Hey there Hawaii drivers! I'm in the process of planning a vacation to Hawaii and was looking for a little advice.

Is there one place you would say has the best dive sites, or is it better to travel to a couple different places? The trip will mainly be about diving, so we want to maximize our time and find the best locations. Also, night life and touristy stuff is not of much importance to us as we'd rather check out some of the true local stuff (that, and drinking too much the night before a dive is a no-no).

But we also would like to do some sight seeing and stuff....the hubby's getting into photography, so part of the trip will be devoted to seeing the cool things that Hawaii has to offer.

I find that searching through books and online is really geared toward the cool touristy things to do....we want to be a little more low-key and make sure we make it to dive sites and other must-see places that less touristy travelers (and locals) find are worth visiting. So if you have any suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!

Nicole

Edit: Oh yeah, any recommendations on hotel rooms? Since we aren't planning on spending much time inside the room, it doesn't need to be a five star resort or anything like that....just something that has room to leave all our crap, sleep, and has air conditioning.

 

try any of the Ohana hotels, there pretty reasonable. As far diving try any of the north, north east shores.

 

I think you'd want to go to Maui.

 

they have boat tours to molokini, which is off maui. good for diving.

 

electric beach is good for diving.

 

Like Bluesi said, Ohana (Outrigger properties) is probably the best deal. They have a couple of properties in Waikiki. I think right now the cheapest is the Ohana East which is just a block from Waikiki Beach.
Best diving this time of year is anywhere on the North Shore of Oahu. The water is very calm and crystal clear. PM me and I can give you the name of a friend who is a certified everything is scuba and runs dive tours. Like DVSmetodz said, Maui is probably the best diving, especially Molokini.

 

So Maui's best for diving? Isn't that the most touristy island? That's the one island we were thinking we'd steer clear of....however, I suppose if it has the best diving, maybe we should reconsider.

We're still trying to figure out when we are going to take the vacation. We were originally thinking about going early February, but then I read that one of the best times to go is in September, so now we're considering that as well. Opinions?

I will definitely check into Ohana and see what I can find. Thanks for the opinions....keep them coming!

 

oahu is the most touristy, most crowded and most outfished island. maui is second by a long shot. so its still good to go there.

 

nah, maui is far behind oahu as far as tourists (and this being the off-season and with a recession, you will not be overwhelmed at all by tourists and might actually find great deals because they are trying to attract any type of business)... and the diving off molokini is phenomenal... as far as hotels, i'd recommend the maui coast hotel... i recently had family visiting and that's where i put them up (half the price of what you'd pay in wailea but very central to everything... from there you could walk to most things you'd like)... hope that helps...