Oside Jimc
Contributor
Just returned from a lovely 11 days on Maui, man I love this place. Really a fine trip, only downside was my diving was cut short a little by a cold. Still I got in 1 day of shor diving and 4 days of boat diving.
On past trips I have dove with Maui Dreams, Ed Robinsons, and Mike Severns and while all were adequate, none were quite right for me. So this trip I decided to try B&B, I had met Brad last year at his shop and was impressed with his customer service so this year I book with him, great decision!
For our first day of diving I took my buddy to Ulua beach for shore dives to knock his rust off since he is pretty much a die-hard warm water only diver. Very nice dives, got Tom's weighting down so the next morning we were ready for the boat!
Got to the boat, set up our gear, then a quick 15 minute run to Molokini and prefect conditions! First dive was reef's end (my favorite!), such a cool dive, sharks, BIG Ulua, and the usual life galore. 45 minutes later we were back on board for pineapple and chocolate chip cookies. Next we ran over to White Rock, a nice long fun dive exploring the reef, lots of nice life, including the biggest octo I've even seen in Hawaii, way cool! unfortunatly since I forgot to buy film I was just watching, not taking pictures (really not such a bad thing).
Second day I was ready to shoot, so back to the boat, but boy conditions had taken a turn! We were greated at the ramp by the sound of waves crashing on the breakwater, nothing big, but enough to screw of diving near shore. Out at Molokini the wind chop was up and a current was building. We did Reef's End again and it was obvious things were different. The sharks and Ulua were on the prown enjoying the moving buffet created by the current, and this time several nice Grey's had joined the white tips, but due to the current we pretty much stayed inside the crater. For our second dive Brad decided that the waves on the beach and the ripping current made a drift on the outside of the crater the best choice. This was one of my favorite dives of the trip, the current reminded me of Cozumel, just the occasional flip of the fin to maintain orientation, but no real work required to swim, just don't miss that shot because once you few by it was GONE! But in the end I got a lot of nice shots, here are some of my favorites:
A BIG Ulua hunting in the early morning
He needs no introduction
Cleaner Station Action:
Cool!
These guys were hunting with a Moray:
After a day off to take friends / family to Hana it was back to the boat. Again we started at Molokini, again shark city, lots of white tips cruising the reef, this is so much fun! Much better that watching them sleeping in caves. For our second dive we went to check out the St. Anthony (65' fishing boat suck as artifical reef), this was just a plain old fun dive, exploring the wreck, frogfish, turtles, and lots of fish. I should have had some GREAT shots from these dives, but alas something went wrong (I suspect operator error
) so I got a call from Long's to tell me both rolls were blank, damned!
So for the last day Brad lent me one of his digitals, well to sum it up: Oh Crap, my Nikonos has taken it's last dive with me. We started back at Molokini and conditions has finally improved so we dove the "Shark Condos" for our first dive, only thing, only one small grey was home, of course I has seen so many that it was no biggie. I got to spend the dive experimenting with the digital, I can tell the shutter lag thing is going to take some getting used to, got lots of fish butt pictures, but a few keepers too, and a cool swim-by video from a very stout Ulua:
Ulua At Molokini on Vimeo
Second dive was a drift dive Red Hill, another fun dive. Lots of nice life and a few Turtles. and more chances to try to digital.
Pictures from last day:
Did I mention that the water at Molokini is clear?
Froggie Fish:
Almost Fish Butt:
This guy seems pissed:
Sadly I didn't realize it but the sore throat I was developing spelled the end of my diving. We had planned on shore diving the West side, so I guess Mala Warf, Holoula Bay, and my often planned, never executed night dive at Black Rock will have to wait for another trip.
I can't say enough about the service I received from B&B. Brad and his lovely wife went out of their way to make sure we had a great trip. They mixed up the sites as well as conditions allowed, and are just plain unpretensious NICE people as ae all their employees. Dave was the best divemaster ever and took great care of us in the water (and keeping a sharp eye on my less experienced buddy).
I really like their early departures, check-in at 5:45 got usd in the water for the first dive early enough to catch the reef waking up, but still plenty of light to see everything, then get back to the Kihei boat ramp by 9:30-10:15, prefect for me since my wife could get up, eat breakfast, go for her morning run, then meet back at the condo for a full day of beachs & exploring.
So I have to give B&B 2 thumbs up, prefect for me and my style of diving, can't wait to get back and dive with them again, glad it's only a week!
