Scuba Dive Maui

If you want to Scuba Dive Maui, I have no reservations in recommending Extended Horizons. We loved our scuba diving experience with them.

You should know that this is not a paid endorsement of Extended Horizons, just my personal assessment.

Initially we were headed out to scuba dive the Lanai Caverns or "Cathedrals," but the waves picked up soon after we left Mala Ramp. After about 45 minutes out (and hoping the water conditions would improve the closer we got to Lanai), the waters became too tumultuous and unsafe for diving.

So Captain Dave turned the boat around and instead took us to the Carthaginian shipwreck, a 100 foot dive located near Maui, approximately two miles south of Lahaina.

None of us had dived a shipwreck before during a Maui scuba dive, and we were not disappointed.


Here we are--all excited and ready to scuba dive Maui just before we board the Extended Horizons II early that morning.



This is a view of the Mala Ramp (or Mala Wharf) as we are leaving it. Mala Ramp is located north of Lahaina Harbor, and just west of the Lahaina Cannery Mall.




Victoria Martotti, our dive instructors with over 3000 dives, is explaining to us some of the rules and details of our upcoming scuba dives and her extensive knowledge of the diverse tropical fish and wildlife we would be seeing.



The remaining amazing photos were taken by dive instructor Maren Springer with over 2000 dives, with the exception of the Carthaginian hull photo, which was taken by Victoria Martotti. Marena and Victoria kindly gave me permission to use them here (thank you Maren and Victoria!).


This is the view we had just before our first dive--a gorgeous Maui rainbow, and in the distance a cruise ship anchored near Lahaina.



The first large object we spotted as we descended towards the Carthaginian shipwreck was an Atlantis Submarine, also here to view the shipwreck.

According to our instructors, Atlantis Submarines owns the Carthaginian shipwreck (they intentionally shipwrecked the boat about a year earlier--sometime in late 2005 or early 2006) and allow the local dive shops to explore it.

The only rule regarding the Atlantis Submarine is that divers must remain in the footprint of the wreck for safety reasons while the submarine is in the area. In our case, the Atlantis Submarine had arrived there before us, and so we patiently waited a few minutes at a depth of about 50 feet until the submarine left. We then descended and entered the wreckage footprint.

Additionally, we descended slowly on this dive to allow everyone's ears to clear, and to make sure we did not exceed no deco limits (avoiding decompression issues) because of the dive's 100 foot depth.

These are the two masts of the Carthaginian -- pretty amazing!




This is the hull of the Carthaginian (you can see the partially obscured "Lahaina" below the name). This particular photo was taken by our instructor Victoria Martotti.



This photo is of a frog fish. Frogfish have the ability to blend in with their surroundings and so they are difficult to find. At first I thought I was looking at barnacles or mineralization that had occurred to the chains, until you realize that the "barnacles" have eyes and a mouth!

It was quite an amazing site. The frog fish was "ugly" but at the same time had an unusual beauty about it.



Another photo of the frogfish and me (I'm on the right :-).


This is one of my brother's-in-law maneuvering through a corridor of the Carthaginian and giving the famous Maui shaka sign.



Here we are looking over the "deck" of the shipwreck (I'm on the left) just before we ascended to end the first dive of our Maui Scuba Dive.

We all had a great time, and a big thanks again to Extended Horizons, and our instructors Victoria and Maren, who both did a wonderful job on our behalf during a very exciting Maui Scuba Dive!


Click here to see our second dive at Olowalu Reef that same morning

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