Waikiki Dive Center

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Surfrider

New
Messages
2
Reaction score
1
Location
London, UK
# of dives
100 - 199
Just thought I would put a word of caution in. Just got here on a business trip and figured I would throw in some weekend diving. I even brought all of my own gear from Europe! I regret not looking for recommendations on the board here prior to booking, but I had relied on Google reviews which pointed me to Waikiki Divers.

I popped into the shop in-person a couple days before to ask questions. Being mindful this is a tourist hotspot, I wanted to try and get on a couple dives with experienced divers / no students .. or at the very least get a guide where we can do our own thing.

I got sold on a wreck dive and was assured it was a small group of 8 divers with 2 DMs and all divers were certified and experienced. The wreck was at about 30m depth (~100ft), so I agreed with the shop gal that Nitrox would be ideal for more bottom time.

Day of dive on the boat I realise I am the only diver on EANx. Everyone else was on air. My assigned DM basically says the 4 of us are diving to the most conservative computer. Then I realise that on the entire boat, the only people with computers were myself and the 2 DMs.

I felt pretty cheated on the wreck dive with a short 25 minute dive and hit the surface with half a tank on my back. I was vocal about this, but the DMs were unapologetic stating we have to time bottom time with air divers.

Those two tanks of EANx were a $30 upcharge. Complete waste of money given the situation. They should have been up front about the dive plan. At the very least should have been offered my money back on the Nitrox fills.
 
That happened to me once. That was the lesson that taught me to always ask if there will be anyone else diving nitrox.

I get that it’s upsetting. But I don’t see anything worth flaming the company over. Some people like nitrox because they feel better after a deep dive, so it’s not wrong to offer it.

26min isn’t bad for sea tiger, and even on nitrox you return with lots of air in the tank.

I find that the bigger boats are better for Max bottom time. With only 8 divers there’s only 1-2 DMs so everyone stays together. With 12-16 divers there can be 3-4 DMs - 1 stays near the line, 1 stays down on nitrox to man the anchor and 2 more are guides so they have a supervision chain for short to long divers.

I like Island Divers / Honolulu Scuba Company for more freedom and longer bottom times.
 
......

I like Island Divers / Honolulu Scuba Company for more freedom and longer bottom times.

Thanks! (I am deck crew/Captain in training for IDH/HSC)

A shame when that happens. We try to avoid that situation. Today we did our Premium 2 Wreck Dive which is all nitrox and our divers got 40+ min on the YO257/San Pedro and 35+ on the The Sea Tiger. If you're still around tomorrow's double wreck only has 4 divers....
 
Thanks! (I am deck crew/Captain in training for IDH/HSC)

A shame when that happens. We try to avoid that situation. Today we did our Premium 2 Wreck Dive which is all nitrox and our divers got 40+ min on the YO257/San Pedro and 35+ on the The Sea Tiger. If you're still around tomorrow's double wreck only has 4 divers....

I am here on business another couple weeks. Only have the weekends to dive, however.. Yesterday, I had already signed up for this weekend's dives on Saturday with HSC and 3 tanker on Sunday with IDH. Jeff at the HSC was a great guy to talk with and at least from our two conversations, I think we are on the same page for expectations.

See you on the weekend if you're diving!
 
Will you be here Dec 21? We have a club dive then and you're welcome to join us.

My mom's coming to visit so I personally won't be diving this weekend or next.
 
Just thought I would put a word of caution in. Just got here on a business trip and figured I would throw in some weekend diving. I even brought all of my own gear from Europe! I regret not looking for recommendations on the board here prior to booking, but I had relied on Google reviews which pointed me to Waikiki Divers.

I popped into the shop in-person a couple days before to ask questions. Being mindful this is a tourist hotspot, I wanted to try and get on a couple dives with experienced divers / no students .. or at the very least get a guide where we can do our own thing.

I got sold on a wreck dive and was assured it was a small group of 8 divers with 2 DMs and all divers were certified and experienced. The wreck was at about 30m depth (~100ft), so I agreed with the shop gal that Nitrox would be ideal for more bottom time.

Day of dive on the boat I realise I am the only diver on EANx. Everyone else was on air. My assigned DM basically says the 4 of us are diving to the most conservative computer. Then I realise that on the entire boat, the only people with computers were myself and the 2 DMs.

I felt pretty cheated on the wreck dive with a short 25 minute dive and hit the surface with half a tank on my back. I was vocal about this, but the DMs were unapologetic stating we have to time bottom time with air divers.

Those two tanks of EANx were a $30 upcharge. Complete waste of money given the situation. They should have been up front about the dive plan. At the very least should have been offered my money back on the Nitrox fills.

typically I dont bother to respond to these but today I will....1.you were informed that our charters are group led charters 2. you were offered an option to secure a private guide to which you declined....3. you did not surface to the boat with half a tank...and yes I do remember you, you had half a tank when we started our accent...the perpose of using nitrox at that depth is not to extend the length of the dive but to further reduce the amount of nitrogen accumulated in the blood from the dive....unless you were diving duels, the minor MOD added by the nitrox did not change your air consumption....4.yes we are a very conservative dive operation....5.as I recall, your second dive was extended because on you had more air to burn....6. yes my dive briefing does include information about diving on the strictest computer in the group....as person in that group on a group led dive you should want it no other way....it is unfortunate you were not pleased.....Im sure Island divers will be more than happy to accommodate you....Marco.
 

Back
Top Bottom