A co-worker of mine is finishing up his certification next week. In April he is heading off to Hawaii for a vacation and wants to do some diving. I should have the chance to take him on at least one Northwest dive weekend before he leaves, but he will be a pretty new diver when he gets to Hawaii. I haven't been to Maui, so I was hoping to get the board's opinion on where he should dive and who he should dive with while on his trip.
The local shop recommended Maui Dreams Dive Shop and Ed Robinson and Mike Severns as good operations to use. I looked through some old threads and saw that those two operations seemed to be well liked, though I did notice that Mike Severns was mentioned as a bit more advanced focused operation. Would the dives they do be too much to handle for a newly certified diver from the Pacific Northwest? Thanks in advance for the help .
Mike Severns is a great dive operation, they do however cater to more somewhat advanced divers. Depending on his skill level this may or may not be the best choice. If you really want to see some interesting and rare critters, try and get on the boat with Pauline (which is not hard to do, she dives alot) They do carry more divers than some boats, usually 10 or so. But they will split into 2 groups and space out the dives so your not cramped. Plus they have a decent sized boat.
Also they dont do any afternoon dives, so there is no rush to get back to shore like some of the other operations.
If your coworker might prefer a shore dive to start with (cause boat dives can be stressful for new divers) I would suggest Shaka Doug. His website will make your eyes bleed but he's got a solid rep for fun, easy, relaxing guided shore dives. People say that he's great with new divers.
It's true- I think the diving in Maui questions have been fielded before here and on other boards (scubaboard comes to mind).
That said- Maui Dreams is a great dive outfit that we have had the pleasure of using. The LDS's in Maui have a book written by a local that details all the shore dives really nice--definitely helped us for our first trip there. Nice maps of the sites.
http://nwdivers.me/blog/ Original articles and dive reports from local divers in the Vancouver, WA area. Suggestions for stories or your own reports are welcome!
We dive with Lahaina divers every time we go. They are a great bunch of guys and are very laid back. Cannot say enough good things about them. Very professional, great boats.
I wanted to dive with them but we wound up diving with Ed Robinson which is very similar to the Mike Severn's outfit- very professional, great boats, service, great DM's to lead you around. They also only prefer to take somewhat experienced divers.
Best Boat dive in Maui for me- Marty's Reef at night. Mind blowing.
Best Shore dive for me- Makenna
http://nwdivers.me/blog/ Original articles and dive reports from local divers in the Vancouver, WA area. Suggestions for stories or your own reports are welcome!
Jaksonbrown wrote:We dive with Lahaina divers every time we go. They are a great bunch of guys and are very laid back. Cannot say enough good things about them. Very professional, great boats.
+1 for Lahaina Divers.
I'm going to look like a moose on rollerskates. -airsix
... my Mom caught me fenestrating once. -lavachickie
And I get so tired of fainting and peeing all over myself when the hammer falls on an empty chamber! -Nailer
I think B&B does an absolutely superb job of taking care of new divers. They are also very nice people.
Shaka Doug has a wonderful reputation for leading entertaining and enjoyable shore dives. I don't think I've ever seen anyone dissatisfied. And the shore diving on Maui is generally easy, much less expensive than the boat diving, and you see many of the same critters.
Mike Severns is my favorite boat for ME to go out on, but they do seem to attract and cater to a little more experienced clientele.
Lahaina Divers uses smaller tanks than most anybody else.
"Sometimes, when your world is going sideways, the second best thing to everything working out right, is knowing you are loved..." ljjames
LCF wrote:I think B&B does an absolutely superb job of taking care of new divers. They are also very nice people.
Shaka Doug has a wonderful reputation for leading entertaining and enjoyable shore dives. I don't think I've ever seen anyone dissatisfied. And the shore diving on Maui is generally easy, much less expensive than the boat diving, and you see many of the same critters.
Mike Severns is my favorite boat for ME to go out on, but they do seem to attract and cater to a little more experienced clientele.
Lahaina Divers uses smaller tanks than most anybody else.
Everytime I have dove with Lahaina Divers, I have had access to 100's. Always more than enough to stay down for 45-60min.
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