My family got certified in Maui in 2018. When we were finally able to come back to our favorite place, we knew we wanted to get as many dives in a we can.
Dive shop in Maui are plentiful. Here are the key reason I went with Dive with Harmony:
- intimate experience vs. going on a boat with 10-12 (or more other divers) and changing instructors each trip
- woman-owned shop
- less time traveling via boat, more time in water (and doing other cool stuff on island)
- Harmony's AMAZING background (this woman has a PhD, former professor, and so smart)
- flexible, customizable packages
- ability to take a "refresher" (which was an actual dive at a great site, but a way to familiarize & get used to the water again)
I emailed in a request trying to accommodate our crazy schedule. No problem. Harmony called me and we chatted about what I wanted - there was no pressure and she was super flexible. Right off the bat, I knew I liked her and that she knew her stuff.
I ended up doing 5 dives with Harmony and her partner Dillon. My husband did two and my daughter did 3. Here is a snapshot of our experience:
- I did 4/5 dives with Harmony in groups of 4 or less. I never felt overlooked or rushed.
- the shore dive sites are really cool; I don't think I'll ever do boat dives again from Maui (case in point - one of the boat dives I did a few years ago took us all the way *back* to the shore...)
- Harmony has a nice presentation of what you should see and neat factoids about the animals. None of my other dives presented this in their briefing.
- excellent quality equipment & gear
- Harmony rescued a shark on our first dive and you can just tell how much she loves & cares for sea life (hopefully she will post this to their social media soon)
- I was very nervous about the Twilight & Night dives. They were, in fact, SO COOL. Lots of fun creatures come out to play!
- On a personal note, Harmony went out of her way (like WAYYY out) to connect with my teen who is going through some hard (non-dive related) stuff. I walked away feeling like we were real people and not just dollar signs.
Harmony and Dillon are working their asses off to make each dive a wonderful and memorable experience. I hope they find people just as knowledgeable and awesome to help them out in the meanwhile.
We will be back for sure.