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, more than 20 percent of Hawaiian reef fishes are found nowhere else in the world.

Maui Scuba Diving Highlights

One great thing about Maui scuba diving is the variety of dive sites. The Big Island is famous for the manta ray night dive, and Oahu for its wreck dives. Kauai benefits from its proximity to offshore dive spots. Maui diving has all of these highlights accessible by boat and shore. The abundance of diving around Maui and Lanaʻi spreads out the dive operators, ensuring that even the most famous dive sites donʻt get too crowded.

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 Black Tip Reef Sharks, eels, and an octopus along the back wall.

Until the COVID-19 pandemic, Molokini was heavily visited by thousands of people each day. This leads to a decline in fish populations and loss of habitats, partly due to human interaction with this delicate environment. Try to support small dive operations to lessen the impact.