Hawaii dive options?

[paulli]

Cruising Hawaii on Island Princess in December. I would like to get some dives in but Princess does not offer any SCUBA shore excursions. Would like to find some dive shops which operate dive trips whose schedule works well with that of the ship where you are in port at 8:00 am and leave by 6:00 pm. I checked into some shops like Maui Dive shop but according to their web site, dives either leave too early in the morning or end too late in the evening. Scheduled stops are Hilo, Kona, Kauai, Honolulu and Lahaina Maui. Any suggestions?

[fendbass]

I'm going to make two suggestions:

 

First, go to http://www.tombarefoot.com

They marifferent kinds of excursions over all of the islands. I'm sure that you'll find something there.

Second, for Maui, try

http://mauionabudget.com

We arranged for a snorkle tour of Molokini, got a really good price

Finally, my favorite

http://www.snorklebob.com

I've seen them advertise dive trips out of their shops

 

Brilliance of the Seas - w. Caribbean 12/2003

Infinity - Hawaii 4/2003

Jubilee - W. Caribbean 4/2002

Inspiration - S Caribbean 12/1996

General Henry Gibbons- Puerto Rico 1959

Pvt William H Thomas - Puerto Rico 1956

(OK, these last two weren't really 'cruises')

 

[ccrain]

We just got back from a business trip to Oahu and used Aquazone (http://www.aquazone.net/) based in the Outrigger Hotel in Wakiki for a dive on Saturday (4/3/04).

 

My wife and I are not certified, so this was an intro dive, but we have discovered scubaed in Cozumel - on an Island Princess excursion. We did a pool session at 9am at the outrigger to refresh our memories and then did two one tank dives (Turtle Canyon in Maunalua Bay and the point between Maunalua Bay and Hanauma Bay) off of their dive boat based in Hawaii Kai. We were back to our hotel at the Hilton by 3:30 pm.

 

The dives were pretty incredible. We went to 30 feet on the first, saw eels, coral, lots of fish. The second dive went to 45 feet in caves and canyons with turtles, eels, massive schools of fish. We had two groups on our dives, one group with 4 intro divers and one group with 3 certified and 1 intro. One dive master per group with the boat captain on top watching us all.

 

Aquazone provided wetsuits and full gear, but if you have your own mask, bring it. Their instructors and dive masters have a lot of experience and typically take their own camera on the dive to photograph you and what you see. We got the CD of our dive for $25. Can email you pictures if interested.

 

The cost of the dive was $120 per person, but we were able to use a 20% off coupon from a local coupon book (one of many free on every street corner). That brought the price down to a bargain level. I'm sure they will pick up and drop off at the dock. It's only 10 minutes from the outrigger.

 

Call them and see. Good luck.