Anyone get certified in Maui?

[Molelisa]

We leave in two weeks for Maui. My 13 year old son and I are going to go for it and get certified. We tried an intro dive last year and loved it! I was wondering if anyone received their certification on Maui, and if so, could you suggest some companies. After doing some searches on the net, I found there are at least 20 different shops and/or individuals offering certification. I'd like to get some recommendations on instructors--such as who is exceptional as well as who to avoid.

Thanks for the advice!

Li

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

B & B Scuba is a very good shop. Quite often they'll do a couple of the dives off their boat for no extra charge. They're great.

My wife was certified by South Pacific Dive School which is just one man named Billy. I have heard one person say they ended up doing everything through B &B anyway but my wife loved Billy.

The main thing is you'll have a blast. After you get your ticket dive as much as you can. Be safe, stay within your limits but enjoy.

If you go with B & B I can almost assure you that you'll be diving Molokini as part of the package.

 

[Charlie99]

If you are staying in West Maui (Lahaina/Kaanapali/Kahana...) then I recommend Pacific Dive, on Dickenson Street in Lahaina.

 

[SDJ]

If you're in Kihei area then i would recommend B&B Scuba. Great service and instruction.

Enjoy the dive,
Jason

 

[adjuster-jd]

I did my advanced class with Maui Diving Scuba Center on Papalaua St. in Lahaina. We site is www.mauidiving.com
The do lots of certifications and are relatively cheap. I can't say that my advanced course with the best possible, but the instructor I had (Mike) is very experienced.
They are at least worth checking out.
I think they charge $125 for certifications...

Enjoy..

 

[skeeve]

Li,

First of all, congratulations to both you and your son on deciding to take the plunge and get your certification. I am so jealous of him. I didn't get certified until last year (I'm 35).

I know it's short notice, but I definitely recommend buying at least one of the PADI Open Water Diver books and video from any local PADI dive shop. I encourage both of you to review the material as much as you possibly can before your trip.

After all, you're going on vacation, and vacations aren't supposed to be filled with too much studying and academics. So do as much reading and complete as many knowledge reviews as you can stand before your vacation so that when it comes time for you to read about them in class and do your homework, you will at least have some familiarity with the subject matter.

Have fun in Maui and good luck on your certification!

-Eric

 

[813Diver]

I'd recommend Kapalua Dive Co. if you're staying in West Maui. They are kind of expensive though...give them a call and see if they'd give you a discount for two people. If you do it through them, make sure to request Paul.

You will probably get yourselves a private class and the diving is all pretty easy shore diving in Kapalua Bay. IMO, learning the skills in an OW class should be done in nice, sheltered conditions where you don't have to worry about boat procedures, strong currents, etc.

Take the boat trip to Molokini AFTER you get certified so you can spend more time cruising around looking at the marine life instead of wasting your air doing skills at the bottom.

Pacific Dive is a good place too, it's in Lahaina. Don't do it (or anything) through the Maui Dive Shop.

 

[adjuster-jd]

What's wrong with Maui Dive Shop? I've done several snorkel trips with them, and did an intro dive with them last year and had great experiences on both.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

I did two trips with the Maui Dive Shop. One was on their big boat to Lanai. The dive to the cathedrals was fine but to be honest there were a lot of divers and few dive leaders. But regardless of that I felt that I didn't want my hand held as much as the MDS does. Plus I have an air clamp on my BC. I asked them if they really knew how to use it and was laughed at. When I picked up my BC the tank slipped out. No more laughing?

The second dive at Lanai wasn't so great. They couldn't find the spot they wanted to dive on so they made a big deal about diving a new spot that they had never dove before.... what fun. Well it was murky and shallow and pretty much dead. We cruised over a very small reef forever and it was not a good dive at all.

Then we get back to port and they delay us for 10 minutes while every employee on the boat did a little presentation which was asking for tips.

We did a second 3 tank dive on one of their smaller boats and it was fine. The dive leader recognized that my wife and I are very experienced and allowed us a lot more freedom. He kept the group at 70 feet or so while my wife and I went over the edge to a bit over 100 feet.

They still did the presentation at the end of the dive but we felt they deserved a good tip on that one. We did not tip on the first dive.

They are safe and I'm sure usually will put you on a good dive location. I just preferred diving with B&B as they worked very hard to give you a good dive and if you are a slow breather, you can stay down til ya run low on air, unlike many other boats. We always felt we got our moneys worth with B&B.

Of course when you do a snorkle trip it's always fun. They just crawl up into the crater and let you snorkle your brains out. Usually they feed ya good to.

 

[813Diver]

Everything that they do is crowded. The boats are small and crowded and I don't think their staff is as good as some of the other operators. I did a couple shore dives with them several years ago and was not impressed at all.

Not to mention their prices....they wanted over $400 for an AOW class. That's just unreal. You have some other operators on the island doing them in the $250 range. Considering that for $400 you only got ONE boat trip, that's a rip off. Their rescue class was like $450. Plus you have to consider that their classes are more crowded than those at other operators.

They're just to commercialized for me. I'd rather stick with the operators that run good ships and maybe have one nice store. I noticed on my most recent trip there that they now rent Jeeps. I guess the diving/retail business isn't good enough for them so now they want to enter the rental car business. I think that most of their business is made up of new divers (or divers new to Maui) who don't know that anything better is out there.