Tori

My husband and I will be visiting Maui for our 10th wedding anniversary in May. We would like to try scuba diving (we are staying in the Wailea area/South Maui. Has anybody tried scuba diving in this area? What is the best company to use (especially for beginners)? Also, for the bike ride down Haleakala -- what is the best company? Is it better to ride with the bunch or go down alone? Any help would be appreciated!!

Beth

Haven't been scuba diving but I can recommend the sunrise trip down Haleakala. We went with Maui Mountain Riders. They pick you up at your hotel (very early in the morning) and take you up the mountain. It is nice to go with a company becuase you have the safety of the company in leading and following the group!

trudy

I thought the bike trip down Haleakala was over-rated! Scenery is obviously beautiful - but ride is boring (just sit there and coast). It is definately worth seeing sunrise from the top of the volcano - but you might want to check into any hiking trips that go down into the volcano instead of the bike ride. Have a great time!

kim

My husband and I went late August of last year. I think we used...simple enough..The Maui Dive Shop in Kihei. You may also want to check with your hotel/resort...they may have in-house scuba instructors. I think total for both my husband and I including equipment was 200.00 (99.00 a piece) They gave us instruction on hand signals, how to breathe and how to push water out of our masks, how to float to the surface etc..etc. Both dives are off the beach i.e. meaning you walk out in the water with all of your equipment on. Then they took us on a one tank dive in probably less than 10 feet of water, then we got out of the water and loaded us with 2 tank and we went into deeper waters. I think it was my best underwater experience yet. Once you learn how to dive, snorkeling won't do it for you anymore! Have a good time!

anne

Congrats on your anniversary. I'm with Trudy - the bike ride was pretty boring and blew the entire day; we organized a hike for our next trip along the paths into the crater & had a much better time, despite the high wind level at the top. That said, it wasn't your question. I think we did Captain Bob's Bike trip down Haleakala - but we opted for the midday trip rather than the sunrise trip because a) our pick up was at 5 am instead of 2:30 am (stayed at a Kanaapali condo); friends had warned us it's freezing at sunrise (not that it's warm a whole lot later); and the front desk advised it's often cloudy so you don't see much of a sunrise, whereas by midday the volcano has almost always cleared so you can see the "moonscape" features of the crater. Finally, if you get over to the Big Island at any time, the sunrises are really cool at Volcanoes National and the weather is a lot more civilized. Enjoy!

Amy

We stayed in Wailea last July and went diving twice with Makena Charters - they were excellent! On both dives we had beginners and they had a great time. We saw mante ray, lobsters, sharks, dolphins, turtles - one of our best dives. The dive masters are very well known and each time we were on the boat they called in the dive report live to the local radio. Can't recommend these guys enough - they were great.

Stinky

Be extremely careful of the bike ride during the clif section. 'Cause once you're over - you're OVER !!!