Diving Oahu

[techsan]

My girlfriend, soon to be fiance, and I are going to Oahu the last week of July. She is doing her check out dive this weekend so that she will be ready to dive when we are there. I have been looking at many different dive shops on the island. Does anyone have feedback on which ones they recommend, dive sites, etc that will help me make her first ocean dive be memoriable?

 

[scubasean]

Call Jo at Island Divers (islanddivershawaii.com).

Tell em what you want and you'll be fixed up right.

My 14yr old got a really nice intro dive there, and then bugged me so much he's now certified to dive...heh

--Sean

 

[jwnca]

I was there this last Feb and had a great experience with Oahu Dive Center in Kailua.

It just so happened that my wife sit up part of our stay with a rental property agent and the owner of the property was a partner in this dive shop.

The people were really nice and went out of their way to make the experience pleasant.

http://www.oahudivecenter.com/

P.S. Without breaking any laws, Bob, the dive master got me within about 5-7 feet from a sea turtle. Very cool experience.

If you happen to go with them and see Briggs, tell him John Witt suggested them. He'd probably remember me, for I was renting in partner's rental property, and when there was bad weather and the boat captain cancelled the dive, the came up with an alternative beach dive and refunded half my $$$. I'll definitely be diving with them when I make it back.

 

[DeputyDan]

Oops!!!

Never mind - I read the original post incorrectly.

 

[blawler1]

Captain Bruce is a good operator and provides free pick up/drop off service from Hotels in the Waikaki area. They do something that is kind of different as well , they offer introduction to nitrox, where a certified diver can dive nitrox without nitrox certification for only the additional cost of the nitrox tank. They also have 100 cu ft tanks (upon prior request) for more bottom time.

As far as the sites, the ones that we did would probably be a little advanced for a new diver. These included the Sea Tiger wreck (about 115' to the sand) and the corsair wreck (about 110')

We did one dive by an old dainage pipe that was not that spectacular, but we saw an octopus and met a small white tip shark coming out of the end of the pipe.

Some thing that you may want to do is try some shore dives around the island. This time of year, the conditions should be favorable all around the island, so check with local operators for sites and tanks.