Oahu Recommendations

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mathauck0814

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Scuba Instructor
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Location
Vermont, California, Australia and the Upper Keys
Buddy of mine got stationed in Oahu so I'm heading that way to help break in the place. Looking for recommendations on dive shops, boats, charters, operators who meet the following criteria:

1. Rebreather support (I can bring sorb, they must have access to oxygen, with advanced notice I can bring the booster but it's better if they have one).
2. 6-Packs (or other boat unlikely to be full of muppets)
3. No guides on dives (or guides who will dive my plan, on CCR)

Also any suggestions on sites <200fsw would be great (unless there's something deeper that would be worth bringing the extra kit for).

I've dove most of the shallow stuff in Oahu - happy to do it again, but would be nice if I could have a different kind of experience.
 
We can do the boat and get you to the site...... for the rest you might try Ocean Legends.

IMG_8142.jpg

Our boat is the Nacho 1 and is set up for diving singles, doubles or rebreathers. Big swim step and ladder, 30 feet long with a 12 foot beam. We have a site at 185 (wreck) that is pretty awesome but you should chat a bit with Dr. Lector here on SB. He's the resident "kook on the loop"

Hope this helps.
 
Following up on this thread in case it's helpful to other divers. I ended up not bringing the machine to Oahu, as I was primarily there to help a friend get moved into his new house and figured we'd be flaky about diving. We wound up diving four days on various boats (a good mix of cattle boats and six packs). I made a lot of good connections that I will use on my next trip in a month or so.

For Boat Charters (6 pack):
Ruckus
Nacho 1 (above, though we didn't get a chance to use them - they were very responsive and helpful)

For Shop Support:
Ocean Legends - Rebreather support (they focus on the Hollis machines, but can do gas and sorb for any), trimix, stages, bailout, etc. We did a couple of cattle boats with them where they were required to send a divemaster. The DMs were everything I could have hoped for. They stayed out of our way, let us do our thing and we never saw them in the water: perfect.

rEvo specific:
Dr. Lecter helped with some advice and a mutual friend and instructor was able to introduce me to some locals who also dive the unit. Along with my friend who's moved to the island and some of the researchers at UH, there's a good little community of closed circuit divers on the island. PM me if you need contact info.

Sites:
We dove all the usual wrecks and reefs. Oahu's coral is as dead and boring as it was when I was there 15 years ago. The wrecks are really where it's at (nothing new here). We spent time freediving and spearfishing and found the waters to be more fished out than I recall and also more sharky than I recall. Still some terrific structure on the reefs to the north and west side of the islands. More of a turtle population than I remember as well.

Looking forward to coming back in a month or so to explore the deeper wrecks without the crowds. There's plenty to experience in Oahu and it seems there's growing support for rebreathers as well.

Many thanks to all of you who PM'd with me to help get logistics sorted out. It took a recon trip, but I feel confident that I've got what I need to mount a solid deep diving trip to the island.
 
Thanks for the follow up post....... Just a few things to add:

1) There are some AMAZING corals to be found but it is true, a lot of what you see on the heavily dived sites is showing signs of repeated human interaction. We do strive to get our guests to new sites (we have discovered a few new ones which we dive exclusively)

2) Deeper wrecks and walls can be accessed but just like anywhere, conditions need to be good to hit them.

3) Didn't notice before but it says you are from Killington. I spent a VERY cold winter up there some 11 or 12 years ago. VT snow compared to Oregon snow...... no contest, I'll take Oregon : )

Hope to see you on your next trip around!

G
 

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