DM / LDS needed

[wedivebc]

My friend is an airline pilot who makes frequent trips to Hawaii. He wants to learn to dive and has asked my to accompany him on a trip to teach him. I have never dove in Hawaii so I need to work with a DM who can help out with suitable dive sites locating equipment and leading dives. I also need to find a dive store for rental equipment.
I was thinking I could go a couple of different ways. 1 pay for it outright or 2 I could bring a student or 2 from a local dive store and train them alongside my buddy and the LDS could cover costs.
My buddy flies into Oahu but we also considered going to Maui. Any thoughts or recommendations on this idea would be appreciated.

 

[mjcoussens]

On Oahu I would suggest getting in touch with either Breeze Hawaii or Dive Oahu. Both shops have their own boats although I think Breeze is the only one of the two that rents gear which is pretty cheap at $35/day including a tank. As far as cert dives and such, I've always seen classes going on at Magic Island, the Trench, and Shark's Cove. I would think that Magic Island would be the best place to start as there is a protected lagoon that would enable you to go through all the basic skills and drills as you would in a pool. Other sites you may want to consider would be found on shorediving.com

Hope this helps,

Matt

 

[KrisB]

On Maui, there's several shops to choose from. Your best bet for a true LDS feel is Maui Dreams. They're in Kihei and won't try to sell you horseback riding adventures, nor timeshares... so it's a nice change in that respect.

Other than that, on Maui a lot of cert dives are done off Airport Beach (near Kaanapali in "West" Maui -- more like the north-half of the leeward side) and Ulua Beach (near Wailea in "South" Maui -- the south-half of the leeward side).

HTH,