Banyan Tree Divers Maui — Attraction in Maui

Diving can be a mixed bag, but not at Banyan Tree. Our experience was consistently positive. We are certified divers and did two days of diving with Abby as our guide. She is super experienced with over 5,000 dives. I heard about this shop from a friend who is a repeat customer. He didn't steer us wrong!

The first day we did a shore dive followed by Mala. The 2nd day we just did Mala. Everyone at this shop was relaxed, professional, and safe. We met at "headquarters" and they verified our certification cards (good!), interviewed us about our dive experience, filled out paperwork (medical and liability release), went over the dive plan for the day, and picked up the gear we needed from the garage. Rental gear is included in the trip cost.

At the beach Abby took the time to orient us to the wildlife we'd likely see and how to protect it. She made sure we did a thorough buddy check before we got in the water (not my experience at another shop in town) for safety - good!

In the water at the shore dive Abby was super busy, switching seamlessly between finding and guiding us to some of the coolest animals, to helping divers who were having buoyancy issues, keeping track of air for everyone in the group, and taking amazing pictures all the while (it costs extra but is well worth it to get the pictures and have your memories). There was a diver with us who was struggling and Abby was nothing but supportive, helpful, and kept the diver safe. You could tell she was also evaluating everyone's diving to see if it would be safe to take us to the next site. Smart.

Out of the water Abby reviewed the dive with us and had tips for improving our diving (fine tuning weights, buoyancy, trim and building safe diving habits).

At the next site, Mala, Abby gave a thorough orientation of the site, entry and exit procedure, potential hazards, and the dive plan. Once in the water we had a short lesson on how to swim backwards with fins (fun and tricky!) since we'd asked about that. We saw turtles, white tip reef sharks, a white and black eel/snake-like fish, a camouflaged frogfish and many other critters. Without Abby guiding us we would have overlooked many of them.

Our 2nd dive at Mala the following week was just as good with similar sights, we even got to see a couple of fish guarding their clutch of eggs (you could see the fish embryos inside and their eyes!).

During the whole process we never felt rushed or like "just another customer". Abby, Kevin and Caitlin took the time to answer any questions we had. By the end of our dives not only did we see amazing animals, but we had a better appreciation for the ecology of the reef and we were better, safer divers less likely to hurt ourselves or harm the reef. Abby took dozens of pictures during all 3 dives and promptly shared them via an email link to Dropbox.

The rental BCDs, fins, wetsuits and booties (not all shops include booties, they make for much more comfortable open heel fin swimming and shore entries and exits, glad they were included) were all in good working order.

Note that for average sized women they seem to default to setting you up with a smaller (not 80 cf, maybe 65?) tank which worked fine for my wife and I (my air PSI consumption rate on an 80 matched hers on the smaller tank). This is nice because it is less bulky and less weight to schlep up and down the beach. But if you are a woman who prefers a larger tank or you know you go through a lot of air you might want to ask for an 80.

One tiny thing that they could potentially improve is the tank maintenance. Many of them had tiny leaks (champagne bubbles) or a bit of trouble getting a secure seal to the first stage of the regulator without fiddling. It might make dive setup a bit quicker and easier if Banyan Tree replaced their tank valve o-rings more often. Many of the o-rings were showing their age.

All in all our experience was great, we'd definitely recommend this outfit for new or experienced divers and would visit again next time...

First off, my apologies to Kevin for taking so long to review this great experience! I was fortunate enough to spend Sunday morning 3/31 with Kevin from Banyan Tree Divers, diving along with a Discover Scuba group. To put my review in context, I have been diving for 30 years, currently dive with a master scuba diver cert (I know, doesn't mean squat), and trained through Dive Master. I also teach kids and adults on a regular basis (not scuba).

To put it bluntly, Kevin is an amazing instructor and has a spectacular grasp on how to effectively communicate diving instruction to students, especially kids, and make it fun. Kevin handled three 11-14 year old Discover Scuba students, 2 adults diving as a refresher and me tagging along. The three kids included my son and 2 of his friends and one of the refresher divers is a friend of mine. Every one of them had a great time and talked about it constantly for the rest of our vacation.

