Hire Scuba Mike only if you're advanced or at a minimum proficient at diving. As a brand new student having only been trained in a pool, Mike was too aggressive and impatient. He also took my friend on a second dive to the same spot. He has lost his passion for diving and teaching. He told me to stop taking my regulator out/ stop talking and then tried to pull me underwater before I was comfortable. He talked incessantly about himself and his wife/life while outfitting us on the grass. We were patiently waiting to dive but when it was time for him to reciprocate the patience he scolded me. Then at the van when I was declining to go under or dive with him - he said to me like a complete male chauvinist pig "If you would have just done what I said, we could've had a great time" read more

Ok, so we booked a private family scuba tour on a whim. I was a little nervous reading some of the reviews. Our instructor was Scott. He was seriously amazing. It was my first time scuba diving and I was so nervous and in my head. He was compassionate and let me go at my own speed and comfort level. I was able to get out of my head and just enjoy the experience. One of the best experiences ever and sooo relaxing once you're underwater. Definitely recommend this instructor! read more

Amazing instructor! Helped my husband and I become certified scuba divers a few years back. I can't believe it took me this long since we talk about Scuba Mike all of the time. He "held our hand" through the whole process and made us feel at ease. We loved him so much that we quickly schedule another dive during that same trip. I would highly recommend Scuba Mike!! He is a pro! read more

Helped me with a refresher dive ( I hadn't been diving in 7 years). Did two shore dives and Mike's instruction helped to restore my confidence and competence and get me back into the water. Mike is very patient and knowledgeable about Maui dive sites. Highly recommend! read more

Germans are into safety and good gear. Two good things to look for in a scuba instructor. Scuba Mike is a German-born adventurer who should have 3 movies made about him. A trilogy should cover his life. A professional athlete, playing in the Bundesliga, coaching, teaching scuba, skiing, and being a sponsored windsurfer. Sorry, Mike if I left out a few things. Scuba Mike is awesome. His knowledge of diving and adventure, in general, is definitely worth 5 stars. I am no shill. I'm a lawyer who went to Maui with another hard-to-please lawyer and a bunch of semi-professional adventurers and their families. One of them found Scuba Mike and signed up 4 of our kids for scuba lessons. Although I am a seasoned adventurer, snowboarder, pilot, horseman, a veteran of snorkeling in Ko Samui, Roatan, Cozumel, Tioman, Ko Samet, Cancun, the Bahamas, and a few other places that I have forgotten, I was still a bit concerned about having my 15 and 13-year-old girls scuba. I was a bit concerned for myself as well. If you are going to be an adventurer you need to have some basic common sense and competence. The couch is the best place for whiners and people who have a small comfort zone (tip: place your couch near the fridge). Once Faye found Scuba Mike and we all met him all my concerns were laid to rest. Mike has been been a scuba instructor for many years. He is a no-nonsense German and I like that. I lived near his hometown in Germany for a few years so I am used to the no-nonsense technical and safety-centric German attitude. Faye and her husband are veterans of 40 or more dives. She said that she wished Mike had been her instructor and was glad he was teaching her daughter. We had rented snorkel gear from Snorkel Bob's. They have a snorkel report that I recommend everyone getting. This tells you where the best conditions are. It makes a difference. We had some friends that were down a few beaches to the south of Airport beach in Wailea and we wanted to meet up with them. Mike said that the conditions down there were not good and we should stick to Airport beach on that day. We listened to him, and later in the day, we got the report from our friends who said that down in Wailea it was murky and choppy. One thing I have learned in my travels to over 40 countries...if you are going to hire a guide...take their advice. Following Mike's advice, we were in crystal clear water the whole time. If you are going to scuba...or snorkel, get the snorkel report or just listen to Mike. He is trying to help you. Mike only takes small groups. I saw one of the other diving classes near us on Airport beach and there must have been 12 people in that class and one instructor. Mike limits his classes to groups of 5 to 6. In our class, it was just four people in our group. There is a lot to learn with scuba. Some things, like the dive table, are a bit daunting at first. Mike spent 2 hours teaching us at Aunties Kitchen on the beach before we took our test. He reviewed everything from our four dives and by the time he administered the test we were ready. This guy wants to teach you. He really wants to share his passion for diving. I would like to thank Mike for getting our crew addicted to diving and Maui. We are already planning our next trip to Maui and will hire Mike as our Scuba guide. Hanging out with him was one of the highlights of our trip. We can't wait to try out the scooters! Awesome adventure! Thanks again for everything! See you in a couple of months! read more

