Maui Dreams Dive Company $80/per person.
I am a certified diver, but have only been once since certification almost 3 years ago. A rough boat dive, it was not the best experience for me, as you can read in my Kauai journal.
My husband is a very experienced diver. Our daughter, 19, and son, 15, have never been diving and with my reluctance to go again, I sought advice from others on where to get a good experience on Maui. A poster on a BBS I frequent recommended Maui Dreams Dive Co., which specializes in shore dives. I booked a Tuesday morning introductory dive for the kids and guided dive for hubby and I, even though they are located in Kihei, a 45-minute drive from our condo in Ka’anapali.
We had a great experience with Barrett, our dive instructor. We followed Barrett in our own vehicle as he pulled into Mokapu and Ulua Beach and unloaded all of the gear. I participated in the onshore instructions with the kids just to refresh my memory. After gearing up, we all waded in up to our waists to put on our fins. The kids followed Barrett right out into deeper water, but I was already feeling claustrophobic.
Fortunately, after a brief rest on the sand in about 10 feet of water, I started feeling more comfortable and was able to keep any impending panic at bay. The deepest we went was about 22 feet and I could always see the surface. The first dive was around the edges of the reef. We saw a lot of coral and urchins, rainbow and tri-color wrasses, many Picasso triggerfishes (humuhumunukunukuapua’a), unicorn fish, goatfish, and damsels. We watched as a large turtle swam in front of us and found a nice niche for a nap.
The second dive was even shallower, spending a lot of time over the reef, and then dropping down the other side. At a sandy spot, Barrett motioned for the kids to hand him their fins. He then indicated to them that they should do some back flips and forward flips. It was a fun little respite. On this dive, a smaller turtle swam right up to us and hung out for a minute, then paddled away.
Using a dive company made the shore dive not so exhausting. Barrett did all the work and insisted that we were on vacation and it was his job to load and unload all the gear. It was a great first-time dive for the kids, an easy refresher course for me, and my husband enjoyed it as well.