Diving on Oahu...

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ptc

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Ok, I've narrowed down my search on LDS's on Oahu to plan a dive with during our trip there next month. Can anyone out there give me any feedback on the below 3 dive shops? (Cheryl, I don't know if you got a chance to dive with any of them, so I decided to post it out on the board to get add'l feedback).

1. Breeze Hawaiin (Honolulu)
2. Aaron's Dive shop (Kailua)
3. Deep Ecology (Haleiwa, Northshore)

Thanks in advance for your comments!

ptc :)
 
I can't recomend diving with Breeze Hawaii. They are really geared for the Japanese tourist. Dives are limited to 30 minutes, not bottom time or air supply. Captains were not friendly. I called and the woman on the phone couldn't speak English. Finally they got ahold of someone who could speak to me.
Haven't dove with either Aaron's Dive shop (Kailua) or Deep Ecology (Haleiwa, Northshore) but had a few nice dives with Captain Bruce Scuba Charters (West side). Nice boat (42' jet boat), hot shower, cookies, pineapple, sandwiches and cold pop all included. Staff was efficent, knowledgeable and friendly.

I would dive with them again.
 
1. Breeze Hawaiin (Honolulu)
Is a solid operation - but japanese oriented, most instructors/DM's speak broken English. Not that you need it underwater, but for the orientation it would be helpful.

2. Aaron's Dive shop (Kailua)
This op has been around for a long time and has a good reputation. The shop is nice - wide selection. The owner is known as Hollywood Jack as lots of celebs dive with him. Pictures all over the shop.

3. Deep Ecology (Haleiwa, Northshore)
I can't say much about this op, not too familiar with them.

Hope this helps you make your choice.
 
As Leesa said, Breeze caters more to the Japanese tourists. I belong to their dive club, which consists of all local divers and is awesome, but I guess that doesn't help you much here.

I haven't done any dives with Aaron's or Deep Ecology either - but Aaron's has been around for a long time and I know several people have been happy with them.

Someone I know did a guided shore dive at Shark's Cove with Deep Ecology and was pretty satisfied with that, but I haven't heard anything about their boat dives.

I'm sure someone here will be able to provide more feedback about these.
 
As I have a trip planned to Oahu in a couple of weeks, I'm interested to hear the responses to this thread. Since it doesn't seem that any of these 3 are getting rave reviews from the locals, are there any others that you would recommend more? In the running for me are Pacific Paradise Divers, and Aarons, but I'm not sold on either of them yet, so any other recommendations or feedback would be great.
Thanks!
 
Dive Oahu, I took a class with them and was very happy. If I had money to do boat dives I'd probably do them with Dive Oahu, although I think they are limited to the south shore, but still some good dives.
I know a DM at Oahu Dive Center, and they seem to have a pretty good operation. I think they use Captain Bruce's boat. We did a boat dive with them once, and was happy with Captain Bruce's boat and the service on the boat. That hot shower was pretty nice, and if I recall the snacks were good too.
 
Aloha Saf-

Thanks for considering diving with us! That is cool!

Do know that I was the Manager of Aarons in the past! Also note worthy here- I do believe that Justlessa (Our SB Moderator) is affiliated with a dive operator here on Oahu, although I don't remember which one. I would suggest speaking with her directly as well. Someone had mentioned Oahu Dive Center- those folks are really super cool (we dive together often) and a lot of fun. A few of them also worked at Aarons in the past.

I have dove on "the Beach" (name of a boat) many times with Captain Bruces- they do have a cool boat with a good vibe. I would consider them worthy competition as well!

I am VERY glad to see you doing your due diligence and finding an operator that is a good fit for you. That will make for a solid Hawaiian diving experience! Nice Work!

Enjoy
 
Can't say I know about those three but we just got back last week. Dove with Oahu dive center Or ODC for short. Excellent group of people. Did two shore dives at Three tables on north shore with Jerry and Mike, great dive. Did boat dive at Starz and Makaha caverns most excellent dive. They team up with Capt. Bruce dive charters when diving the west end of the island. The boat is excellent as was the crew. This was mine and my wifes first official boat dive and we were a little nervous but everyone on the boat was friendly and very helpfull. I would whole heartedly recomend either of these two dive charters.

Oahu dive center
Capt. Bruce dive charters
 
I'll be out there at the end of the month through the first 2 weeks of Aug. I plan on doing a good bit of diving even though im out there for business and fly alot. Someone that was at my LDS when I was told me to go through Aaron's. But I may try a few out since I will be there for 3 weeks and will be staying in Wikiki. I'll let you all know who I used and what I think when I get back.
 
We dove with Capt Bruce's in 2003. The boat was nice and the staff were generally friendly. I will say, however, that we are interested in finding another operator to go with this summer. We'll be diving mostly on the west short...any suggestions?
 

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