The dive took place just north of Black Rock in Ka'anapali ( I believe that section of beach is Airport Beach if I remember correctly). I have snorkeled that area a bunch and it was a blast to actually dive it. Between 2 dives we saw 4 turtles, one a hawksbill, a ton of fish, and the kids truly got comfy with the process of scuba diving. We had one small hiccup (which had nothing to do with Kevin) when one of the kids decided they didn't want to do the second dive, after we had already gone out. Kevin handled it perfectly!

If you are looking to dive with Banyan Tree and are wondering if the photo option is worth it, it absolutely is! I was amazed at how many quality pictures and short videos we got from Kevin by choosing this option. He did a great job taking pictures that actually look good and show you and those with you diving, including pre-dive and some post dive photos. Very impressed with the outcome and the super quick turn around sending the photos out to us.

From the first phone call to the dive shop all the way through chatting with Kevin after the dive, this was a top notch experience. Heck, I even got to try out one of his masks that I had been looking at on my second dive that day. The dive gear is all new and in top shape (they lost all their equipment to the Lahaina fire so this is new gear replacing the lost stuff). They are still replacing some of their gear, so if you are looking for a night dive, or something specific, make sure you ask them if it is available. On a whim, we asked about a night dive after our dives were finished and found out they had not replaced their dive lights yet, and my one backup light was not going to cut it, so make sure you ask!

I would happily recommend Banyan Tree Divers to anyone asking about Maui diving. From the other reviews I read before calling them initially, we are not the only very happy customers! We will be back, and next time we can get that night dive in along with the rest of the dives!

Kevin, we hope you and your wife are doing well and we look forward to setting up more dives with you on our next trip!

THANK YOU for a...

Went on a intro excursion 9/12/2022. If you’re a first timer DO NOT GIVE THIS PLACE BUSINESS. The instructor had no tolerance for us really and could tell his annoyance towards us they just want your money. Nothing Hawaiian about this company, very colonizer energy. This was by birthday gift to me, our instructor made us waste our oxygen tank up on the surface killing time before we went down. Not $370 worth at all by the time we started going down my friend was a little nervous in which by the time she came down together our oxygen tank had run out again their scheme from the start to kill all our oxygen at the top. Local owned Hawaiians were all about their consumers happiness these people are just vultures! As a business owner myself if I know I did not give my client the full experience they PAID for I’d offer a partial refund. Again vultures, I purchased a picture package what was around $100 which the instructor stated he’d “just give it to me” bc there were only two pictures taken really. Then gave us fake pictures of an excursion they probably took or previous clients… I tried calling them to reach to some middle but I got no answers, leaving me to my last resort to dispute the charge with my cc company. Once again bc we were not given the purchased experience… or at-least told their “policies” before hand. They re-billed me after I was given back the funds as result of my dispute showing the fakeass pictures and the transaction online…along with iterating their said policies and even lied stating my friend never made it down…which is funny how you uphold your clients money to a high standard you can’t even offer yourself as a business. They did not even care to reach out personally to see what was going on nothing. Again as a business owner and truly caring for my clients this was a red flag for me. All they care for is to take your money as the mainland colonizers they are in Hawaii. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE! 4/15/24 finally heard back from the company via a google response to my original review two years ago… I refuse to be gaslit out of my OWN experience. I understand you’re trying to help your business but you could’ve had this conversation with me years back to either explain what happened or reach to a solution. As you stated it was a courtesy to provide pictures part of an excursion I didn’t experience is the issue. That’s not what I paid for, it’s the principle of it. To add on the poor quality of customer service provided is what led to my honest review. Hey I get it, you’re coming to defend your business considering what you mentioned w/ your reviews. I’m sure others have their own experiences they’d like to share. I was only providing my experience with freedom of speech protected under the first amendment. Once again going off of the words & performance your instructors gave. Maybe buckle down on what’s permitted to state to clients and re-train with client patience as any consumer is entitled to their own opinion regardless of how you...