We have done 4 dives with Mike over the last two years. We are not certified but Mike takes us on more challenging dives each time. Our last dive was a scooter dive on the south side of Maui and it was awesome. Tons of caverns, arches, sharks, fish and turtles. Totally great. Plus Mike is the coolest guy. Great stories of adventure, my boys loved him. read more

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The most terrible experience ever with Mike! I just paid this guy $600+ for open water padi certification and didn't even get certified. Plus had an unsafe experience! This guy had me in tears. First of all, Mike is super rude and impatient. If you ask him something, he'd say I already explained it to you so many times and it's just simple why don't you get it. He has some serious temper issues. When I was not getting something, he got really agitated and angrily held my arm so hard, he was almost hurting me! He doesn't follow safety protocols!! On way out of one of my dives, I lost one of the weights that's supposed to help you sink in water when you go down. I told him I feel lopsided, he rolled his eyes and said it's just how you swim. Then we went on a repetitive dive on same day within a few mins. And he did not make us do the compulsory safety check before going. So I went diving without one of the weights!!! And obviously couldn't achieve negative buoyancy and sink. He shouted at me for not being able to sink, shouted I'm not going to certify you and pulled me down in water. The whole time in the water I had to hold on to the rocks underneath to keep me from floating up while he just kept focusing on the other diver and pretty much gave up on me. It was the worst and scariest experience ever!! When we came up and I told him we should have done the safety check before the repetitive dive he first tried to deny the fact that we didn't do the safety check and then blamed me for losing a very expensive weight. This is not enough. On one of the training dives, in the open water, he swam ahead too fast and lost me. I lost him. And so I was there in the deep water, alone, couldn't see him!!!! I just swam up by myself and hoped I would be fine and wouldn't need an ambulance! He just rolled his eyes and said you have to keep up. On a repetitive dive, I got really really cold and told him I was cold as the book tells you to tell your instructor. He just rolled his eyes and swam away. He wanted me to pay him for 2 more classes to finish my certification. When I told him I'm going to go with another diving school he threatened to not sign my log book. Everyone has their own learning pace and skills that he doesn't know how to respect. And nothing justifies him being disrespectful and rude like that. And more than anything it doesn't justify making me feel unsafe and leaving me alone in water. Please don't encourage his business and keep safe, don't dive with him. read more

Beach Dive was OK - did 2 dives - was mistake - same dive over again - Dive Guide Mike was fast swimmer with long fins - not easy to keep up with read more

Extremely rude and dismissive. Would interrupt by asking the same question I was trying to answer. Very impatient and condescending. Safe yourself the hassle and find someone else. read more

We sis not have the pleasure of having Mike as our dive instructor but we did have a great man names Charles. It was my second time diving and my wife's first time. My wife was very nervous about tiger sharks but Charles calmed her down with his knowledge of the ocean. We got to see 2 electric eels and an octopus! Fish of course too. We did not see any turtles but after we were done I grabbed my snorkel gear and found 2 turtles :) We had a blast! My wife loved it and would do it again. Thank you Mike for sending us Charles!! read more

We had an amazing experience doing 5 dives and becoming advanced divers. I had a scare diving a few months ago and thought I would never dive again. Scuba Mike was a great instructor and helped me get over my fears and now I can't wait to go diving again. I highly recommend him and you have to try is scooters !!! They are the bomb and make the dive so much fun. read more