On past trips I have dove with Maui Dreams, Ed Robinsons, and Mike Severns and while all were adequate, none were quite right for me. So this trip I decided to try B&B, I had met Brad last year at his shop and was impressed with his customer service so this year I book with him, great decision!
For our first day of diving I took my buddy to Ulua beach for shore dives to knock his rust off since he is pretty much a die-hard warm water only diver. Very nice dives, got Tom's weighting down so the next morning we were ready for the boat!
Got to the boat, set up our gear, then a quick 15 minute run to Molokini and prefect conditions! First dive was reef's end (my favorite!), such a cool dive, sharks, BIG Ulua, and the usual life galore. 45 minutes later we were back on board for pineapple and chocolate chip cookies. Next we ran over to White Rock, a nice long fun dive exploring the reef, lots of nice life, including the biggest octo I've even seen in Hawaii, way cool! unfortunatly since I forgot to buy film I was just watching, not taking pictures (really not such a bad thing).
Second day I was ready to shoot, so back to the boat, but boy conditions had taken a turn! We were greated at the ramp by the sound of waves crashing on the breakwater, nothing big, but enough to screw of diving near shore. Out at Molokini the wind chop was up and a current was building. We did Reef's End again and it was obvious things were different. The sharks and Ulua were on the prown enjoying the moving buffet created by the current, and this time several nice Grey's had joined the white tips, but due to the current we pretty much stayed inside the crater. For our second dive Brad decided that the waves on the beach and the ripping current made a drift on the outside of the crater the best choice. This was one of my favorite dives of the trip, the current reminded me of Cozumel, just the occasional flip of the fin to maintain orientation, but no real work required to swim, just don't miss that shot because once you few by it was GONE! But in the end I got a lot of nice shots, here are some of my favorites:
A BIG Ulua hunting in the early morning
He needs no introduction
Cleaner Station Action:
Cool!
These guys were hunting with a Moray:
After a day off to take friends / family to Hana it was back to the boat. Again we started at Molokini, again shark city, lots of white tips cruising the reef, this is so much fun! Much better that watching them sleeping in caves. For our second dive we went to check out the St. Anthony (65' fishing boat suck as artifical reef), this was just a plain old fun dive, exploring the wreck, frogfish, turtles, and lots of fish. I should have had some GREAT shots from these dives, but alas something went wrong (I suspect operator error
) so I got a call from Long's to tell me both rolls were blank, damned!So for the last day Brad lent me one of his digitals, well to sum it up: Oh Crap, my Nikonos has taken it's last dive with me. We started back at Molokini and conditions has finally improved so we dove the "Shark Condos" for our first dive, only thing, only one small grey was home, of course I has seen so many that it was no biggie. I got to spend the dive experimenting with the digital, I can tell the shutter lag thing is going to take some getting used to, got lots of fish butt pictures, but a few keepers too, and a cool swim-by video from a very stout Ulua:
Ulua At Molokini on Vimeo
Second dive was a drift dive Red Hill, another fun dive. Lots of nice life and a few Turtles. and more chances to try to digital.
Pictures from last day:
Did I mention that the water at Molokini is clear?
Froggie Fish:
Almost Fish Butt:
This guy seems pissed:
Sadly I didn't realize it but the sore throat I was developing spelled the end of my diving. We had planned on shore diving the West side, so I guess Mala Warf, Holoula Bay, and my often planned, never executed night dive at Black Rock will have to wait for another trip.
I can't say enough about the service I received from B&B. Brad and his lovely wife went out of their way to make sure we had a great trip. They mixed up the sites as well as conditions allowed, and are just plain unpretensious NICE people as ae all their employees. Dave was the best divemaster ever and took great care of us in the water (and keeping a sharp eye on my less experienced buddy).
I really like their early departures, check-in at 5:45 got usd in the water for the first dive early enough to catch the reef waking up, but still plenty of light to see everything, then get back to the Kihei boat ramp by 9:30-10:15, prefect for me since my wife could get up, eat breakfast, go for her morning run, then meet back at the condo for a full day of beachs & exploring.
So I have to give B&B 2 thumbs up, prefect for me and my style of diving, can't wait to get back and dive with them again, glad it's only a week!
Isn't it fabulous when you find just the perfect operator that totally clicks for you?? I have come to the point where I believe that is the key...when you have a choice of a bunch of excellent operators, it's a matter of finding the one that matches YOU, with that one becoming the "best" for you.
