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It may not be the cheapest, but if you are going to be diving in both South Maui and West Maui, the easiest is a 10 punch card for $40 from Maui Dive Shop. Each punch is good for a 24 hour rental of a tank with air fill, and you won't have to fill out paperwork each time.
Since Maui Dive Shop have multiple locations in both south and west Maui, it should be easy to swing by and pick up a filled tank on your way to whatever dive spot you've chosen that day.
I'm pretty sure a 10-punch from Maui Dreams is $30 (or $4 per fill, if you don't get 10)... according to their website (http://www.mauidreamsdiveco.com/) and I'd have to say they're likely among the best. Great group to deal with, too!
Most places are $4-$5 per single fill. The cheapest I've found is a 100 fill card from Pacific Dive - only $2 per fill then (but you better want to do a lot of diving on your vacation or have a very long vacation... 3 weeks at least to use up that many ) if you are on the west side, they do the fills for most of the ops around Lahaina/Kaanapali area, including the Maui Dive Shops.
Last time I was there B&B scuba was 50 cents cheaper than the MDS, I have no idea what they are now.
That was still true as of January, but the original poster said he would be diving in both south and west Maui. It doesn't take much time and driving distance to chew up 50 cents.
Originally Posted by Al Mialkovsky
OK are we talking fills or are we talking rentals?
The $40 card from Maui Dive Shop is for ten 24hr tank rentals of filled AL80s. $7 for rental without the bulk card.
At most shops you can also get cards for just air fills. Those are generally about $1/fill cheaper than tank rentals, but obviously they don't make sense for someone on island for just a week. (Even spending 4 months a year on Maui, I prefer to rent filled tanks at the dive shop 1/4 mile from my condo than to drive to the other end of Kihei to get tanks filled for a $1 less.)
Yeah, I'm thinking the $40 rental card from Maui Dive Shop will be the best bet. That'll give me several locations to pick up tanks from, and the price is good as well.
And heck, if you were checking out the Black Rock tank rental thread... MDS has a Whaler's Village location as well.
OK are we talking fills or are we talking rentals?
sorry I didn't clarify Al,
They all say "Fills" (assuming you own the tank) but in reality I've never seen them charge extra for using one of their tanks. So I guess if you annoy them they will charge you more, otherwise they just kind of overlook the tank ownership issue... I bought "fill" cards from Pacific Dive before I had my own tanks and they charged me the "fill" price. So take it for what that's worth... Often times in Hawaii you'll see a sign that reads "Prices may vary based upon customers attitude" it's meant in jest (usually) but at the same time there's a lot of truth to it.
Aloha, Tim
P.S. I also keep a MDS card in my wallet, just in case I need a last minute tank rental because they stay open till 9pm in some locations. (I've used about 1/2 the card already)