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I can't thank Mike enough. It was my first dive and I was a handful. I came with an extreme childhood fear of the water, he talked me through them and very patiently got me to scuba first time ever!!! It was one on one, he was patient, kind, understanding and all about safety and protocol. I definitely would whole heartedly recommend him. Thank you for holding my hand Mike! You helped me work through something I never thought I could read more

My husband and I had a great time with Barry. The group was small so we felt like we got quality time with the instructor. Barry was really informative and patient enough to let us explore our adventurous side. We also learned how to use the scooters while diving and it was a BLAST. Absolutely recommend scooter dives if you've never tried it. Moving fast on a scooter also gave us enough speed to adventure to a very private reef where we saw more fish than anywhere else on the island. Amazing pictures and memories. Thanks Barry and Scuba Mike! read more

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My family has been getting certified to scuba dive this trip. Scott from Scuba Mike has been able to make everyone feel comfortable and excited as they learn the required skills. My youngest has a tendency to get distracted and has needed significant extra help. Scott has way exceeded our expectations with his patience and willingness to stay in the water longer than planned to help my son. Would totally recommend Scott and Scuba Mike. read more

We had a great experience with Mike. From his onshore instructions to making us comfortable in the water, this guy knows his stuff and he created a fun and safe time. His equipment was also very good and we had no issues. We highly recommend Mike! read more

Mike was my instructor for my first dive snd he was awesome. His instructions were clear and he ensured i understood everything before diving . My dive was great and definitely one of the highlights of trip to Maui. Will definitely recommend him read more

Great first dive with our son. SCUBA Mike was a great teacher with him - super patient. Made his first dive amazing. Thanks for a great day! read more

We went to Hawaii for the first time and my 13 year old daughter is a certified diver, but not a strong diver. We hired Scuba Mike to dive with her and he was AWESOME. SO nice and friendly and helpful. read more

Scuba mike took my family out for a scuba adventure around Maui and it was really cool! He is a master diver, champion windsurfer and surf instructor etc etc. He does it all. So he basically took care of the entire group for a week or so, we went all around from Lahaina to Hana, real knowledgeable and a nice guy, not sure what Kimberly's problem was, but I read the reply and sounds like there is more to the story. Anyway, give him a go, we did and it was a great experience. 5 stars all the way. read more

A very exquisite experience with Scuba Mike. His gear was very nice, sanitary, and easy to use. At the start i had trouble getting over the fear of under water but, he was very good at calming me down and keeping down under water. we did 2 dives the first day and decided to come back for 5 more dives across our whole trip to Maui. That were amazing! We got certified and it was a very swift process with the help of Scuba Mike and his knowledge. I 10/10 recommend Scuba Mike to anyone wanting to have a fun time diving or getting certified. read more

More like Scuba Jerk! Mike may be a good guide, but he is a horrible instructor. He has absolutely NO PATIENCE and when I had trouble with my equipment, instead of helping me through it, he yelled and sweared at me to the point of making me cry. We really wanted to get certified but ending up canceling the rest of our dives and trying to get SOME of our money back. We would NOT recommend him to anyone that hasn't already had tons of professional training. read more

Mike answered the phone, he was so incredibly rude that we ended up not booking with him, we asked about the price and this was his answer in a very condescending way "a Kia and a Mercedes both have 4 wheels but they have different experiences" not explaining anything else. Terrible read more

Did a discovery dive in Jan and ended up coming back to Maui in May. Once we had the 2nd trip booked we knew we'd be going back to Scuba Mike to get our Open Water Certification. Mike spent 2 days with us on for the cert then took us on a scooter dive. What an experience! Mike is a great instructor. He casually covered everything in instructional booklet during general conversation so by the time we had to study for our test, we already knew it all. Great guy, great service in a great location. Look no further Scuba Mike is your guy! read more

