Get Dive Certified with Maui Diving

Maui is an amazing place to get dive certified. The weather generally pretty calm, the water crystal clear and serene, and there are many different types of sea life to explore while submerged underwater.

Info

PADI Open Water Certification: $329 (2021)
2 days of open water diving and classwork.
You’ll learn the fundamentals of scuba diving, dive equipment, and techniques

Note: You need to be able to swim (duh right? but I’ve heard some stories)

I tried to get certified in Monterey, CA first and it was freezing and murky! Don’t make this same mistake. Our first dive was also going to be to about 50 feet with no visibility. This seems dangerous for first time diving. Take my advice and start small like they do at Maui Diving, until you’re comfortable enough to start doing deeper dives.

Maui Diving gives you classwork to do online before you arrive to class. Once in the classroom, you review all the dive skills and coursework then wade into the water for a shore entry to test basic skills. At Maui Diving, the instructors are very patient and relaxed, and they take you down to about 10 feet of crystal clear water to practice your dive skills. This is nice because if feels safe. Once you get below 30 feet you need to understand fully how to keep calm and buoyant in the water, because if you surface too quickly you can get the bends (decompression sickness).

When we went down the first thing we saw was a sea turtle swimming over us with the light rays shining through the water. It was magical!

The other nice thing about the way they do it here is you gradually swim into deeper water instead of dropping down from a boat with a rope line. This is also a less scary and intense way to go into deeper water.

Our guide said hello to an Octopus for us. I got to hold it and see it up close and personal. Such a beautiful creature!

After the online sessions and 2-day course, you become certified as a PADI open water diver. This means you have the skills to dive up to 60 feet. Any deeper and you should get an advanced certification and many more dives in. We were excited to be certified for our trip to Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao.

Diving is a beautiful experience, feeling weightless in the ocean among animals you may never see at the ocean surface. It’s important to get all the skills you need to stay safe and informed underwater, and Maui Diving was a great place to do this!

Do you know of any other good diving schools? Please leave them in the comments below.