taylode:
Hello,
I'm going to be visiting Maui August 6 -13th. During my visit, my 17-year-old daughter and I will be diving with Ed Robinsons on Monday and Wednesday. Anyone have any thoughts on Ed's operation?
Also, since this will be our first warm water dive (e.g. warmer than 52) I'd like to do some shore diving to get my buoyancy down using a 3mm suit vs. the 7mm farmer john. Any suggestions on local guides/dive sites? My daughter and I are both AOW/Nitrox; however, we took AOW right after OW so we're definitely not advanced divers.
Lastly, since my wife isnt certified does anyone have a recommendations on good snorkeling sites? She may not be able to dive with us but I would still like her to experience as much as she can; besides I still enjoy snorkeling!
BTW, we will be staying at the Maui Lea on Kihei Rd, Kihei if that makes any difference.
My buddy just got back from doing 11 dives with Robinson's. We've dove 3 or 4 times in Maui with different diveops and he could not say enough good things about them, that they were by far the most competent people he's dove with there. Which corresponds with what you'll read here.
One site that might be of interest to all 3 of you is Wailea Beach, which is immediately south of the Grand Wailea resort. It's a easy sandy beach entry with two interesting reefs a short swim out in about 35-45'. We dove it while some of our party snorkeled above the area also. Lots of reef fish and there's some interesting sand flats splitting the reefs that you can swim through, there's one just off the point that's kind of an overhang, I saw about 50 pipefish of all sizes hovering there once - something I've never seen anywhere else on Maui.(or Lana'i or Kauai)
You can rent tanks at the Grand Wailea diveshack, it's about 100' north of the path down to the beach, right by the gear drop-off area. Get there early for parking though, especially on weekends, it's a pretty small lot.
http://shorediving.com/Earth/Hawaii/Maui/Wailea/index.htm
A little further down, Makena Landing is a good site as well.
http://shorediving.com/Earth/Hawaii/Maui/Makena/index.htm
Lastly, if you want to drive up north, Black Rock (Sheraton) is the best combo dive/snorkel site I've heard of(never dove there). Relatively easy access and rentals from the Sheraton's dive outfit. But it gets really crowded during the day.
Airport Beach near Lahaina is also a good, easy site. There's some interesting coral formations not too far out. And the remnants of some old sugar cane ships, mostly just masts and junk, out to the left.(I think) It starts out shallow and there's lots of fish and turtles in the shallows, but head out a little further, there's some really good reefs divided by sand flats in about 70'. We did it on scooters rented from Pacific Dive in Lahaina.
http://shorediving.com/Earth/Hawaii/Maui/Black_Rock/index.htm
Another good(not great) combo trip is the Molokini trip on Pride of Maui. They run a combo dive/snorkel/barbeque 1/2 day trip that's a little higher priced than a normal divetrip. But it's a quick, large powered cat, you'll have plenty of time to dive out from the crater while your wife snorkels closer in and they're used to dealing with new divers. Just don't go with their discover scuba group, they just take them down a line in shallow water after some basic orientation. You'll want to go with your daughter out towards the sand flats back towards Maui, you'll pass over a lot of coral formations - look carefully for the scorpionfish, and sometimes there's whitetips resting in the sand in about 60'. My buddy did Molokini with Robinson's, they did the dusk/night combo one afternoon and 3 12' Manta's flew over and played in their bubbles.
If you're looking for a good shore guide, either Maui Dreams or Shaka Divers. Shaka Doug is a member here.
http://mauidreamsdiveco.com/dive/index.php
http://www.shakadivers.com/
have fun, Maui diving is great!!
Steve
P.S. I dive Maui in a t-shirt, although it's a little cool below about 60'.
