Maui Shore Dive

[rromero2]

We (daughter and I) will be doing 2 weeks of shore dives in Maui in June. We will be staying near the Kaanapali area (timeshare) and will be bringing our own equipment minus tank/weight. I like to to hear from our local divers or those that have dove here before, where to rent the tanks from that we can get air fills easily.

Also, what are the must dive shore dives near the area. We are booth experienced divers (+100 dives). Thanks everyone and can't wait.

 

[TSandM]

Check out alohashoredivers.com for a description of some of the shore diving sites on Maui (shorediving.com has some, too).

My favorite up in that area is the Mala Pier dive. Although the "legal" entry is a bit of a pain, the dive is worth it -- lots of structure shelters large schools of snapper and grunts, and harbors turtles and usually a resident white tipped reef shark. We've found a variety of nudibranchs, lizardfish, and other interesting creatures there, and the structure has some great swim-throughs and photo ops. It's a shallow dive, and I understand it can be somewhat current-sensitive, although we have never run into any significant current there.

Another fine dive is Honolua Bay, although one has to park on the side of the road (don't leave ANYTHING valuable in the car) and walk about 1/4 mile to the entry.

There's a lot of nice shore diving in the Kihei area, too, although it's a bit of a drive for you.

I can't advise about shops to rent from, because we don't stay up there.

 

[keithdiver]

Lynn Who are you doing most of your diving with ? keith

 

[diversteve]

Pacific Dive in Lahaina rents tanks. They do a lot of shorediving in the area. Ask about an escorted scooter dive also - that was a lot of fun. They don't have a boat (they sell space on another boat) so for boat dives try Extended Horizons or Lahaina Divers.

There's also a Maui Dive Shop at Whaler's Village. We walked by one day and IIRC they had tanks but some of their mall stores are just snorkel/boogey board places. Personally I'm not a big fan of theirs. If it's where I remember it was (across from Leilani's) it's going to be a healthy carry to the parking lot also.

40 sites to shoredive:
Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: Maui, Hawaiian Islands

 

[rromero2]

I had several shore dives in mind and one of them is the Mala Pier. I read that the entry is on the left of the pier since the boat traffic is on the right side.

The other place I considered was Honolua Bay. Is there a drop off for gears, since you have to park near the road?

Is the shore dive adequate diving or do I need to do Molokini like everyone says?

 

[diversteve]

I like Molokini. I would dive it just about every time if I could. Inside the crater there's a lot of fishlife - one dive we headed back towards Maui and ran into a white tip reef shark resting on the sand. Coming back over some staghorn coral we saw a scorpionfish - the only one I've ever seen off Maui. If you're good with depth, Shark Condos is supposed to be a good dive also. Another really interesting boat dive is the Cathedrals off Lanai. Diveboats from Lahaina go there regularly.

We've also done a little shorediving in both West and South Maui. We dove Kahekeli Beach and it was a good but shallow dive. We had scooters so were able to get out slightly deeper. Interesting dive, lots of fish, great water clarity and the parking is good. There's one area where the sugar boats used to moor centuries ago so there's some interesting artifacts with critters living in them.

Down in South Maui, we dove at Wailea Beach. It's in among several big resorts but there's public access. Midweek in the morning there was also no parking. So we dropped our gear and sat along the road for about 20min. waiting for someone to leave. The beach is shared by the resort guests and also there's public access for joggers etc. Decent dive, not the best. It's pretty good out by the point, there's some lava formations in the water that were interesting.

Quote from Shorediving.com:

This is the place to go if you want to see the otherwise rare lagoon triggerfish

We did see some big puffers.

Black Rock is supposed to be decent also. But it's crowded as the Sheraton is there. You park in the adjacent public lot and walk to the entry. I've been there but not diving.

There's some sort of public access law on Maui so most dive sites generally have public parking on-site or nearby. Even when the waterfront is all resorts. The link to shorediving.com above spells out most of them - some even have pictures of the site, entrance etc.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Down in South Maui, we dove at Wailea Beach. It's in among several big resorts but there's public access. Midweek in the morning there was also no parking. So we dropped our gear and sat along the road for about 20min. waiting for someone to leave. The beach is shared by the resort guests and also there's public access for joggers etc. Decent dive, not the best. It's pretty good out by the point, there's some lava formations in the water that were interesting. There's one species of trigger found nowhere else there but we didn't see any. We did see a bunch of pipefish and some big puffers.

If you discovered a species of triggerfish that is only found in the State of Hawaii you would be able to name it. There are no endemic triggerfish in Hawaii (found only in Hawaii), much less a triggerfish species only found at Wailea Point.

Triggerfishes

With regards to pipefish, I'm pretty sure I corrected you before; pipefish are a member of the seahorse family and the endemic Baldwin's (redstripe) attains 4 inches, while the slightly more common bluestripe rarely reaches 3 inches. In thousands of shore dives in Wailea I have never seen bunches, and I know where to look.

Pipefishes & Seahorses, Family Syngnathidae

Cornetfish and trumpetfish are common at all Wailea shore dives, I'm guessing the cornetfish, that can attain 4 feet in length (maybe more) are what we agreed before you had seen.

Trumpetfish, Family Aulostomidae & Cornetfish, Family Fistulariidae

Needlefish are another possibility for your misidentification; similar looking to young cornetfish, but always right at the surface. From a boat this is what many people call flying fish in Hawaii. There have been fatalities from boaters being hit by adult needlefish skipping/gliding away from predators.

Needlefishes, Family Belonidae & Halfbeaks, Family Hemirhamphidae

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

The other place I considered was Honolua Bay. Is there a drop off for gears, since you have to park near the road?

There is not really any gain from dropping gear off, 25-50 feet closer to the trail from your parking spot. Gear up at your vehicle and pretend you are in boot camp! The walk back is the real test!

Google maps puts the distance from trail head to shore line at 1,400' as the myna flies. See where the dirt road hits the Hwy as far from the ocean as possible, where it says Honoapi'ilaniHwy; the bolded i is where the trail head is.

 

[rromero2]

There is not really any gain from dropping gear off, 25-50 feet closer to the trail from your parking spot. Gear up at your vehicle and pretend you are in boot camp! The walk back is the real test!

Google maps puts the distance from trail head to shore line at 1,400' as the myna flies. See where the dirt road hits the Hwy as far from the ocean as possible, where it says Honoapi'ilaniHwy; the bolded i is where the trail head is.

On google map, this looks like a short hike, but lots of trees around the path to the beach. Hauling gear makes the dive more rewarding I think, or not.....

How about visibility on the shore dives, what can I expect since I take pictures underwater.

 

[Grover48]

I agree Mala Wharf is a great shore dive. Lots of structure and lots of sealife.

I dove with Maui diving: Scuba Dive Hawaii Maui scuba Dive Center, Boat Trips,tours,SCUBA ACTIVITIES,on Maui Molokini and lanai,Boat,SCUBA Rentals,SCUBA CERTIFICATION CLASS,ACTIVITIES Turtle,Manta Ray ,Shark ,cave Dive,on Maui Molokini and lanai with Maui Diving SCUBA Center

We even did a shore dive with scooters to see the Mantas. Not a fancy place but good value.