If you are looking to do a first time dive, DO NOT have Mike as an instructor! Apparently having been on one dive 26 yrs ago made me "experienced". One of the other guys, I'll call him "John", in our small group of 4 also dove @ 20 yrs ago so I guess that made him "experienced" as well. My husband was in the group who had a little experience from his teen yrs and the other was a student working towards being a master diver. He was down right mean to John with basically no experience. Once in the water I couldn't keep myself down no matter how hard I tried. He would grab me and push me down. My mask kept filling up with water. While trying to get the water out, the strap would come undone! I told him on land it didn't feel like a good fit but he said he tested it on me and it was a good fit, I was wearing it wrong. Side note...I rented a snorkel mask from Boss Frogs and had no problems with water filling my mask because I was fitted properly. He also told John after the 1st dive that he adjusted Johns BC "6 or 7 times down there" which wasn't true. I was stupid enough to go on a second dive but with a scooter. I thought it would be easier. Well it wasn't I ended up getting sick from the water blowing out of the scooter hitting my stomach. I lasted almost the entire dive before I signaled to him that I needed to go up and he was not happy. While we were going back to shore, he made a comment that implied he had a bad group of people, me and John anyway. My husband had no problems what so ever. If you're experienced he's probably great. If you are a first time diver, find someone else. read more

Went to scuba Mike on my Hawaii vacation. The scuba experience was amazing being my first time but Mike is very rude. Not very patient and I felt he cut us short in time. He and his assistant were arguing the whole time in front of us. Not very professional read more

Mike is the very best instructor hands down. I first learned to dive with Mike 12 yrs ago. We did 12 dives in 10 days. There has probably never been a person more afraid of this adventure than me. Mike was extremely patient, but most of all...safety was always his greatest concern. We recently returned to Maui and looked to see if Mike was still on the island. Thank goodness he was! We had a great reunion!!! Mike remembered us as well and he took us out for an amazing 4 dives!!! I considered myself a beginner, as we have not dove since the last time we were in Maui. Mike gave me all the training and reminders I needed. Then as we got into the water, Mike sensed my nervousness and took me by the hand for the first 30 mins of the dive. His #1 priority is his divers safety, then to have a great experience. Those were my priorities too. Mike always has the most cutting edge NEW equipment! We used his underwater scooters on 3 of the 4 dives. Those make the experience AMAZING. I would not dive without them again. Anyone looking for the greatest scuba experience in Maui, they must see Mike. With as many times as we have used Mike as our Master Diver, I cannot understand how anyone can write a negative review about him. read more

Maui Scuba Mike - Mike makes sure we have the best dives to see the most amazing things. Sea turtles on every dive. - Scuba Diving Near Me

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We had a great experience with scuba Mike. He is extremely professional and a great structure. We always felt safe and enjoy the beautiful sites that we had a chance to see. Would highly recommend him to anyone. He is also super fun and a good person to be around. He is always really positive. If you're planning on getting certified you should definitely go with SCUBA Mike! read more

When I met Mike he automatically test me with what I know. Its a personal reference really on how you prefer your teacher. He's honest upfront and assertive which may come off offensive to some people. But this activity is life and death for us newbies. He really educated me on the skills and taught me things in my other class that I didn't even know about. He has good intentions. I paid him educate me and test my skills. That is exactly what he provided us read more

What can we say about Mike? Absolutely top guy and fantastic instructor! I was nervous about diving and he absolutely put me at ease 100% so much so after our PADI course we ended up booking another dive with him on the scooters. Wonderful course and a laugh a minute I would reccomend Mike to any diver especially if you are a little nervous, you will come away absolutely hooked!! Maholo Mike!! read more

This was my first dive and I could not have asked for a better instructor, mike is great. My only regret is I didn't call mike my first day on the island read more

Mike was amazing. I have logged a couple dives and it was my girlfriends first dive. Mike made her feel extremely comfortable and safe the entire time. It is obvious that Mike is very educated and knows what he is talking about. There was no point where my girlfriend felt scared or uneducated enough to make a safe first dive. We loved getting to know Mike and hearing some of his stories. He is a truly one of a kind person and I wouldn't want to dive with anyone else. My girlfriend and I had a blast and would definitely dive with Mike again if we ever make it back to Maui!!! read more

