The island of Lanai is only about 10 miles from the western part of Maui; it’s visible from Kaanapali beach and Lahaina. But since the island is very sparsely inhabited and almost entirely owned by one (very, very rich) man, we didn’t know much about it before we visited. Luckily for us, one of the activities bookers at our hotel told us about the awesome scuba diving off Lanai’s southern coast.

Underwater lava tubes have formed two areas that resemble cathedrals: One has an altar-like rock in the center, the other has a giant albino black coral “chandelier” inside (that’s it in the photo above). Both have light streaming in from holes in the lava, which suggests stained glass windows in an above-water church. It’s pretty amazing.

We actually were a little concerned about diving inside what are basically underwater caves, but the light streaming in made it both beautiful and significantly less scary.

 

Because we went with a large group, it was a little crowded on the dive. We also had to ride on a boat out to the dive site, and several people got sick, either on the ride over, the ride from one site to another, or the ride back. I got a little queasy myself, but getting in the water helped tremendously.

And the dives were worth it. We were really lucky in that we were able to go to both cathedrals — groups usually are only able to go to one or the other.

I’m glad we got to see both, and that we saw a lot of sea life, including an eagle ray.

So, while diving at Mala Pier was awesome, I would also recommend taking a trip out to Lanai if you get a chance. We went with Lahaina Divers, and we really liked the guides (Levi was our guide and took all these photos, but Josie is also really cool). They also set us up with all the gear, of course, plus food on the boat and everything else we needed.

My hair didn’t fare very well, but that’s what conditioner and detangler are for, right?

All photos by Levi of Lahaina Divers