Dive Review of Maui Dreams Dive Co./N/A in
Hawaii/Maui

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Maui Dreams Dive Co./N/A, Sep, 2004, by Laszlo Ilyes, OH, USA ( Reviewer 3 reports). Report 1350.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We love shore diving on our own, and have done so on many occasions in Bonaire, Curaçao, Puerto Vallarta, and Maui. We have found that if you are staying on the SW coast of Maui and you like shore diving, there are several places that you can access by car. "Maui Dreams Dive Co." in the coastal town of Kihei offers tanks for as low as $3 each depending on the number of dives you do. They also have very economical equipment rentals. (Quite refreshing in the otherwise expensive Maui tourist scene). They drew us maps of the sites we planned to visit and were helpful, friendly, professional, and priced very reasonably. In general, plan to dive early in morning. The day almost always starts out calm, but the surge picks up as the wind increases throughout the day. Visibility can also decline significantly after the wind gets moving. As for dive sites here are our picks: 1. Ulua Beach (in Wailea): Public Parking, freshwater showers, easy sandy shore entry, and generally calm conditions make this a great choice for a dive. Snorkelling is popular in the 5-20' depth range. A deeper reef at about 30' is home to many fine butterfly fish, wrasse, puffers, and morays. The outermost reef at 40' is home to large sea trutles, triggerfish, butterfly fish, and an occasional eagle ray. Visibility deteriorates after noon so try to get there before 8AM. The parking lot can also fill up if you wait too long. 2. La Perouse Bay (South Makena): Be ready to haul your stuff! There is a 100 yard walk from the public parking, over a worn path of lava stones and sand, to a pebbly beach entry. The hike generally keeps most of the folks away, so you'll often find yourself virtually alone here. The bay is fairly well protected from surf (especially on the northwestern side). The bay is inside a marine reserve, with stiff penalties for fishing with hook or spear. The fish seem to know it and are the most approachable here if you like UWP. The healthy reef levels out to a 45' sandy bottom about 150 yd. offshore. Depending on your luck, this is where wild dolphins are occasionally sighted. Sorry, no showers when you get out. Bring some extra tap water in bottles if you need to rinse your camera gear. 3. Turtle Town / The 5 graves (Just N. of Makena Landing): There is a rocky entry about 60ft. from the road as you pass five graves (so the name). Surge can sometimes be difficult depending on the direction of the waves and conditions so be aware. Swim out on the surface and out along the rocky point (to your left). Descend when you are in about 25' of water. There are numerous caves in the coral, often containing turtles and large fish. We are told that white tip reef sharks sleep in the caves as well but we didn't see any. There are many tame lemon butterly and racoon butterfly fish used to divers because of the many snorkeling boat excursions sponsored by island tour operators. Unfortunatley, I think the fish get fed, based on their behavior. There are occasional mullet, large schools of Mu Fish (porgies), pufferfish, colorful wrasse, triggerfish, and of course many large sea turtles to make this dive site memorable. If you want to dive from boats, ask the good folks at Maui Dreams and they'll be happy to recommend a some operators that leave from the Kihei boat ramp daily. We didn't do any boat diving so we can't report on it.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Little Cayman, Cozumel, Bonaire, Curaçao, Guanaja, Puerto Vallarta, Lake Erie
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy	Seas	surge
Water Temp	84-86°F / 29-30°C	Wetsuit Thickness	0
Water Visibility	20-50 Ft/ 6-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	We went shore diving on our own. Therefore, no restrictions were enforced on us.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Several public beaches easily accessible to shore diving, have public freshwater showers so that you can rinse your camera gear. The hotels themselves are poorly equipped for UWPs. Beware of local spearfisherman in shallower depths (common on the weekends at public beach entries); they'll follow you around at the surface and then move in and kill the bigger stuff after they see your flash go off. If you want turtles, you've come to the right place. On every dive we saw 1 - 6 Green Sea Turtles. And the coloful butterfly fish are great too!

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Dive Review of Maui Dreams Dive Co./N/A in Hawaii/Maui

Maui Dreams Dive Co./N/A, Sep, 2004,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Maui Dreams Dive Co./N/A in
Hawaii/Maui