Is Maui Good for Scuba Diving?

You are researching outdoor activities for your next vacation, and your family wants to go to the Hawaiian island of Maui. You have decided to plan a day of scuba diving, but is Maui good for scuba diving? You are currently reading a blog on a Maui dive company website, which means this answer might be admittedly biased. However, I can describe why Maui is spectacular for scuba diving.

You can go scuba diving in so many parts of the world. I find the variety of dive site possibilities from one place to another mind-boggling, especially considering that coral reefs cover less than one percent of the earth’s ocean floor. If you were to show me a series of photos from various dive sites worldwide, I might not always know Thailand from the Caribbean. However, I could immediately identify Hawaii’s distinctive coral reef ecosystem in any picture. The coral formations around the Hawaiian Islands are so unique that a seasoned diver could pick them out of a lineup. Moreover, 20 percent of Hawaiian reef fishes are found nowhere else.

Maui Scuba Diving Highlight

One great thing about scuba diving in Maui is the variety of shore and boat dive sites. The Big Island is famous for its manta ray night dive, Oahu for its wreck dives, and Kauai for its proximity to offshore dive sites like Niihau. Maui scuba diving features all of these highlights! The abundance of diving and snorkeling near Maui, Lanaʻi, Molokini Crater, and Molokai spreads out all of the companies, helping to alleviate pressure on even the most famous dive sites.

Aerial view of Maui’s famous Molokini Crater dive site.

Molokini Crater

Arguably Maui’s most famous dive site is Molokini Crater. This seamount is all that remains from an eruption that possibly occurred 230,000 years ago. The crescent-shaped atoll features a shallow bay and backside wall, reaching depths of 360 feet. Novice divers can swim with large schools of fish within the shallow confines of the crater.

Advanced divers have the opportunity to drift dive along the backside of Molokini. Large schools of Yellow Tang, Moorish Idols, Hawaiian Triggerfish, and Bluefin Trevally make their homes on the inside reef. Look for Reef Sharks, Moray Eels, and octopus along the 200-foot back wall.

Until the COVID-19 pandemic, Molokini was heavily visited every day. This led to a decline in fish populations and loss of corals, partly due to human interaction with this delicate ocean environment. Try to support small tour operators to lessen the impact.