richh32
Contributor
First off I want to thank you all here for your recommendations. I ended up doing the majority of my diving with Ed Robinson. He runs a real nice dive operation. He visits and introduces himself everyday at the boat launch which made it seem like he really appreciates his customers. I thought it was a nice touch. I was only going to dive with them one day but I liked the way they ran their op that I made a daily commute from Lahaina everyday to dive with them. This was my first time in and diving in Maui and I came away pretty impressed. I saw a nice mix of everything. Sharks, dolphins, huge turtles, school of barracuda, manta ray, eagle ray, octopus and probably the largest concentration of moray eels I have ever seen. I was also impressed with the macro there lots of different nudis, shrimps etc.
I did one shore dive the day I got in with Extended Horizons. They run a nice operation also. Out of all the dive shops in Lahaina and Kihei they were the only ones that were willing to do a afternoon shore dive. It was an awesome dive. It was just me and the guide(i cant remember his name) but basically he said "whatever you want to do we will do it". two shore dives or a shore and a night dive etc. Basically it made me feel like this place goes above and beyond to satisfy their customer. We took our time and had a great dive at pier. Saw turtles, huge sleeping reef shark morays etc. Later in the week I did a night dive with them at Black Rock. Sweet shore dive. Again the guide was super laid back and not in a rush which was great. I would definetly use these guys again.
As for some of the other shops I called on, there is a different picture to be painted. Before I arrived in Maui, I called every dive op and none of them were willing to do a shore dive other than at 8am, 12 pm or a night dive. Absolutely no flexibility whatsover. The one shop I found that was willing to do it (MAUI beach dives) promised me on Friday that they would take me for a two tank shore dive on monday and they reniged on the deal when I called to confirm on sunday. The guy said he got a group of people and forgot about it so I was SOL. He said to call back the next day. LOL. Same goes for Shaka Doug. He had every excuse in the book not to do a shore dive and I even was going to pay the 50% premium to do the dive. He admitted its not worth his time to do a one on one dive, but yet he advertises it on his sight as a "private dive" at a 50% premium. I guess the economy is alive and well for him, whereas he can pick and choose. In my book BIG THUMBS DOWN for both of these dive ops.
Overall a very nice dive trip. I will be back again some day.
I did one shore dive the day I got in with Extended Horizons. They run a nice operation also. Out of all the dive shops in Lahaina and Kihei they were the only ones that were willing to do a afternoon shore dive. It was an awesome dive. It was just me and the guide(i cant remember his name) but basically he said "whatever you want to do we will do it". two shore dives or a shore and a night dive etc. Basically it made me feel like this place goes above and beyond to satisfy their customer. We took our time and had a great dive at pier. Saw turtles, huge sleeping reef shark morays etc. Later in the week I did a night dive with them at Black Rock. Sweet shore dive. Again the guide was super laid back and not in a rush which was great. I would definetly use these guys again.
As for some of the other shops I called on, there is a different picture to be painted. Before I arrived in Maui, I called every dive op and none of them were willing to do a shore dive other than at 8am, 12 pm or a night dive. Absolutely no flexibility whatsover. The one shop I found that was willing to do it (MAUI beach dives) promised me on Friday that they would take me for a two tank shore dive on monday and they reniged on the deal when I called to confirm on sunday. The guy said he got a group of people and forgot about it so I was SOL. He said to call back the next day. LOL. Same goes for Shaka Doug. He had every excuse in the book not to do a shore dive and I even was going to pay the 50% premium to do the dive. He admitted its not worth his time to do a one on one dive, but yet he advertises it on his sight as a "private dive" at a 50% premium. I guess the economy is alive and well for him, whereas he can pick and choose. In my book BIG THUMBS DOWN for both of these dive ops.
Overall a very nice dive trip. I will be back again some day.
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