AlaskaDiver
Contributor
- Messages
- 612
- Reaction score
- 6
- # of dives
- 1000 - 2499
We just returned from Oahu where we dove 6 days with AAA Diving. I chose AAA diving as they offered a variety of discounts, had an excellent website, presented a very good 'no-bull' approach to diving, responded quickly to emails and responded immediately to my phone call. I wanted a small operator who didn't have snorkelers on board, was knowledgeable about the dive sites and who could take us to a wide variety of sites. Although many people go immediately for the low-dollar approach, we did not. We wanted a dive operator who was charging a reasonable price for the boat ride and we did not need frills like cheeseburgers or hot tubs. I also liked them as they picked us up from the hotel each morning at no additional cost and we were most often times back at the hotel before 1:00p. My BCD, fins and wetsuit were left on board each evening safely and were rinsed by the captain. It was handy to not have to haul all the gear each day. This made spending the rest of the day with the kids much more fun and relaxing.
The weather was unusually nice and we only had wind on the final day. Water temp was a normal 79F for winter in Oahu. We dove Sea Tiger, Turtle Canyon, Corsair, Baby Barge, Pinnacles (the best site), 100' hole, YO257, San Pedro, Deep Pipe, and the Ledge. Since we booked with them for 6 days, they chose 11 different dive sites for us! We felt so special. We only doubled up on two dives! This was great for a total of 13 dives.
The owner Alex was a salty character but I can see how an individual with several thousand dives running a business can get pretty crusty with such a wide variety of divers on board during a single day. We had everyone from Discover Scuba folks to experienced divers. Each day it varied. Bill & I didn't mind since we were happy just to dive a site as a buddy team. We are capable divers and pretty much did our own thing. We were not rushed to hurry out of the water at any of the sites.
The boat itself, the Elysium was only 1 year old and was custom made for divers. It was in excellent condition and well maintained. The boat captain, Chris also was an experienced dive instructor and was very pleasant. Most days an enthusiastic DM named Robert was on board taking groups. On a few days a woman named Kris provided instruction to various groups of Open Water students. She was enthusiastic, professional and pleasant with the students.
Safety was their number one focus. Dive briefings stressed all the critical elements, but still a man ran out of air on two consecutive dives despite being short-leashed ("stay within 4 ft of me") with a DM on the second dive. Apparently when asked how much air he had, he responded 900. He was actually reading his watch and provided the time. I can only describe this behavior as scary and stupid. Another day a couple ran precariously low on air and had to buddy-breathe with a DM. I spoke to them afterward and they were blissfully ignorant of their own mistake and had no idea that running out of air at 90 feet is not a common thing. That is the first time diving I have ever encountered people running out of air. Self preservation should always remain #1.
Bill & I liked the idea that the boat operator obligated divers when doing multiple deep dives to a 3 min stop on the first dive, a 5 min stop on the second dive and an 8 min stop on the 3rd deep dive. We saw lots of unusual fish, turtles and other creatures. My favorite sightings were the crazy colored Commerson's Frogfish and a giant live cone shell that was easily 12" from tip to end.
We stayed at the Hale Koa Military resort. We spent our week with Bill's girls taking surfing lessons, attending 2 luaus, a magic show, swimming with the dolphins at Sea Life Park and an evening on Sunset Beach meeting pro surfers. Although I will more than likely visit Oahu again, I could never live there with all of the Waikiki traffic and just hoards of people walking in the streets. Next year we will visit another island for something a bit more rustic like Molokai.
The weather was unusually nice and we only had wind on the final day. Water temp was a normal 79F for winter in Oahu. We dove Sea Tiger, Turtle Canyon, Corsair, Baby Barge, Pinnacles (the best site), 100' hole, YO257, San Pedro, Deep Pipe, and the Ledge. Since we booked with them for 6 days, they chose 11 different dive sites for us! We felt so special. We only doubled up on two dives! This was great for a total of 13 dives.
The owner Alex was a salty character but I can see how an individual with several thousand dives running a business can get pretty crusty with such a wide variety of divers on board during a single day. We had everyone from Discover Scuba folks to experienced divers. Each day it varied. Bill & I didn't mind since we were happy just to dive a site as a buddy team. We are capable divers and pretty much did our own thing. We were not rushed to hurry out of the water at any of the sites.
The boat itself, the Elysium was only 1 year old and was custom made for divers. It was in excellent condition and well maintained. The boat captain, Chris also was an experienced dive instructor and was very pleasant. Most days an enthusiastic DM named Robert was on board taking groups. On a few days a woman named Kris provided instruction to various groups of Open Water students. She was enthusiastic, professional and pleasant with the students.
Safety was their number one focus. Dive briefings stressed all the critical elements, but still a man ran out of air on two consecutive dives despite being short-leashed ("stay within 4 ft of me") with a DM on the second dive. Apparently when asked how much air he had, he responded 900. He was actually reading his watch and provided the time. I can only describe this behavior as scary and stupid. Another day a couple ran precariously low on air and had to buddy-breathe with a DM. I spoke to them afterward and they were blissfully ignorant of their own mistake and had no idea that running out of air at 90 feet is not a common thing. That is the first time diving I have ever encountered people running out of air. Self preservation should always remain #1.
Bill & I liked the idea that the boat operator obligated divers when doing multiple deep dives to a 3 min stop on the first dive, a 5 min stop on the second dive and an 8 min stop on the 3rd deep dive. We saw lots of unusual fish, turtles and other creatures. My favorite sightings were the crazy colored Commerson's Frogfish and a giant live cone shell that was easily 12" from tip to end.
We stayed at the Hale Koa Military resort. We spent our week with Bill's girls taking surfing lessons, attending 2 luaus, a magic show, swimming with the dolphins at Sea Life Park and an evening on Sunset Beach meeting pro surfers. Although I will more than likely visit Oahu again, I could never live there with all of the Waikiki traffic and just hoards of people walking in the streets. Next year we will visit another island for something a bit more rustic like Molokai.
