Oahu dives...

[ScubaChief]

Hello all, I am on Oahu for the next 30 days for work and just found out I'll have the weekend of Oct 11-13 off. I was just wondering were the most bang for the buck beach dives are? Since I didn't bring any gear I'll just rent everything from the shop in the hotel and throw it in the rental and go, I have heard the north shore is the spot but can be kind of iffy this time of year and it changes daily...

Thanks in advance for your help!!

 

[Shaka Doug]

Congratulations on your trip and getting the weekend off!

May I make a suggestion about getting your gear? Before you rent from the shop at the hotel, maybe you will find a better place to get your equipment from that is more locally oriented. Nothing against hotel shops, (I've worked at my share over the years), but with our economy the way it is and with dive shops closing, I think it's better use of your money to spend it at a local dive business than to fork money over to hotels that take the money away from our local economy. I'm sure there are many Oahu folks that will read this that can offer you suggestions of where to acquire the gear and also where to splash for best conditions and critters. It's a couple of weeks away so that should be enough time to figure something out.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[MikeRDar]

Welcome to Oahu. For what it's worth, the North swell just starting to kick in, so there's still a chance you'll find a flat or at least manageable day to dive the north shore. Search "Oahu Surf Report" and check out the forecast a couple days before you want to go. It will tell you which sides of the island might be ugly.

Some of the big names for shore diving are Sharks Cove & Three Tables on the north shore, and Electric Beach & Makaha on the west side (known as Waianae for the town/harbor in the middle). ShoreDiving.com - Your Shore Diving and Snorkeling Web Community! has great directions, descriptions, and photos of all of the above.

Oh, and for a good shop I'd recommend Ocean Concepts (Scuba Diving Oahu with Ocean Concepts Hawaii - Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii). I've been diving with them for a couple years and am a big fan.

Hope you enjoy your stay!

 

[pmetz]

As for gear....rent the gear at ocean concepts over at pearl harbor (next to the memorial). They have the highest quality rental gear Ive seen on the island and they price it really good (all new aqualung legends and seaquest weight integrated bcds with full wetsuits and suunto computers).
The website for surf reports is Surf News Network
And all the sites listed in the above post are good bets.

 

[jjgibo]

Haha Metz you don't want to send the guy to the company you work for?

 

[scottitheduck]

Or, you could hire a local guide who will provide ALL the gear, knowledge on the site, specifics about the profile and will guide the dive..... I wonder where one of those might be found....hmmmm?

Aloha,

G

 

[pmetz]

ha ha jon jon......too bad I'm an independent contractor....so I give suggestions based on my experiences or in this case where I send my buddies to get gear when they visit and need gear. That's the joy of not being tied down to a shop. Had fun teaching with you bro.

 

[jjgibo]

independent contractor, haha i need to become one of those. Although I will probably continue to send people to "the shop" cause its all i know, but I am sure you will educate me more about what else is out there. Heck you even got me thinking about learning about DIR and maybe getting a DIR rig

 

[hollyonashoestring]

Hey there. Hope you had a good weekend of diving. If you do any more diving during your stay or want a good deal on gear rental, feel free to pop into our shop Deep Ecology, here on the North Shore in Haleiwa. As mentioned the surf is up, but we might be able to squeeze in a couple more days here and there on the north shore, but that is all play it by ear right now. We are moving our boat over to the west side right now, so if you want to do any cool wreck diving or cavern diving with us over there give us a call.
Mahalo.
Deep Ecology Dive Shop
Dive Deep Ecology Hawaii
808 637-7946

 

[jjgibo]

Deep Ecology is a good operation as well. They have some pretty good instructors, I just finished my IE with two of their newest instructors. I really liked diving with them.