Snuba: Going deeper
MAUI
at Black Rock
5 Nights Maui
The Fairmont Kea Lani Maui
from $1,464*pp
Package Includes:
• 5 days Alamo rental car
• Fairmont Suite with 5th Night FREE
• Daily breakfast for two
®
Airfares available nationwide!
1-800-274-8687 • www.allabouthawaii.com
*Price is per person, double occupancy, including all applicable taxes. Rate DOES NOT include airfare. Valid
5/7 - 6/16/13 & 8/25-12/20/13. Based on availability; subject to change without notice. Restrictions & blackout
dates apply. CST #2011557-50
If you want to hear humpback whales inging underwater, it’s important to get he depth right.
Dive too deep and their calls
grow mumbled and indistinct.
Stay too close to the surface and
other noises, like the splashing
of nearby snorkelers or even the
squeals of children playing on
the beach, can overpower everything. And generally it’s best to
hold your breath, especially if
you’re using a Snuba regulator
that’s churning out Darth Vader
impressions each time you inhale
or exhale.
Hovering now above the sandy
ocean floor, an arm’s length or so
from a vertical wall of black lava
rock, I quit breathing for a moment into my Snuba regulator, a
mouthpiece connecting me with
20 feet of tubing attached to an
air tank floating on the surface,
and marvel at the unmistakably
clear sound of whale songs.
“That’s the male whales serenading females,” Demetrius
Xenos, a guide for Maui-based
Shoreline Snuba, told me during
a later interview. “They’re here
purely to try and get chicks and
make babies — the same thing
the rest of the visitors are doing.”
A certified dive master with
15 years of scuba experience, Xenos takes folks out regularly to
try Snuba, so named for its mixture of snorkeling and scuba, at
Kaanapali Beach’s famous Black
Rock, a large lava formation
fronting the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa.
“Snuba is basically scuba div-
ing without all the hassles,” Xenos
explained. “It’s going one step
further than snorkeling, [and]
you don’t need to be certified, so
you don’t need to take any classes
to try diving and get the experi-
ence of breathing underwater.”
Shoreline Snuba first partnered
with the Sheraton Maui in early
2012, offering the activity to Val-
ley Isle visitors interested in a
different view of the remarkable
underwater structures at Black
Rock, a longtime favorite for
snorkelers, and a closer look at
the attraction’s vibrant coral for-
mations and plentiful sea life.
“I loved it because I wasn’t ex-
pecting to see that much since it’s
a Snuba excursion right off the
shore,” said Judd Barrington, a
concierge at Lahaina-based Beach
Activities of Maui.
