Anyone get certified in Maui?

[Al Mialkovsky]

They are a money making business. We spent the entire month of may at the maui dive lodge. This is a two bedroom apartment above a garage behind the main Kihei store.

They have big plans in store for the area. They will have upwards of 15 units before long. They intend to put in a deep swiming pool and use the facility to train instructors. So you can do an all inclusive vacation with them eventually.

We enjoyed our stay there. I would prefer diving with B&B but our stay at the "lodge" was great. The lodging including unlimited tanks and we took advantage of that.

 

[rjens]

I second the recommendation from adjuster-jd. Last August I took my family of 5 kids (ages 13-20) to Maui and all 6 of us (mom stayed by the pool at the hotel) certified.

We also had Mike W as our instructor. He is very experienced, and great with kids.

They are a small shop, not to be confused by Maui Dive (which has several sites and is more of a Cert Mill). They generally only running 1 or 2 classes a day, each with a max of 8 students. The classes are at Airport Beach, a great beginning dive site, we saw green turtles, frog fish, eels, octopus, cone shells (don't touch) and tons of fish, urchins and coral. All dives are in the ocean, no pools. The skills are taught in a large sandy spot in about 15 feet that frequently has 2 or 3 classes running (from several schools).

The price is $125 per person for OW plus books (you would probably need 1 set at $45, we bought 2 since there were 6 of us). The $125 includes all gear (including wetsuits) for 3 days, two dives a day.

This is the typical day, You meet at the storefront 9am, you pick up your gear then head to the beach. You gear up, training (or refreshing) on equipment setup. Most classes are held in the shade on a lawn near the parking lot. Then a dive. About half the time underwater is on skills, then half following the instructor around working on trim and boyancy while enjoying the sceanary. Then back to the beach. More theory classes in the shade during the surface interval while you eat lunch (a sack lunch you brought). Then a second dive after lunch (similar to morning dive - half skills, half follow the leader. Then back to the beach, pack up, a short lesson, then back to the shop. You rinse the gear and you are on your way home (around 3pm). The last day you take the written cert test (all six of us scored 100%). The certification offered was PADI last august. I don't think they even sell gear, so there was absolutely no pressure to buy gear from them.

This is absolutely the best deal you will find anywere, but don't believe that this is a cheap experience. We felt very safe, well trained and taken care of. We have since been doing beach dives in Monterey, and doing fine. In case you can't tell we were very satisfied with our experience.

Here is their site Maui Diving

Good luck, and have a great time.

Rob

 

[Gilligan]

I live on Maui. The prior posts have given you some good info and tips. One thing to keep in mind about getting certified on Maui is that many of the dive shops and independent instructors do not have access to a pool for the confined water portion of the certification and use the ocean instead. Many hotels use their pools for scuba certs but are way more expensive. This should not be a problem, but in the event it may be, I want to share this with you in advance of your trip.

 

[Aquamel123]

I did my OW referral dives with Maui Dreams Dive Company in Kihei. Rachel was my instructor and she was both fun and very informative of the dive sites. She even took photos of me on my last dive for a nice memento at no extra charge!!

When I go back to Maui next year, my husband will be doing a referral OW cert with them, he was also impressed with their customer service and genuine friendliness.

I plan on doing some guided dives with them on my next trip to Maui as well.

Here's their link:
http://www.mauidreamsdiveco.com/enter.html

 

[dspbob]

Molelisa:

I just did my PADI referral OW certification with Maui Mermaid. 1-808-264-2445. Theresa Young is the Owner/DM. They speciaize with woman and family divers. I also recommend Shore dive for certification rather boat dive. Its not as rough as a boat ride and going with Shore dive off Airport beach at KAANAPOLI is the way to go. You will also see a lots of variety of fishes and turtle.

Bob

 

[KrisB]

I couldn't have said it better:

rjens once bubbled...
I second the recommendation from adjuster-jd. Last August I took my family of 5 kids (ages 13-20) to Maui and all 6 of us (mom stayed by the pool at the hotel) certified.

