First Time Diving Hawaii Help

[jjmochi]

Hi!

We're visiting Hawaii next February and will be going to Maui, Kauai, and Big Island. I'm thinking of doing 3 days of diving, 1 to see the Lanai cathedrals leaving from Lahaina in Maui, 1 to dive the Molokini backwall in Maui, and 1 to dive the manta and pelagic magic night dives in Kona.

From what I've read so far I am leaning toward Extended Horizons for the Lanai trip, Ed Robinson's for Molokini backwall, and Big Island Divers for manta/pelagic magic dives. We like small dive groups and am pretty good with air consumption so want to avoid having to go early up b/c someone else in the group is out - are these the best shops for our needs?

Are there any other sites that you would consider "must-dives" in Feb? We've dived in Thailand, Bali/Gili islands/Nusa islands, and Utila/Roatan thus far. Given cost of diving in Hawaii is so much more expensive, I want to limit to just seeing things I can't see anywhere else (i.e. the manta night dive). Lahaina divers has a hammerhead shark dive in Molokai - is that recommended in winter? I looked into Niihau also but it looks like you can only go during certain windows?

We have our advanced open water cert and 19 logged dives + 3 unlogged from DSD. I know there may be strong currents and Ed Robinson requires 25 min dives. Drift diving isn't one of the adventure dives we picked for our AOW. We had experienced pretty strong currents before on a couple of dives but nothing where we had to hold on to rocks or swim out of a down current - do we need more experience or you think we'll be ok?

Lastly, do I need a 7mm in Feb? I used a 5mm in Roatan last month and was cold when we swam into the cold swells. Will my 5mm plus a hooded vest be enough or should I get a 7mm+vest?

Thanks!

 

[jonhall]

Not trying to change your mind here but something to think about as you have plenty of time to plan and get other suggestions. We did the Manta Night experience as a snorkel as two in our group were non divers and after experiencing it, I thought to myself, “What’s the difference diving or snorkeling?” As far as the Mantas are concerned, you see the same thing: you either see them swimming down to you or up to you. At the surface, you can see them come from the depths right up to you and barrel roll back towards the bottom, sometimes brushing against your body. I believe we saw the same thing as the divers kneeling on the bottom who paid a little more for the scuba experience. Both my buddy and I agreed that if we were paying for a scuba dive, we wanted to actually move. There are tons of snorkelers who do the manta snorkel from several dive ops; not as many divers, so less crowded on the bottom. We used Jack’s Diving Locker while in Kona.

We were in Kona in the month of February and the water temp was around 75º F. We used 3mm for the manta snorkel and for all of our dives and were fine. I believe Jack’s was using 3mm as there rentals and is what they provided for the manta snorkel.

 

[mcohen1021]

My .02 cents:

1. The hammerhead dive to Molokai is badass, and I felt Lahaina Divers did a GREAT job. Nice big comfortable boat suited for the potential rough channel crossing. http://www.lahainadivers.com/ Best $200 dive day I can remember.

2. Ed Robinsons, I have used 2x. Really like Captain Bird. DMs Dave and Francisco always kept me laughing. They are the ones that filmed the great white shark @ Molokini… Backside is a cool dive as is the front. I would dive with Ed Robinson’s again.

3. Hawaii’s waters are chilly, and while I have never dove in Roatan (in Feb), I have a hard time believing it could be as cold as Hawaii @77. My last Hawaii Trip I think was in October, I used a 3/2 shorty and wished I’d have a 3/2 full. I remember being colder top side than underwater however.

I own this jacket and use it for scuba trips and even more often for after I waterski in the spring / fall... Right over the top of my wetsuit / lifejacket

Hyperflex Playa 2 mm Neoprene Hooded Jackets

4. Your best bet for diving Maui, I would stay in a condo in Kihei. Much more affordable than a hotel, great local restaurants, you can DIY eat healthier and be minutes away from the boat ramp where all the scuba boats take off from.

 

[jameseg]

jjmochi, I think you should be fine with a 5mm plus hooded vest. I'm a cold water wimp and was only slightly cold this January in Kauai with an older 5mm with a 1.5mm shirt underneath. The hood makes a big difference.

I've done the Kona manta dive twice, both times on scuba. You do stay in one place as jonhall noted, but personally I thought the experience was amazing and was happy to be on scuba. I will say that the first dive you do (dusk dive on the same location) is pretty boring...unless you have a Hawaiian monk seal visit as we did one of our two times out there. Otherwise, there's some eels and not much else.

My biggest recommendation is to plan your diving at the front end of each island stop, so you can make up dives if the swell kicks up, which is common that time of year. We lost a couple days of diving in Kona a few years ago because of that.

James

 

[diversteve]

Ni'ihau will be shut down in Feb. unless they get an exceptional day - even then only Bubbles Below will try it.

Likely so will Tunnels since it's on the north shore also.

South side diving should be largely unaffected - a good shore dive is Koloa Landing. One of the signature boat dives is Sheraton Caverns - a series of collapsed lava tubes where big turtles live. The shops with boats are mostly based in the Poipu area or BB which is near Port Allen so rent a place on the south sde to save a lot of driving time.

Check with Lahaina Divers about the Molokai Hammerheads if of interest - I've heard that's more likely to occur in spring/summer - it's a rough crossing even on their big boats and it's a blue-water advanced dive.

Nice thing about Maui is that many of the beaches are also good to excellent shallow shore dives - Black Rock being a popular choice. Also anything around Makena Landing to the south - there's several sites nearby.
Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: Maui, Hawaiian Islands

I on't think Jack's Diving does Pelagic Magic on the same trip as the Manta Night dive so BID might be a better choice for that.Check with Kona Honu also - all the boats leave from the same harbor just north of Kona/Kailua and are about the same size/diver count so pick what works best,

Nothing personal but "Advanced" with 19 dives may mean you'll have some difficulty if you try any of the further west Lanai drift dives - current there can be ripping and some are basically bottomless.

You should be able to do the Molokini Backwall but it can often be a live drop/pickup so make sure you listen to that part of the briefing - often you end up too close to shore for the boat to safely get you so you;ll have to swim out to meet it. There's no hard bottom there either - it's about 300' down.

Less so on the Big Island since many of the entries reqquire you to pick your way over the lava at the waterline - although Kona/Kailua pier is an easy entry with a relatively short carry as long as the hotel guard will let you drop gear. Some of the other carries are pretty long and often over unstable old lava.
Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: The Big Island, Hawaiian Islands