sand channel between the inner and outer reefs.

Parking fills up early, particularly on weekends.

If the parking is full, then Makena Landing / 5 Graves / 5 Caves / Turtletown (different names for the same place) is a good dive alternative, but it isn't as nice for snorkeling.
 
We are staying in Lahaina. I know it is a drive, but we have heard such good things with Ed Robinson's. I would hope there would not be much traffic at 6 am. Anyway, we are from LA and Love driving and traffic!! LOL
 
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