I was so stoked to go scuba diving for first time. Mike was a great instructor but a little rough on beginners. Overall it was a great experience, but scuba diving in Maui- how could it not be good. My issues: he cancelled on us for the original date then put us in a group with ALL very experienced divers. Which might have been a good thing Bc we dove right in. Even for a beginner both dives felt rushed (but what do I know). I enjoyed the scooters. But really my issue is I had trouble equalizing my ears going down and Mike descended FAST, didn't want to wait. I would use Mike again. And probably will have a better experience now that I have experience! read more

On our Maui vacation we took 2 dives with Scuba Mike. I am not sure what happened on other dives with Mike but I can say ours was very enjoyable and we had an amazing time. Scuba Mike was very professional, knowledgeable, fun and took safety as priority. I felt very comfortable diving with Scuba mike. As a first time diver I can say that he insured I was comfortable and helped me face my fear. I would absolutely recommend Scuba Mike to others! read more

We are advanced certified divers & did a scooter dive with Scuba Mike in Maui on Sunday, April 22. We were running late and while he patiently waited for us, he set up BCDs and the scooters. He gave us good instruction since we had never used scooters before. Although we brought some equipment, his was newer and nicer so we used it. The dive was fantastic. Mike was attentive and informative, keeping a close eye on all 4 of us. He also took pictures and video with our underwater camera. We couldn't have asked for much better. The reef was full of colorful fish and turtles. Thanks, Scuba Mike, and we loved your little pup Monkey. read more

Not the best experience with Mike. Booked an adventure dive for 2 with Scuba Mike. Scuba Mike sent someone named Mark to meet us for our adventure dive @ Kaanapali Beach. When paying for Mike, you would expect Mike to show up. Regardless, we met Mark and his wife. They were nice people overall. The weather did not cooperate and according to Mark we could not dive at the agreed upon location due to waves (despite others diving). Mark could not work out an alternate date/time for us to dive despite Mike telling us the other side of the island was calm when we phoned him to share our feedback about the failed dive. Mike was short on the telephone and would not make himself available to meet us. I'm giving Scuba Mike 2 stars because Mark and his wife went over the oral instruction portion of the course. Scuba mike gave us less than a 50% refund on the course. We wasted a day in Hawaii due to this. Beware read more

He ruptured my eardrum, we all could have died and he ruined the make-a-wish for my chemotherapy recovering son. Jekyll and Hyde comes to mind. Nice guy on land, madman in the water. The last guy you want to entrust with your own personal safety, let alone your wife and kids. I have scuba-dived multiple times before and had great experiences because the instructors were sensible and gradually led us calmly into the water, but not this guy. "Madman Mike" had us holding hands and running like navy seals headfirst into the water, then yelled at us to frantically put on our fins while trying to stay afloat in wetsuits and scuba gear buffeted by turbulent waves, at which point, not surprisingly, one of my son's fins was lost amidst the hectic mayhem. He then yelled at strangers on the beach to find it for us who looked at him bewildered. He clearly cared more for the lost fin than any of us or the fact that my son now only had one fin. He then gave us a "tough luck" attitude and left my son without a fin while he harshly rushed us on against the turbulent waves with kids who had never dived before. In past scuba experiences the instructors took us from a quiet spot and we simply walked gradually deeper into the ocean but "Madman Mike" wanted us to make a 15 foot drop instantly and he had zero patience (as you see in other reviews here and in Yelp under Scuba Mike https://www.yelp.com/biz/scuba-mike-kahului-2?sort_by=rating_asc , etc). He was yelling and barking out orders like some ops commander gone wrong. It was total chaos and I was doing my best to protect my small children from his onslaught as one of my sons was struggling enough with the challenge, let alone being faced by the oppressive dictator. What happened next I think saved all of our lives from being 30 feet under with the "beast". My wife got significantly ill and started vomiting. Fortunately, it didn't happen while we were 30 feet under or she may have drowned. I was having trouble equalizing my ears which I expressed to "Madman Mike" at the surface, so what did he do? The grand finale to the hellfire - he violently grabbed me by the wetsuit at the surface, literally ripping the hairs out of my chest, and then proceeded to drag me and push me forcefully all the way to the bottom of the ocean within seconds and then, to top it off, he jammed a giant rock in my hand to hold me down there. During this torture, surprise, surprise - my eardrum burst, all the ocean water flowed in, I suffered vertigo with the whole ocean spinning around me and that was the end of what was supposed to be the fulfillment of my son's make-a-wish after completing chemotherapy for cancer and totally ruined the rest of our once-in-a-lifetime Hawaii vacation as this was only the 2nd day. On top of that, I am a professional musician and having a ruptured eardrum has already caused me months of suffering and serious consequences to my profession let alone simply needing the ability to hear for life. After doing more research, I found this is not the first time clients have had these same violent issues with "madman" Scuba Mike but it appears he has worked very hard to deny everything and cover his tracks (SEE OTHER REVIEWS where he claims the person was never a client). If you search ScubaMikedotnet - www.scubamike.net you will find other similar reviews on yelp and google. It appears he then changed his business name to MauiScubaMikedotcom - www.mauiscubamike.com to hide these reviews. Well, I guess he'll have to change his name again. Of course, I contacted Mike first about it but do you think he cared or tried to make any reparations? NOPE - NADA! Just another victim along his trail of terror. So, now you know. I encourage you to do your own research and go with a more reputable brick and mortar company. Not a guy who tells you to meet him at some corner of a beach and then shows up shirtless in some old van that he probably lives in. Guess that should have been the first clue. Hindsight is 20/20, just wish it was 20/20 hearing, too. Save yourself and your family and go somewhere else. read more

