Hawaii Dive shops

[wcaptain]

I am going to be in Oahu in a few weeks. Does anyone have any recommendations for Dive shops? Any help appreciated.

 

[RJP]

Do you want to go shopping or diving?

 

[abscuba]

What kind of diving are you looking to do? Shops can be very hit or miss and living here I generally don't use them. Depending on what kind of diving you want to do you can probably find a group out here that is not connected to a shop that can help. Shops here will help with a lot of logistics, but I see many that want you in and out of the water so the next group can get in and they will shove as many divers on a boat as they can get. How long are you going to be here, what kind of diving are you looking to do?

 

[wcaptain]

I am looking to do some diving. Since this is primarily a family vacation I am not going to be taking most of my gear. So I will need to rent and also won't have much time to dive just a couple of mornings. I am mostly interested in photography so that would be reef diving, but I also would like to dive one of the wrecks. I have a PADI Master Scuba rating.

 

[RJP]

Where on Oahu will you be staying? I don't want to assume Waikiki.

I've dove with Alex at Alex's Aquatic Adventures in the past and had a good time. His website (Alex's Aquatic Adventures - Home) now says that he works with Hawaiian Diving Adventures... so maybe he sold his boat and charters his customers through them? When I dove with him last - several years ago now - he offered pick-up/drop-off at the major Waikiki hotels. No idea if he still does that, but the Kewalo Basin boat harbor is right there behind the Hilton so it's a short taxi ride there from any of the usual hotels.

Do note that Oahu reefs (in fact all of Hawaii) are not really all that "reefy" in the way that you'll find in the Caribbean, etc. My personal take is that Oahu diving is fairly sparse. For instance, one of the popular south shore spots is the Kewalo Pipe Reef. As the name implies... it's a pipe.

Stuff has grown on and around it, and there's a fair bit of life in spots. But you'll never confuse this, or any Oahu reef with something in the Cayman Islands or Bonaire. Or even Maui or Kona.

 

[abscuba]

I don't really dive with any of the shops here however the 2 that will usually get you the best service will be honolulu scuba and patricks diving adventures. As for the reefs RJP Hawaii is not Belize there are not large grand reefs especially where the big dive boats go. There are a number of wrecks (not like Truk or the torpedo alley) that have a good amount of life if you are not on a large boat. One problem a lot of the boats have is they dump 20 divers on one wreck most of which are brand new into diving and all the sea life goes into hiding. There is good diving here, but not much reef.

 

[iamrushman]

i have dove in Hawaii many times...on the last few visits i have used Aaron's dive shop and Patrick's diving adventures. Not knowing where you will be staying this will get you started.

 

[Doc]

I don't know much about Hawaii, many years ago we did Nihau, but I'm not expecting that level of excitement off of Oahu. That said...

We have free lodging in Honolulu with cheap airfares, but willing to drive. Any chance of Mantas? (Night and Current are not an issue for us)

Hate to pass up a cheap trip (for us) just out of my abundant ignorance.

Mantas? >¥< Buehler? Anyone?

 

[RJP]

We have free lodging in Honolulu with cheap airfares, but willing to drive. Any chance of Mantas?

Drive to the airport and fly to Kona.

 

[wcaptain]

Thanks for all of the help! Since this is basically a family vacation, I will need to limit my dive to a couple of mornings. We are staying at the Sheraton Waikiki. I appreciate all of your suggestions and welcome any more thoughts.