Oahu/Kona Dive report

[trtllovr]

Hello all,

I've been home for about a month now and am finally getting around to my report for you. We were on a cruise around the islands then we stayed on the north shore of Oahu for a few days after. Since we had limited time in Kona we had to go with a day dive. We went with Jacks Diving Locker. They were great, very tentative to our needs. The boat was nice and had friendly staff. The one comment that we had about them was one of the dive guides didn't bother to stop and explore while diving, she just kept on swimming, we felt if we went to go look at something we'd loose her. We were a little disappointed about the diving. The first site they took us to they told us it's one of the best sites they dive. There was nothing down there! The coral was close to dead, very little marine life etc. It was my husbands first real dive since getting certified so we enjoyed it anyway, but it was a little disappointment. The second dive we went on was better for coral and fish, so that made up for it. All in all we would recommend the outfit, they were great to deal with and gave us lunch... always appreciated!

On Oahu we wanted to go with someone local. We were staying in Laie and preferred not to drive back to Honolulu to meet up with a company. We chose to go with Aarons dive shop since they have a boat out of Haleiwa in the summers. We signed up for the morning dive, but a few days before they called us and changed it to an afternoon dive to suit us with more people on our level. That was fine, thankfully we didn't have any plans. We arrived at the docks and they RUSHED us into doing everything. As soon as we got their we had to gear up. The boat ride was about 3 minutes, so as soon as we got to the site they practically threw us in the water. The swells were slightly large that day so when someone had a faulty reg we all had to wait in the water being thrown against the boat from the waves. When we got down again there was very little marine life- but don't get me wrong, it was still fun. I think we went to twin arches or something like that. This company was better at stoping and exploring and giving me plenty of time to be snap happy with my camera. We got back up, had about a 10 minute surface interval (way to short!) and threw us back in the water again. Thankfully this time we saw some sea turtles, Some quite adorable ones for that matter. This was the saving grace for this dive!

All in all I would probably not recommend this dive company unless you went with different guides. They were nice but I don't think they run a good outfit. I swore I was gonna forget something life threatening on the boat and something would happen to me since there wasn't enough time to check. Granted I understand my mistakes- I should have taken as much time as I needed to fully prepare myself, but I just hate HATE being rushed. They even made us take off our gear and get off the boat asap so they could take it out of the water.

BUT, regardless of Aarons, I still had a WONDERFUL trip. All my pictures, including underwaters, can be seen here:
http://www.pbase.com/trtllovr/hawaiimoon

I hope I didn't offend anyone by giving a not-so-favorable review of an outfit, I just think its very important for everyone to know the facts before embarking on a dive trip, I like people to be honest to me, so I like to be honest myself. Let me know if you have any questions!

 

[onfloat]

What was the name of the boat you were on? When you were in Oahu?

 

[Cacia]

honey-ann?

I think Kona is slightly overrated and we are underrated, personally. They might be a tad better, but so much depends on conditions and sites. Jack's gets consistently good reviews, in general. I admire their conservation efforts (they fund bouys, etc and are committed to the ocean community, it appears)

Arron's rates somewhere around right below average, IMV. They are able to attract good instructor's but he does not keep them long. Then there is that little truthfulness issue....

I think the point about rushing people needs to be heard on Oahu. It is dangerous practice and too prevalent. You are correct about mistakes being more likely. "Speed diving" with operators on a tight schedule are one of my pet peeves.
If divers are feeling that pressured, that is not good. (common complaint/Oahu)
When divers book their dives they should put this question to them and ask about this.
If an operator is diving you in two hours...you will be rushed.

 

[ch0ppersrule]

Where are the dive pictures taken? I see there are no wetsuits so I was just wondering. I wear a 3-4-5 mil. xcel wetsuit and still get cold.

We walked into Aaron's ONE time and they were rude. Not helpful and acted like we were wasting their time so we left and never went back. SSA in Waikiki are always helpful, but have never dove with them.

 

[trtllovr]

I'm so mad, I never got the name of the boat we went out on, but it was almost too tiny for the amount of people that were on it!

Regarding the no-wetsuit pictures, some pictures were thrown in there while snorkeling, the snorkeling was 100x better than the diving!

Thanks!

 

[HarveyO]

Just a note to add... I dove on the Honey Ann 2 weeks ago with Deep Ecology and had a great time with 2 dives. The first at Cathedrals and the 2nd at Car Wash which sounds to me the same as the dives we're talking about here.

In my case the boat was small but fine. The Captain was good (safe, helpful) , and the Dive Master was terriffic. Saw lot's of cool fish, dove through some great lava arches and tunnels and I would do it again in a minute.

Oh yeah Aaron's was waiting with a group on the dock when we returned they headed out for the afternoon.

 

[Cacia]

yea...sounds like the honey ann. John Hancock's boat but Arron's uses them because they don't have a boat...it is confusing because most operator's do not own the boat they use.

I hear nice things about deep ecology for a long time now.

I wonder if the coral you saw was dead or a type you are not accustomed to? We don't have soft corals here and many people complain that it isn't Fiji...no bright colors, just different as it is not warm enough for a lot of the life people are used to.