Maui Pacific Divers creates intimate, personalized ocean adventures aboard Paikea, a custom-built vessel designed by Captain Mikal for a smooth, comfortable ride. With small groups and private charters, Mikal and Maggie share thei...
Maui Pacific Divers creates intimate, personalized ocean adventures aboard Paikea, a custom-built vessel designed by Captain Mikal for a smooth, comfortable ride. With small groups and private charters, Mikal and Maggie share thei...
Maggie, Mikal, and their crew have built something genuinely special here. Private and small-group charters are their bread and butter, and it shows in how deeply they personalize each trip, whether that means hunting down remote dive sites on the back side of Lanai, tracking humpback whales, or simply making sure every person on board feels taken care of. Guests consistently rave about the crew's ocean knowledge, and the thoughtful little touches like hot cocoa after dives and homemade sandwiches keep coming up across reviews. The small group format is really the heart of the experience. Reviewers who've done bigger boat tours repeatedly say there's no comparison, and divers appreciate having sites almost entirely to themselves. The crew's conservationist ethos also stands out, with guides actively cleaning debris from the reef during dives. It's a small but telling detail about who these people are. If you're looking for a more curated, intimate day on the water around Maui, this crew is hard to beat.
What a great day! We did a full day, 3-tank dive at Lana'i with Dana, Tiffany and Cap'n Mikael. While the trip was not inexpensive, the memories are priceless. It was a bucketlist trip for my son as a gift for his senior year. We went a day earlier than booked when Maggie called and said a tropical storm was building and swell was growing. What a perfect decision that became as tides ripped the next day. Dana and Tiffany traded divemaster duties for each of the dives and Dana manned the camera when she wasn't leading. We felt safe, and completely comfortable at all times in the water. We brought our own gear and the boat supplied the nitrox. My son is a new diver, but not a beginner and I have logged a little more than 100 dives. Each of us felt at ease with the pace of the dive and with the experiences in the water. The locations were amazing. As with many places, there is quite a bit of bleaching, but the biodiversity during our dives were spectacular. The cathedrals were the first two dives and I cannot imagine going with a group more than our two divers and two divemasters. The stirred up sediment would have ruined the dives. The boat is as the company explains. For the two of us, there was plenty of room. It might be cramped for very large groups, but that is why we didn't want a boat with 20 people on it. Ha! The ride was quite smooth for a smaller boat. Mikael designed it himself and is a renaissance man and shared many interesting stories on our hour ride over to Lana'i. The crew supplied plenty of eats which we were happy to enjoy during surface intervals and Maggie in the office was super to work with when arranging our day. I would enthusiastically recommend MPD to any folks looking to get away from the cattle boats. As a great benefit, their boat is one of the first on the docks with parking away from the cattle-call loading zones and packed parking.
k s
August 28, 2026
What a great day! We did a full day, 3-tank dive at Lana'i with Dana, Tiffany and Cap'n Mikael. While the trip was not inexpensive, the memories are priceless. It was a bucketlist trip for my son as a gift for his senior year. We went a day earlier than booked when Maggie called and said a tropical storm was building and swell was growing. What a perfect decision that became as tides ripped the next day. Dana and Tiffany traded divemaster duties for each of the dives and Dana manned the camera when she wasn't leading. We felt safe, and completely comfortable at all times in the water. We brought our own gear and the boat supplied the nitrox. My son is a new diver, but not a beginner and I have logged a little more than 100 dives. Each of us felt at ease with the pace of the dive and with the experiences in the water. The locations were amazing. As with many places, there is quite a bit of bleaching, but the biodiversity during our dives were spectacular. The cathedrals were the first two dives and I cannot imagine going with a group more than our two divers and two divemasters. The stirred up sediment would have ruined the dives. The boat is as the company explains. For the two of us, there was plenty of room. It might be cramped for very large groups, but that is why we didn't want a boat with 20 people on it. Ha! The ride was quite smooth for a smaller boat. Mikael designed it himself and is a renaissance man and shared many interesting stories on our hour ride over to Lana'i. The crew supplied plenty of eats which we were happy to enjoy during surface intervals and Maggie in the office was super to work with when arranging our day. I would enthusiastically recommend MPD to any folks looking to get away from the cattle boats. As a great benefit, their boat is one of the first on the docks with parking away from the cattle-call loading zones and packed parking.
k s
August 28, 2026