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 GREAT experience!