Preferred Dive Ops - Oahu

[waterone]

I am traveling to Oahu soon and wanted to see what boat dive ops were preferred over the rest. I personally haven't had an OP stick out about the rest and seem to keep picking those that don't have their own boat.
I plan on doing a few wreck dives as always and taking my kids to the shallower dives along with some shore diving somewhere.

Thanks

 

[inquis]

Island Divers is pretty good. One nice perk on my last trip was a photographer in the water who sent out pics for free. On one trip, they let me and buddy do our thing around the wreck, no issues with swimthroughs on our own. A different trip it was "stick with the group", no swimthroughs, everyone up together. You might call for their current policy.

 

[waterone]

Thanks. I'll give them a ring. I have been hit or miss on the swim throughs anyhow, always dependent on the group.

 

[js1221]

Kaimana Divers on Oahu. Tell Gabe hi for me.

 

[waterone]

Kaimana Divers on Oahu. Tell Gabe hi for me.

I like Gabe but he does not have his own boat. One of the times I got put on a catlemeran and I'm not too fond of that.

 

[veryfastfourier]

I like Gabe but he does not have his own boat. One of the times I got put on a catlemeran and I'm not too fond of that.

Yeah—it's a shame that Gabe ended up having to sell his boat to Ruckus. It was really great when Kaimana ran their own boat, but I understand the economics of the decision.

I'm in the opposite camp and have had some bad experiences with Island Divers, and typically think of them as the most "cattle-like" of the dive shops on the island (obviously same goes for HSC, since it's the same dive op with a different name).

I've had some good experiences with Aaron's Dive Shop. The shop is in Kailua but the boat picks up in Hawai'i-Kai. It's a small boat, but the staff are friendly, and since it's a small boat there are never more than 6 divers on the boat. Fresh pineapple on the boat at the end of every charter is also appreciated!

 

[Zef]

I recently did a couple of night dives with the folks from Dive Oahu. I would dive with them again if I went back to the island.

-Z

 

[Simon B.]

I've had some good experiences with Aaron's Dive Shop. The shop is in Kailua but the boat picks up in Hawai'i-Kai. It's a small boat, but the staff are friendly, and since it's a small boat there are never more than 6 divers on the boat. Fresh pineapple on the boat at the end of every charter is also appreciated!

+1 on this, I've enjoyed diving with Aaron's and the small group plus pineapple makes their boat dives a good experience.

 

[waterone]

Thank you for the input on Aaron's 6 divers or so sounds just about right and it will also be nice to dive in a different area.

 

[scottitheduck]

Just to clarify...... 99% of the time we run on our old boat "Nacho" now called "Makai" and are running that 6pax 7 days a week 3 x daily at 7am, 10:30am and 1:30pm. 6 or less always and the most accomplished and experienced Dive Masters and Instructors on Oahu. Holler!