PacificDivers
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... I did my first two dives with Pacific Divers and it was possibly the worst dive outfit I've come across in my time. Their boat is lucky that it still floats. My first dive guide was a local who wasn't that friendly. He took off his fins and ran across the bottom throughout the entire dive. I don't know if he thought it was amusing or what, but I thought it was highly unprofessional. On the other hand, he was only a teenager. The second guide I had wasn't that much better. She was hungover and in no shape to dive. She was really young and had more fun engrossing in gossip with the boatsman than she did in diving.
I then went with The Dive Centre. Much much better. The boats were nicer and the staff heaps better. They go on the South and I couldn't believe the difference in the diving. I had a wonderful guide, Gary, who was also a local and does pearl farming. Gary has fantastic customer skills and knew a lot about the marine biology of Raro. He's from Manihiki and he said the diving up there is amazing, but there is no dive outfit up there...
My partner took a course with The Dive Centre and also had a fantastic instructor, Kristen, who is the only American there. She was very flexible and took her time with my partner who was very nervous. She had all the patience in the world and had the lovely "no worries" attitude that I love about the islands.
Kia orana, Steve Lyon, owner of Pacific Divers here.
I urge readers to take the comments of SeaTurtle49 with a grain of salt.
The diving in Rarotonga is, as stated by other people, basic to intermediate. On a good day the diving can be quite fantastic, very clear water, humpback whales etc... On an average day the visiblity is still 30m+ and there is a good ubundance of reef fish. There is no spearfishing to speak of due to cigutera poisoning so the fish are very diver positive.
There is some variety in the sites offered and it is possible to do several days diving without repeating dive sites. All dive sites are within 15min of the harbours.
The island is also quite small, 40 km around the reef. This means that when the weather is blowing from one direction there is still divable conditions on the othe side. consequently we have very few no dive days due to weather.
On top of that Rarotonga is a very nice place to vacation. A good community, very clean and nice gardens.
If you are looking for variety there is also Aitutaki, another of the Cook Islands. It has a dive operation and the diving is markedly different to Rarotonga, with steeper, shallower walls and more live coral cover.
Check out Rarotonga for a great vacation, and fit some dives in while you're here.
Ka kite e kia manuia,
Steve
www.pacificidivers.co.ck