Little dive shop at Kaanapali Beach Club (aka Embassy Suites)

[AZjohn]

Aloha,

Does anyone know the name or number of a little dive/snorkel hut set up at the Kaanapali Beach Club on Maui? We own a timeshare there and I did an intro dive last February with them (the start of the addiction). Returning this next February and now my buddy and I got our OW certifications and would like to see about doing some shore dives using their tanks/weights.

Hoping for just an informal arrangement as we plan on just laying out on the beach during the days with our wife's and when the urge hits we can just grab a tank and go dive for an hour then join up with them back on the beach (no traveling required).
I'm sure in addition my buddy and I will want to take a couple boat dives without our beautiful brides but sure would be convenient to do additional dives from the beach.

Thanks,
John

 

[KrisB]

It would probably be a safe bet to say that there's better than 50/50 odds it's 5-Star Scuba.

Your best solution: call the concierge desk at the hotel/condo.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

You'll find it's pretty expensive to do anything with them, if that's a concern. I've dove that beach when staying there a couple of times, just follow the narrow channel out. While we never had much vis there on one dive we came across more reef sharks than we could count. It was amazing. Another time it was tons of turtles. But usually it was just about getting wet.

We took two hours to buy one of those timeshares at the embassey and 3 years to sell it. Hope you enjoy it more than we did.

 

[KrisB]

You'll find it's pretty expensive to do anything with them, if that's a concern. I've dove that beach when staying there a couple of times, just follow the narrow channel out. While we never had much vis there on one dive we came across more reef sharks than we could count. It was amazing. Another time it was tons of turtles. But usually it was just about getting wet.

We took two hours to buy one of those timeshares at the embassey and 3 years to sell it. Hope you enjoy it more than we did.

Al's right.

Also -- I don't know if you're expecting to grab tanks and go, or want a guided dive... if the former, I wouldn't hold my hopes up. The scuba concessions at these places aren't typically set up to rent tanks or other gear, unless it's with a guided tour.

 

[k8brandt]

That would be Tiny Bubbles Scuba? They were fine, but yes a wee bit expensive. We rented tanks from Pacific Divers off Dickenson Street in Lahaina,She was very reasonable.

When you do your shore dive off the resort, go through the channel and turn south. There was a turtle cleaning station a short swim. Of course if you go north, you will see turtles also.

 

[AZjohn]

Thank you everyone for their inputs.

Took KrisB suggestion and called the resort and got transfer to the little shop (still don't know the name) and talked with a guy named Tom. No tanks available for rent, just escorted dives available that come with tanks. He suggested just getting them at Maui Dive shop.

Had my diving buddy come over to try some of his new gear in my swimming pool. He said we should just drive to mile post XX and do some shore diving there and maybe next to the boat launch in Lehina. I said we have no experience diving from shore at those spots, we only did an intro dive there off the boat.

So, we have some further discussions ahead of us but will wait until we have our instructor with us before we continue.
Thanks again,
John

 

[diversteve]

"next to the boat launch in Lahaina" is probably Mala Wharf. Pacific Dive in Lahaina does shore diving in the West Maui area. We did an escorted scooter dive with them off Old Airport Beach that was a lot of fun.

There are a lot of options with mostly easy entries (off the beach) all up and down the coast. Here's a website with details and pictures: Shore Diving Site Listing for: Maui, Hawaiian Islands

A close site would be Black Rock at the Sheraton. It's in Kaanapali also - I believe just [-]north[/-] south of you.

 

[AZjohn]

Thanks Steve!
Just want to make sure we have easy access in/out. My experiance at Kaanapali Beach club is that the "channel" others have refered to was very easy going out. The intro guide we used had us swim back the same way and the current was really tough to swim against. We were all totally exhausted trying to get back to shore and that really sucked. Have no idea why we were forced to swim back against the rip tide??? I hope to avaid this next time.
John

 

[DiveMaven]

I'd highly recommend diving Black Rock as well, but it's south of the Embassy and you'd definitely have to drive. The Sheridan has a watersports kiosk that rents AL64 tanks for like $15 so if you don't want to hike tanks in (like me!), you can definitely get them there. Be aware that you'd want to go early to make sure tanks are available though. Maui Dive Shop has a location at Whaler's Village, which is close to the Sheraton so you can get tanks there as wel.

 

[diversteve]

Thanks Steve!
Just want to make sure we have easy access in/out. My experiance at Kaanapali Beach club is that the "channel" others have refered to was very easy going out. The intro guide we used had us swim back the same way and the current was really tough to swim against. We were all totally exhausted trying to get back to shore and that really sucked. Have no idea why we were forced to swim back against the rip tide??? I hope to avaid this next time.
John

The best way to avoid that problem...LOL (quoting myself)

We did an escorted scooter dive with them off Old Airport Beach.