need some ideas

[tacman]

25th anniversary 6/08
Heading to the islands 1/09 2/09 or 3/09 which month would be best?
I know the probowl is in feb.
my wife does not dive so I will have to get a dive in when I can, she might snorkel.
We do not know which island yet. a 2 week stay we think.

any advise would be appreciated

Thanks

 

[Deep Q]

Happy Anniversary!
The beauty of the Islands is that there really is no "bad" time to come, and you will have the whales here during all those months. I suggest choosing the best time for you & deals etc...Those are "group" (company trips) months, so hotels will tend to be very busy or slow if in-between groups.
Have you been to Hawaii? If not, I think the ideal trip involves 2-3 days on Oahu, shopping, Waikiki, Arizona Memorial & Missouri, the North Shore etc...Then spend the remainder on an outer Island(s). I am partial to Kauai & Maui, but you can't go wrong.
Once you've chosen an Island & dates, get back on here and you will be able to get good advice on who & where to dive with. Good Luck & Aloha!

 

[grassyknoll]

my wife does not dive so I will have to get a dive in when I can, she might snorkel.

That was my probem too. I just got back from Maui and hooked with B & B Scuba (a lot of raves for them on the board here). I was able to get 2 dives in each morning and be back to the Kihei boat dock by about 9:00 a.m.usually the wife was just getting up by then. It did mean getting to the dock by 5:30 but well worth it to have my cake and eat it too. This way you still have pretty much all day to do the non-diver stuff and there's no resentment from the better half.

Even if you pick another island and dive op you might be able to work out soemthing similair.

 

[tacman]

Never been there
Thanks for the advise

 

[RJP]

Jan and Feb are still solidly in "whale season" where March typically marks the tail (no pun) end.

Also don't forget the possibility/availability of shore diving when selecting where you will stay, as this is a great way to get an after-breakfast dive in each morning without taking too much time away from non-diving spouses.

We stayed at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua last year, which had some nice shore diving right there. We'd go to breakfast with the kids, then I'd go get a dive in. By they time my wife had gotten the kids back to the room, changed, covered with sun screen, and out to the pool or beach I was already back from a leisurely 45min dive.

Similar with night dives, where my wife an two kids were happy to sit up on the hill and watch our lights during our night dive.

 

[meesier42]

Maui is always a great option for the Snorkeling/Diving pair, they have some really nice shore diving which is great for the quick dip and they have Molokini Crater available. Most of the boats that go out there will accomodate snorkelers, just make sure they aren't going to the outer rim, almost every mooring inside the crater can be snorkeled by heading towards shore, generally 100 feet away or so, and you can dive them as the mooring are in about 30-40 feet of water. She should enjoy that as well.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I just got back from Maui and hooked with B & B Scuba (a lot of raves for them on the board here). I was able to get 2 dives in each morning and be back to the Kihei boat dock by about 9:00 a.m.usually the wife was just getting up by then. It did mean getting to the dock by 5:30 but well worth it to have my cake and eat it too.

Just a small time correction; Hawaii does not observe daylight savings time. I believe the regularly scheduled departure for B&B is 6 AM, so 5:30 is a tad on the early side. There has been channel dredging going on lately so not sure if 6 is the current departure. With a boatload of hoovers doing deep / medium deep (Backside / St. Anthony) and no Suunto computers you could be back by 9:30ish, but not if there's whales.

With two weeks I'd look at one on the South side and one on the West side.

 

[grassyknoll]

Originally Posted by grassyknoll
I just got back from Maui and hooked with B & B Scuba (a lot of raves for them on the board here). I was able to get 2 dives in each morning and be back to the Kihei boat dock by about 9:00 a.m.usually the wife was just getting up by then. It did mean getting to the dock by 5:30 but well worth it to have my cake and eat it too.

Just a small time correction; Hawaii does not observe daylight savings time. I believe the regularly scheduled departure for B&B is 6 AM, so 5:30 is a tad on the early side. There has been channel dredging going on lately so not sure if 6 is the current departure. With a boatload of hoovers doing deep / medium deep (Backside / St. Anthony) and no Suunto computers you could be back by 9:30ish, but not if there's whales.

Halemano, no error on the time diff. The first day I went out with B&B they had the boat in "early", the second day they waited until the approved time to put in 6:00; Brad mentioned that another op had made a bit of a stink about them putting in early. Just a little good natured local dive op rivalry going on.
I also got there early as I'm a morning type and Maui has an incredible vibe just before sunrise.

 

[Teamcasa]

We did our 30 year anniversary on Kauai at Poipu. We also took both of our kids, their spouses and the grandkids. We all had a fabulous time. However, if we were going to spend more than a week, I would spend the last week on Oahu. There is much more for the lovely bride to do there, like shopping, museums and so forth.

If she snorkels maybe you could get her to try a Discover Scuba class.

 

[friscuba]

5:30 am? 6:00 am? That's brutal. At 6am half the Kona operators are at home hitting their snooze alarms, the other half will he hitting theirs in another 30-45 minutes. In truth, I think only 3 of the operators in Kona hit the water before 8 or 9 in the morning... just something to think aobut if you are one who likes to sleep in.