Scuba Diving FAQ

No, you do not need a scuba certification to try diving. If you want to see Maui underwater, our dive shop offers an intro Discover Scuba Dive for $99 per person. Your cost includes all of your rental equipment, shallow water skills practice, and one dive from a beach in Lahaina!

If you want to learn to scuba dive in Maui, we also offer the PADI Open Water Diver course. You can complete this certification in as little as 2 days.

Yes, advanced planning will secure your preferred date and time, especially if you plan to complete a PADI course. Regardless, Banyan Tree Divers Maui is a mobile dive shop in Lahaina, so we can offer a degree of flexibility to accommodate last-minute bookings! Call us at (808) 446-6099, even if you want to go scuba diving today!

Yes! We include all of your rental scuba diving gear. You get to use quality equipment, like dive boots, open-heel fins, and comfortable dive masks!

Yes, Banyan Tree Divers Maui scuba dives along the coastline in Lahaina. Maui scuba divers do not have to get up early and spend more than half a day boat diving to see the island’s best dive sites. In fact, most of the dive sites utilized by boat companies are accessible from a Maui beach. So if you want to experience scuba diving with us, let our professional team show you our favorite spots! You can meet us at a beach in Lahaina at 9 am, conveniently park your rental car, and quickly enter the ocean!

Yes, absolutely! You can complete your PADI Open Water Referral Dives with us! All you need to do is provide us with your referral paperwork and  PADI eLearning results. Your referral paperwork must show you completed 5 confined training sessions with your previous instructor.

Make your reservation online or call us at (808) 446-6099. We are open 7 days a week from 8 am to 6 pm, Hawaii Standard Time. Book now to secure your Maui scuba diving lesson, tour, or course with us!

Yes, Banyan Tree Divers has teamed up with a top Maui boat companies, Dive Maui and Makai Adventures, to provide high-end private boat diving and snorkeling excursions. We visit Maui diving locations such as Molokini and Lana’i as well as others in Lahaina, Kapalua and Olowalu. Contact us for more information about private boat diving.

Most PADI scuba certification courses can be completed in two to three days, with the exception of PADI Scuba Diver and PADI Adventure Diver, which can be completed in one day. PADI Open Water Diver, for example, requires a minimum of two days.

Certified divers can take the next step by earning a PADI Adventure Diver or PADI Advanced Open Water Diver certification. These courses focus on training dives develop your scuba diving skills, allowing you to explore specific aspects of diving. The Adventure Diver course is a combination of any three training dives from the full PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course and may be completed in one day. PADI Advanced Open Water Diver comprises of five dives and can be completed in a minimum of two days. For this course, both the Deep and Navigation dives are compulsory, leaving the three remaining dives as your electives. You can choose Peak Performance Buoyancy, Scooter Dive, Underwater Naturalist, and Underwater Photography. The Advanced Diver course is a prerequisite for the PADI Rescue Diver course. Your training dives may even be applied toward PADI Specialty Diver ratings! For more information about courses beyond the Advanced Open Water level, please check out our individual course pages, or directly contact us for further information and scheduling details.

We are lucky to have excellent dive conditions all year round. Yes, it’s always possible to dive here! An exceptionally special time to dive is when thousands of Humpback Whales migrate home to Maui. Scuba diving with us during the six months from December to May is the best time if you are to have a chance of witnessing this amazing spectacle. The whales safely spend the winter months here, mating, giving birth, and socializing, while we enjoy listening to their songs throughout every dive! 

Scuba diving in large groups can lead to hazardous interactions with Maui’s ocean environment. We are a small dive shop and keep our groups sizes small to to provide the best service and safety, as well as protect the amazing coral reefs along Lahaina. Our beginner groups have a maximum of 4 introductory divers, and we offer private diving.

No. There are no hidden costs and we always include all of your rental dive gear. For some courses, there can be additional fees for PADI eLearning or PADI manuals. If you are not sure of the total cost, feel free to double-check with us before making your reservation.

Yes, absolutely! If you are PADI certified and forgot to bring your certification card, then it’s easy to look up your PADI profile online. We recommend you download the PADI app on your phone, so your proof of certification is always with you!

If you were certified by a scuba organization other than PADI, and do not have your card, please provide your logbook as documentation. If you are unable to produce either a logbook or card, then you may still dive. We simply conduct a Scuba Refresh Dive tailored to your current ability.

Yes! Guests of any certification level may dive together because Maui scuba diving sites allow us to keep dives fairly shallow. Most of the time you will reach a maximum depth of about 40 feet.

Our mobile dive shop in Lahaina operates a 48 hour cancellation policy, so if you cancel prior to this, you will receive a full refund. Cancellations within 48 hours are not eligible for a refund. Cancelling lessons, tours, or courses due to poor weather conditions remains at the discretion of Banyan Tree Divers Maui.

If you are at least 10 years old and stand to be in good medical condition then you will most likely NOT require a doctor’s clearance to scuba dive. All non-certified divers and those enrolling in PADI certification courses will be required to fill out a medical statement. If you must answer “Yes” to any medical questions, then a clearance from your doctor will be necessary before you begin scuba diving on Maui with us. Please note that for professional-level courses like the PADI Divemaster program, a signed medical form is mandatory.

Preview the medical questionnaire.

One dive requires a minimum surface time of 12 hours before ascending to altitude (above 1000 feet). After two or more dives, a minimum surface time of 18 hours is recommended.