Mike is arrogant and has a bad temper. I am not sure why others have given him a good review. He talks way too much and is full of himself. He is opinionated and really doesn't like people. read more

Talk about an amazing scuba diving experience! Barry was an incredible and fun instructor to be with. He was very patient and made my husband and I feel very comfortable while diving. If you are prone to getting sea sick like me, then this is definitely the dive for you! We were able to go right from shore into the water from a local beach in Lahaina and it was so much easier than traveling out on a boat. Barry took us out to an incredible coral reef where we were able to see a variety of beautiful fish and other see creatures! If you are ever in Maui I would highly, highly recommend going to scuba with these guys! read more

i picked scuba mike based on his clear website, reviews like this, and a phone chat. the experience exceeded my expectations by a long shot. it was an experience, not just a class with a certification at the end. mike answers questions like a professor, ensures the important safety aspects are well understood, and notices everything in/out of the water. he obviously enjoys what he does and enjoys instructing others to do things the 'right way'. i appreciated how flexible he was on my schedule constraints. i also enjoyed his insightful editorial discussions on everything from healthy eating to adventures of all kinds. mike is a guy you can trust to be safe and learn as much as you can soak in! my next goal is to come back with my kids and ensure we all get open water certified. read more

Prior to arriving in Maui, we spent many days looking over many venues in Maui, to provide lessons, instruction, mentoring, dives, and most of all, personal attention and commitment to safety. We read many, many reviews for each venue. Despite a couple negative reviews, we read many positive reviews, and decided on "Scuba Mike". While still on the main land, Mike, our instructor, planned together; our week of events and sent us our Crew Paks, allowing us to read and study the lessons before we arrived in Maui. Upon arriving, we reviewed/finalized our pre-plan for training, dives, dates, time, and location. After the second dive, Mike informed us of a new dive site, due strong currents resulting King Tide. We had no issues finding the new location. During our training and dives, Mike spent as much time, as needed (sometimes more than what was scheduled), assuring we understood the training and dive objectives. He spent one-on-one time with any student he felt needed it. We had 2-4 people at any one time. Mike's attention to underwater safety was flawless, we never felt unsafe. Mike's years of experience and diving knowledge precedes him; in that, we were encouraged, we felt at ease and able to perform well. We are looking forward to diving with Scuba Mike again. Thanks Scuba Mike for the GREAT experience. read more