Maui vs. Big Island for first trip to HI

[andrethediver]

Need advice on selecting destination for a first (diving) trip to the islands, selecting between Maui and Big Island. We won't have enough time to cover both in 7 full days. We are planning to make as many boat dives as we can manage and perhaps do some shore diving as well. Some sightseeing during surface intervals. Particularly interested in seeing mantas, sharks, whatever else you don't get to see much in the Caribbean. Any input is appreciated!

 

[grantwiscour]

The Big Island is known for Manta dives.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

I'm biased, but I'd recommend the Big Island for diving and sightseeing. Due to elevation changes, it is best to plan sightseeing on non-diving days. Also, the Big Island is MUCH larger than the other islands in the chain, and geologically youngest. If you are looking for miles of white sand beaches, you'll be happier on the other islands. Also, due to the size of the island, you will not be able to see ALL of it in one week, especially if you plan to dive more than one day. But you can, with a little planning, see a lot of really cool stuff!

Have fun with whatever you decide to do.

Best wishes.

 

[friscuba]

The Big Island offers both good boat and shore diving. There's a decent chance of mantas here, even on the day dives, and the night dives seem to succeed about 90% of the time, year round, much better than that lately. I've actually seen more sharks off Molokini the times I've dove there than we typically see on the Big Island though. This week's charters we've seen at least one manta or eagle ray on every dive, I was up topside captaining, but our divers lucked into a tiger shark yesterday.... I've got a couple thousand working dives and have only seen two, one of my customers was on her first post-certification dive and saw it... she's ahead of schedule.

 

[DiveMaven]

Big Island if you want to be guaranteed to see Mantas.

 

[frostfire]

We are doing week1 on Maui and week 2 on the Big Island in June. My DD is finally old enough for her jr PADI. She's done, bubblemaker, seal team, and 3x the resort course in the last 3 years.

 

[spoolin01]

As much as I think the Big Island wins hands down for shore diving, with the chance to dive Molokai, Lanai, and Molokini by boat, I might pick Maui for a first visit. The few boat sites I've seen on Maui proper were nothing much, but if you can swing most of your dives on the outer islands in Maui County, that would change things. I'd call it a toss-up for sightseeing. I believe you'll see more and bigger turtles on Maui, and probably more likelihood of white tip reef sharks, though the BI has those as well. They see mantas by day on Maui but I don't know how reliable it is, compared to the BI where it's almost guaranteed on the night dive. I believe it's also true you'll see quite a bit more and bigger fish life on the BI. At the very least, you'll *see* more of what's there

I forgot to mention dolphins, which are commonly seen along the Kona coast, and with a few days to try, you can almost assure a chance to swim with them at one of a handful of sites. There are also charters that chase them. I don't know the prospects on Maui.

 

[andrethediver]

Thanks all for your opinions. Given unusual expense of boat diving at either island can someone please elaborate on shore diving opportunities on BI? Any chance of reaching sites visited by Kona Agressor from the shore? And in reference to diving on Molokai and Lanai - is the ferry a reliable way to reach either one of the islands and how long is the trip? Thanks.

 

[friscuba]

A couple of thoughts on shorediving the Big Island- One of the things that makes Kona side shore diving so good is the lack of rivers, streams, soil and relative lack of sand. Rain doesn't effect the diving in all but the craziest circumstances. I've flown into Maui and seen a red ring around the island, in Kona it can dump 2-3 inches of rain for two days straight (which is a rare event, generally the other islands or the Hilo side of the Big Island take the brunt of the rainfall much of the time) and you can go just about anywhere and step into 100' plus viz if surf isn't an issue. The relative lack of sand makes for the need for more discerning choices of entries and exits, but it often means zip/nada for a surface swim, you step off the rocks and you are on a reef. In either case, high surf can effect getting into the water when it comes to shore dives, in Kona it can go from impossible to fantastic overnight once the surf drops. Boat operators in either Kona or Maui usually should be able pick their sites to max out viz and water conditions when the shorediving's questionable.

If you're only here for a week, there's no real need to seek out "Aggressor" sites. Many them you won't be able to reach, a few of them you could reach (Thalassamania has talked about South Point on occasion, one can drive down to Manuka in an hour of offroad driving with a 4wd vehicle and such), but there's no real guarantee that just because the Aggressor goes there it's a "better" site... the coast is loaded with good sites, the day boats just don't go as far, the Aggressor doesn't even go north of the Kona airport and there's loads of great diving to the north. You'll be able to find lots of very good diving with a reasonable drive time .

Spoolin mentioned the turtles, they're definitely bigger on Maui, and if you've got non-divers in the group who's idea of a vacation is beach after beach, Maui offers more beaches with less travel times in that regard.

 

[andrethediver]

Thanks for the information. We are pretty much leaning towards BI at this point in either case - we are both divers and although some sandy beaches would be nice we are somewhat accustomed to rocky entries. We are not particularly interested in turtles either - we get a lot of those in the Caribbean and this being our first time in the Pacific it would be nice to see something else. Can you recommend any good shore diving sites (easy entry, absence of rip currents, variety of the marine life, etfc) around Kona? Thanks!