I'd like to get my PADI certification in Lahaina in September. Any good recommendations? I'm considering Maui Diving: http://www.mauiscuba.net/openwater.html

Mahalo.

I know nothing about this place, but an option that works for many people is to complete the land/classroom part of certification at home and then do the open water portion on vacation.

Maui Divers have been around for many years and have a good track record.

Did my open water certification with them in 2003 and have had several dives with them since, it worked out well to do classroom training at home and the certification in warm waters. It was all good.

I would definitely recommend doing the classwork portion of the course at home and doing the certification dives while in Maui.

Go to the Hawaii forum at www.scubaboard.com. There are shop affiliated and independent instructors that regularly post there and can give you information. There is also a lot of old threads that you can search for this type of info.

We offer Scuba Home Study course which is Included in the $400 dollar Open Water Scuba Diver course..
Contact us http://www.HawaiiScubaDivers.com
808-926-DIVE(3483)
Aloha Mark.

Mark-commercial posting is very specifically prohibited by the agreement you made with Fodors as a term of conditions to use this board.

It doesn't say much about the character of a business to violate such agreements. No one here will patronize your. What else would you falsify?

You've been reported to the editors for removal.

Got my OW certification through Maui Divers when we were there in 1992. Was a 4 day course 8 hours a day. Best part was doing the checkout dives from one of their boats, not shoredives.

Rex

I agree with the others - get the classroom stuff out of the way before you go. The classroom part isn't really something to rush through. So it takes time - time that you won't want to waste on vacation. Do that stuff at home and take your checkout dives in Hawaii. There's lots of places that'll do that for you as a referral. Call the shop you're going to use and setup your referral in advance.

I did get my entire certification out of the way at home so that I could enjoy diving while on the Big Island.

I viewed it as a better use of my valuable time on Hawaii.