OceanGuide
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In the fall of 2012 I went about the process planning our annualwinter trip to Hawaii and decided to visit the Island of Oahu on March 2013 aswe had never been to that island before. My wife and two sons aged 15 and 18would accompany me on this trip. We planned the usual tourist trap non sense aswell as a visit to the North Shore which was awesome. My sons and I werecertified open water on a previous trip to Maui and I was curious to find outwhat the diving was like on Oahu. I was skeptical at first but thought I wouldstart my due diligence and determine who was the best out there. My search isusually exhaustive as I research everything thoroughly. Drives everyone aroundme nuts but it usually pays off. Over the next 4 months I searched every forumincluding scuba board and all the usual travel rating sites. As you wouldexpect there were more than enough dive operators to choose from. My criterionwas straight forward. Experience and safety were a high priority. Any father ormother out there would agree when bringing a 15 & 17year old scuba divingthat safety and experience would rank at the top. I narrowed my search to 3operators. Two of the companies must have huge advertising budgets because theywere listed everywhere and the 3rd operator was this little companycalled Kaimana Divers. Never saw an advertisement anywhere on them but therereviews were way off the charts in a positive way. So I had my list ofquestions and emailed all 3 companies and awaited there response. Within 5minutes of emailing a fella by the name of Gabe from Kaimana Divers returned mycall. I was very impressed. He was out on the boat that morning and said hewould respond to my email that afternoon and he did just that. I explained to him that I was looking atdoing 9 or 10 dives over the next 10 days I was there and asked what ouroptions were. He explained and I went ahead and booked one day only thinking I wouldspread the rest out over other operators. We showed up day one and was very impressedwith the setup and in particular Gabe and his crew. Everyone was relaxed yetvery professional and everyone had a genuine interest in my boys and I. Hard tofind that in todays world. We were not just another number and I didnt feel Iwas in a whack em and stack em outfit. We headed out to the dive site and weremost impressed the whole way. I got a chance to see the other dive boatcompanies as they were anchored at some of the dive sites as well. As I watchedthe other boats and how they conducted their trips and treated the clients, Iknew I made the right decision. Folks dont fall for big advertising companies outthere. Total whack em and stack em outfits. I not only booked the remaining 9days of our trip with Gabe and Kaimana divers but we did the Advanced OpenWater as well with them. I was lucky Gabe could take us. He made it work farbeyond our expectations. One day we were on a large catamaran dive boat andthere were two other dive companies on that day as well. I couldnt help butnotice some confusion with the other companies DMs and how they treated theirclients. It was a bit of a gong show to say the least. Our DMs would gather ustogether and talk about the dive, safety and the fun that was to come and Inoticed the other dive companies clients getting closer to us and wanting hearwhat was being said by our DMs. Kaimanas DMs outranked the other companies100-1. I cannot say enough about thedive masters. Kyle, Liv and Jarrod were the most professional, personable DMsI could have ever wanted. Even though we were a bit green, they didnt make usfeel that way at all. In fact Gabes clients who we dove with were worldwidedive clients and great fun to be around. We all felt very special. Liv sharedwith me that Gabe attracts the best clientele from all over the world and theydive with Kaimana Divers because of word of mouth and reputation. She alsoshared that my two boys and I were Kaimana type clients and that made us feellike we were on top of the world. To be included with these elite divers of thePacific was over the top for me as a person and a very proud father of all ouraccomplishments. Folks, do yourself a favor and go with Gabe and Kaimanadivers. Great dive sites, equipment, DMs, clients and most of all friends forlife. You wont be sorry. Thanks Kaimana and crew.