We also had Mike W as our instructor. He is very experienced, and great with kids.

They are a small shop, not to be confused by Maui Dive (which has several sites and is more of a Cert Mill). They generally only running 1 or 2 classes a day, each with a max of 8 students. The classes are at Airport Beach, a great beginning dive site, we saw green turtles, frog fish, eels, octopus, cone shells (don't touch) and tons of fish, urchins and coral. All dives are in the ocean, no pools. The skills are taught in a large sandy spot in about 15 feet that frequently has 2 or 3 classes running (from several schools).

The price is $125 per person for OW plus books (you would probably need 1 set at $45, we bought 2 since there were 6 of us). The $125 includes all gear (including wetsuits) for 3 days, two dives a day.

This is the typical day, You meet at the storefront 9am, you pick up your gear then head to the beach. You gear up, training (or refreshing) on equipment setup. Most classes are held in the shade on a lawn near the parking lot. Then a dive. About half the time underwater is on skills, then half following the instructor around working on trim and boyancy while enjoying the sceanary. Then back to the beach. More theory classes in the shade during the surface interval while you eat lunch (a sack lunch you brought). Then a second dive after lunch (similar to morning dive - half skills, half follow the leader. Then back to the beach, pack up, a short lesson, then back to the shop. You rinse the gear and you are on your way home (around 3pm). The last day you take the written cert test (all six of us scored 100%). The certification offered was PADI last august. I don't think they even sell gear, so there was absolutely no pressure to buy gear from them.

Here is their site Maui Diving

I took my certification through Maui Diving Scuba Center (their full name) in May/02 and it was awesome. My instructor (Dan) was an MSDT and had been for quite some time. The routine was pretty much described as above. One of the key things was that we were taught to do everything -- assembly of the unit right to cleaning it. I'm sure this is part of what helps them keep their costs down, but it was also beneficial to me as a student.

They do sell gear -- they are a US Divers (AquaLung/SeaQuest) and Suunto dealer. They don't push it too hard and don't require you to buy any gear, but it's there if you want to, and they'll offer killer deals on it to their students.

As for heading to Molokini, check out the Maui Diamond II: http://www.mauiscubatours.com/ -- great crew, small groups and awesome time. If you do this after your cert, you get to do an 80' dive around a different part of the reef than the uncerted (they do a 35' - 40' dive)

One thing to keep in mind: Maui works very hard on their referral programs. Any dive shop will book you with a trip to Molokini (or with a luau, if you want) but they get a kick-back for it -- it's always cheaper to get it from the source, if you can figure out who it is. I know that the Maui Diamond offers a 10% discount off their rates if you mention their web site.

As for Maui Dive Shop, I have three things to say: one, they apparently kill a couple of students each year (according to island rumour), two, their instructors are not necessarily bright enough to turn their headlights off (why were they on in the middle of the day?) when they go diving, and three, their instructors seem terribly inconsiderate and rude to others using the same site.

 

[NurseShark]

My hubby & I were certified in Maui through Maui Diving & our instructor was Dan. Routine was the same & Dan is very experienced as both a diver and an instructor. He has done everything from cave diving to running a dive salvage company. I highly recommend him as an instructor & many things you will learn from him are back-loaded or absorbed by just watching him (ie. playing underwater "volleyball" with a puff starfish without touching the bottom, & watching someone with perfect trim).

 

[adjuster-jd]

I too, wholeheartedly recommend this boat. They really pamper you. Nice folks for a range of divers from intro divers to advanced.
I was with an instructor (Mike W) on the boat and had a chance to watch the various other groups. The divemasters are very friendly and they even throw out some fishing lines on the way out and back from Molokini. They also had a dog which rode on the back of divemaster in the water during our surface interval...

They feed you well and the boat is well-equipped.
I don't know what they charge for this boat since my trip was part of my AOW course through Maui Diving.

Enjoy your trip...