Hi stuartv,
Island Divers does three boat charters daily, a 8:30am advanced trip, a 9:00am beginner trip, and a 12:30pm intermediate trip. If you are military and ask for that rate over the phone, it is $74. You can get 4 dives in with transportation included pretty much every day except Sunday, when you can only get a 3 tanker.
As far as you cousin goes, can't say I'm a fan of his unsupported opinion. Island Divers did have a fatality in 2011, but that diver was noticed missing from the group immediately while underwater and an exhaustive on site search was conducted. When that didn't find him, we searched for two more days. One day longer than the USCG. Ask Scottitheduck, he came out to help. Sadly, he was never found. Okay, that was tragic, but while no one can really be blamed for repeating what they may have heard on the internet, the below:
I asked about Island Divers as they look to be a big operation and cheap prices. The cousin's response was "They lose divers. Im not a fan. Seriously, ID is not a good company I would recommend to a friend."
It is simply just not true that "they lose divers". I hope your cousin at least has some other reason not to recommend us besides misinformation that he?she may have picked up on the internet. We are a pretty large operation now, and as with anything, not everything goes perfectly every day. But day to day, every day, three times a day, a very experienced, friendly and professional crew takes groups of divers to experience the beauty of the ocean. We do it well, with larger, USCG certified boats, and an amazingly convenient marina side location with boats out the back door.
Check this out for a safety option. If you book the morning am advanced charter, you get to hear this every day at the dock before the boat departs as part of the Sea Fox vessel safety briefing. "This is the advanced am boat, we are headed out for a deep wreck and then most likely a drift dive. By staying on the boat you are telling us that you are feeling confident that your dive skills are up to this plan. If you are not feeling confident, the boat on the other side of the dock here leaves 30 minutes from now and does 2 shallow dives out of the current. There is no extra charge and we can get you back to the hotel at about the same time, so after this briefing if anyone would like to change boats let us know and we can make that happen". Now try and find that in another Hawaii operation! Granted, we don't get many people changing boats, maybe once a month, but the option is there.
There two locations as Schofield that you can find us, one in the MWR building at 435 Ulrich Way, and in the Base Exchange. If it was this past Sunday you were diving, here is the daily dive report. Give us a try sometime. We'd love the chance to prove the cousin wrong.
WATCH OUT FOR THAT . . . 15 feb | Island Divers Hawaii
---------- Post added February 16th, 2015 at 06:28 AM ----------
Personally, I find their aggressive pushing of overpriced and barely substantive training and gear to local military kids with VA/GI bill benefits burning a hole in their pockets pretty disgusting...but the libertarian in me says whatever makes all parties happy.
Dear Dr. Lector,
Since I'm in the groove, I'd might as well respond to your post as well. While we do advertise our VA approved programs (listen for us on the radio later this month), I'm not sure why you believe they are overpriced. Here is a quick breakdown of costs up to instructor, they are pretty much at or below market price.
OW: $195
AOW: $195
EFR: $125
Rescue: $295
DM: $915.50
AI/OWSI/EFRI combo: $1613.75
And yes, we also issue equipment to students all at MSRP. In fact, it is the draw of equipment that brings many of the students into the program. Originally, the program did not include equipment, it was at the request of "local military kids" that we did move the cost of equipment into the program. As far as the quality of the equipment, it is top of the line: Legend regulators, Black Ice BCD, Cobra computer and a full set of personal dive equipment - wetsuit, mask, fins, boots as well as safety marker and spool.
The pricing is fair and was reviewed by both the State and the VA before getting approved, I might add.
Barely substantive? Well, the program from Open Water to Divemaster is 11 weeks long and the commitment is 22 hours a week. The program participants meet twice a week on weekdays - 3 hours - and every weekend day for 8 hours. We add extra time during the OW and AOW to get a total of 260 hours of training. For those of you with experience in the dive industry, you will understand how rare it is to come across a PADI program that actually runs the full amount of suggested training hours listed in the PADI instructor manual. Yes, the divemaster that comes out of this program would probably need some seasoning before they were hired into a professional dive operation, but guess what? We can provide that too.
I appreciate to opportunity to get a little information out about the
Hawaii Scuba University program that your comment provided. The libertarian in me rejoices. Thanks Dr. Lector
Since I'm on a roll, I would like to point out the program has appeal beyond "local military kids with VA/GI bill benefits burning a hole in their pockets". Non active duty veterans also collect BAH while in the program, which in HI is $2709 a month, a pretty nice stipend to live while you become an instructor. In fact, those of you with ties in the industry feel free to email me if you are looking for qualified dive professionals for your organizations. The list of local dive operators that we have provided qualified instructors for is growing. This list of mainland states that students have traveled from to participate is growing as well.
