1999 Maui and Oahu, Hawaii : Maui Diving
Scuba Diving in Hawaii See dives 33 thru 48
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We stayed at the Royal Lahaina Resort, which was actually in Kaanapali and not in Lahaina, but it was pretty decent. The service was less than spectacular, but it was relatively inexpensive and the room was clean and functional. We checked in, unpacked, relaxed for a little while, then decided to get a bite to eat. The last time we were in Hawaii (Kauai actually) we really enjoyed the excellent sushi, so we anxiously looked for a place. The only place we were able to find on this side of the island was Sansei in Kapalua. We headed out there and were majorly disappointed. Not only was it VERY crowded, we waited for about an hour for a table, but gave up and sat at the bar, but the sushi was mediocre and the rice was hard, as if undercooked! I didn't realize how difficult it was to book boat dives with Maui's good dive operations. I scheduled us for three days of boat dives with Mike Severns starting Monday, then I scheduled some shore dives on Sunday with Debbie de Bord. So on Saturday, we just went over to the local Maui Dive Shop and rented some equipment and got a copy of their excellent Maui Dive Guide. The employees recommended a couple good sites for shore dives nearby and we were off. For more info on those, check out my dive logs for dives 33 and 34. The following day we headed down to Ulua Beach in Wailea to dive with Debbie de Bord and Richard, a divemaster in training. Once we swam past all the swimmers and snorkelers, the visibility improved and there was quite a bit to see. There is more info on my dive log for dives 35 and 36. The highlight was seeing turtles up close for the first time and a large Frogfish, but on the second dive I saw the most disturbing sight I've ever seen under water. I'm used to divemasters respecting the wildlife and teaching by example that a sport diver should "Take only pictures, leave only bubbles." On the way back to shore on our second dive, I noticed another group of divers huddled around an outcropping. One diver was using a large knife and aggressively digging into the rock, breaking off sections of rock with coral growth and tossing them aside. We slowed down to see what's up. At first I thought that maybe the diver was being attacked by some animal and he was defending himself, but it turns out it was a divemaster digging an Octopus out of it's hiding place to show to the other divers. The poor Octopus was squirting ink and trying to get away. The divemaster saw us and came over to show us his find. Fortunately, shortly after he showed us the Octopus, the Octopus managed to wiggle free and swam away as quickly as he could, squirting ink all the way. In general, we found the divemasters and other divers have a lot less respect for the marine life in Hawaii than they did in Cozumel. The reef also showed a lot more wear and tear than Cozumel, even though there are FAR fewer divers here. The rest of the week we dove with Mike Severns. They came highly recommended by others on the Internet, and we were not disappointed. The dive boat was fairly new, large and comfortable. The rental equipment was all nearly new ScubaPro equipment that worked flawlessly all week. The best part, however, was the extensive dive briefing, which I called a Marine Biology lecture. By the end of the briefing, we knew exactly what we will see, what interesting things to watch out for at this site, etc. The first dive of the day was always Molokini Crater, and the second dive was one of the nice sites off the south-west coast of Maui. The highlight of our diving in Maui was the last day of diving when we did four total dives, including afternoon/evening dives. We went out to Molokini in the late afternoon and did dive 43 where we saw some Manta Rays. After the dive we hung out on the boat, ate pizza and watched the sun set. We then geared up and did our night dive.

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