humanFish:
aloha,
I'll be going to both Lanai and Maui next month. I've got a couple questions for anyone who might be able to answer:
1) I'm staying in Lahaina - What operators are the best? I'd like to avoid cattle boats.
2) Anyone have any information on shore diving in Lanai?
3) How are water temps and what thermal protection should I consider?
Thanks,
I'll be sure to post a trip report when I get back. Thanks for any information you might be able to provide...
aloha
Hi humanfish,
We were just in Maui this weekend for a friend's wedding. We did a trip with Extended Horizons to Lanai. It was great! There were 12 passengers (including 2 snorkeling wives). The first dive was at First Cathedral, which is really cool because you go in this cave with a bunch of holes in the ceiling and walls which let light in and it looks like stained glass. The second dive was at Sergeant Major, which had a lot of the namesake fish there, and a turtle hiding under a ledge. The dive briefing beforehand was adequate in terms of safety discussion and they showed pictures of fish we were likely to see. Everyone had to follow the DM, who would periodically ask everyone their PSI and would send people up the line when they were getting close to 500. During the dive DM Gwen pointed out some rare fish like bandit angelfish and black longnose butterfly fish. The captain Eric and other DM Warren were friendly. Warren offered to take UW pictures for $55/roll. One couple signed up for that. I wonder whether that would detract from his leading the dive for others, though. They served donuts in the morning and capri suns, fruit and bagels after the first dive. On the way back we saw lots of whales, including a group of at least 5 spouting together! Great trip, I would recommend them. The only minor negative things were that they had both AL 72 and 80's but gave us a little bit of a hassle when we said we wanted the larger tanks (although they ended up giving the 80's to us in the end), and at the end of the dive they took people's fins but didn't really stay to help people up the ladder (I could see some people might have trouble if the swells were larger). They did set up gear and change out tanks and rinse at the end, though. The trip is $129, plus $10 if you need gear. Almost all the divers had their own gear but they brought extra wetsuits and hoods in case people wanted some. I tried out one of their beanies and it worked well. I stayed warm in a 3 mm Henderson jumpsuit plus a 3 mm core warmer. My husband had just the 3mm fullsuit and no hood. Several others had layers (shortie plus jacket, etc.) Temp was 77 degrees, vis 80 on first dive, 60 on second. Take Dramamine if you're prone to seasickness; it's about a 30 min boat ride.
The next day we went shore diving off Black Rock. We were staying at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel so all we had to do was walk down the beach with our gear in a backpack. We rented tanks and wts from the Sheraton kiosk which is right next to Black Rock. Only reason to do that is the convenience of not having to lug tanks and weights back and forth. It's expensive (about $24 pp for tanks/wts), and they only have AL 63's (!). Their equipment is mediocre (we rented gear from them last time we went a year ago). Boy am I glad we have our own equipment now! It makes the dives much more fun. I think they cater to the introductory dive market. There was an instructor there taking out a father-son pair doing their last checkout OW dive, and a woman who came with nothing but a mask but who was bragging about how she owned her own equipment and knew all these dive shop staff at home. Well, we were out before the group and we saw them come up, and then whiz back past us several minutes later. Apparently the woman panicked or something and they all had to go back. Our dive was awesome. Vis and conditions were great (it gets much clearer once you round the point). We saw a whitetip reef shark (saw him both on the way out and back) and lots of turtles and fish. We mentioned the shark to the group post-dive (they hadn't seen it) and the instructor said sharks are only sighted at Black Rock once or twice a year. So we were lucky! The current was coming from the north, which helped push us to shore on the way back (last time the current was going away from the beach and we had a hard time swimming back, that was a little nerve-wracking because it was our first independent dive). Be careful of the current there. Two days before, a swimmer drowned at Black Rock and a diver drowned at the Westin Maui as well. But other than occasional current, it's a very easy dive--all you have to do is follow the rock out and back. Didn't get to do a night dive there this time, but I want to do it next time we visit.
As far as shore diving on Lanai, a year ago we went on a Trilogy catamaran trip to Lanai. This is mainly a snorkeling/beach trip; they go to Hulopoe beach (next to the Manele Bay resort). We had the option of doing a shore dive off the beach for an extra charge. We did the dive, but frankly it was so-so, shallow dive, vis wasn't that great (for Hawaii) and not much to see. The trip itself was nice though, they serve a full hot lunch buffet and you can hang out on the beach or snorkel. Somewhat expensive. You could consider it esp. if you're going with a non-diver, but if you're looking for diving go with EH.
Oh, if you're looking to dive Molokini, go out of Kihei with Mike Severns. We've gone with them twice before and they are a first-class dive op. Extensive briefings and pointing out marine life. They usually start the first dive in the center of Molokini-I loved the garden eel colony. The second dive was along the back wall once, and at St. Anthony's wreck the other time. I liked that site because giant turtles live on the wreck, and we saw a (non-indigenous) batfish.
Hope this helps, PM me if you have any other questions.
Capybara
