Oahu Hawaii Diving

[billandwende]

I was in OAHU same weekend SAMSON was in Maui. I dove with Rainbow Scuba for the second year. Ken was my guide again a great guy with a laid back attitude. 2 tank boat dives are $85 or $75 if you bring your own gear. If anyone is heading over give him a shout. Oh yea I also got to try out my WHITES tropical drysuit. it was sweet. I did get a bit of a flood on dive two but didn't notice until I was on the boat.


Viz was 100 feet easy temp at 100 feet was 78 some surge and chop. We saw Eagle rays, tons of eels including a Sea Dragon, lots of turtles and a freediver at 105 feet. I gotta figure out the whole picture posting thingy.

I'm thinking the temp and viz may be a bit less tomorrow on the MARK V in Seattle. But I got my fingers crossed.

[Samson]

Hey Bill,

You gotta let me know where you stayed and what you thought of oahu... We are going back in march and we possibly considering a different location, although we had no complaints about staying at Kaanapali....

[ArcticDiver]

I'll be over on the island next month. How do I contact the guy? Does he do the Sea Tiger and YO?

Especially after this last trip where I was diving morning and afternoon and doing deco stops I was thinking of a tropical dry suit. Can you give more pros and cons? How did you get the flood?

[BASSMAN]

a freediver at 105 feet. I gotta figure out the whole picture posting thingy.

Did you get a picture of the Free diver?

Post your pictures to Photobucket.com or flicker.com
And then you can post a link back to them.

[billandwende]

Hey Bill,

You gotta let me know where you stayed and what you thought of oahu... We are going back in march and we possibly considering a different location, although we had no complaints about staying at Kaanapali....

Stayed at the Waikiki Sand Villa Hotel. I will NEVER stay there again.

I like Oahu a lot but it is a busy tourist area. If you visit Oahu you MUST journey to the North shore and eat from the Shrimp trucks along the way. It's worth the trip.

And everyone needs to visit the Arizona at least once in their lifetime.

[billandwende]

I'll be over on the island next month. How do I contact the guy? Does he do the Sea Tiger and YO?

Especially after this last trip where I was diving morning and afternoon and doing deco stops I was thinking of a tropical dry suit. Can you give more pros and cons? How did you get the flood?

Here is a link to his site. http://www.rainbowscuba.com

Yes he does the Sea Tiger and YO 257 as well as the Corseair airplane wreck. And lots more check the site for info.

I've dove with him last year and this year and will again next year. He only dives with 4 max so it's nice and personal. Each time I've dove with him it was just him and my daughter and myself. He will go at your pace and is VERY skilled at finding the critters.

As for the Tropical Dry suit.

Cons.
You gotta be careful not to damage while packing.
You got 5 seals to worry about leaking.
People are gonna ask "Why?" The first one will be your wife.
additional WEIGHT to sink the bubble.

Pros.
Warm even at depth with just a skin under it.
Not hot while on surface intervals. (odd how this works)
If your used to dry diving then your trim will be the same.
Your gonna look very cool and that is what life is all about.
And it doesn't hurt when you scrape your right arm against the rusty walls of the engine room of the Sea Tiger.

The main reason I got mine was I am so used to dry I see no reason to go wet even in 78 degree water. I get cold very easy and 78 degrees for 55 minutes freezes me. By the 3rd dive I'm wasted. In the Tropical Dry I had no issues.

The flood was very light about 1 cup water the leak was from a ankle seal (Damn skinny ankle)
The mini flood was during dive #2 and made no difference for dive #3. I stayed warm and didn't even think about it.

If you are doing long decos I would seriously consider one.

PM SENT as well.

[billandwende]

a freediver at 105 feet. I gotta figure out the whole picture posting thingy.

Did you get a picture of the Free diver?

No I didn't get the shot. I wasn't even sure what I had seen before he was way past my slow butt.

Post your pictures to Photobucket.com or flicker.com
And then you can post a link back to them.

OK Ill try.

[billandwende]

http://s272.photobucket.com/albums/jj18 ... ii%202008/

A few pictures. No freediver.

[ArcticDiver]

Thanks for the info. Don't bother replying to the PM. I sent it before reading your post here.

Until my trip to the Keys I sort of considered warm water dry suits to be a product looking for a use. But, with water temp of +76F, long shallow dives or mandatory deco deep dives by the end of the day I was COLD. Of course I caught a lot of flak about the Alaskan being cold. But, cold is cold. So, now I'm considering the dry suit. Seems you and I are alike in that regard.

How does the dry suit pack? Weight and bulk? On this trip I was able to get all my dive stuff and my other stuff into a carry on and one checked bag of 46#.

[billandwende]

Thanks for the info. Don't bother replying to the PM. I sent it before reading your post here.

Until my trip to the Keys I sort of considered warm water dry suits to be a product looking for a use. But, with water temp of +76F, long shallow dives or mandatory deco deep dives by the end of the day I was COLD. Of course I caught a lot of flak about the Alaskan being cold. But, cold is cold. So, now I'm considering the dry suit. Seems you and I are alike in that regard.

How does the dry suit pack? Weight and bulk? On this trip I was able to get all my dive stuff and my other stuff into a carry on and one checked bag of 46#.

Very light. in fact lighter then a full 3mm suit but folded loose so you don't damage the zipper. It will use more space. I rolled mine and put it in a dry bag and closed the bag trapping the air like a pillow. Then I packed around it.

Here's a link to the dry bag I used. http://www.piranhadivemfg.com/shop/?sho ... 427&cat=14

You'll have to scroll down to the Orange Dry Duffel. Note the dimension are not correct. I think the dimensions should read as CM not inches. It was on special a few weeks back for $24.99 so if you ask he may still honor that price. I've dealt with him in the past and he is a good guy. Check out his weekly specials too.

[Benoit]

I'm also just back from diving in Oahu (and Big Island). I dove the Corsair and Baby Barge with Island Divers Hawaii. Great shop - but definitely more expensive than Rainbow - I should have shopped around...

[BASSMAN]

http://s272.photobucket.com/albums/jj18 ... ii%202008/

A few pictures. No freediver.

Great pictures Bill! Thanks
I really liked the shot of the school of Eagle Rays, Awsome!

[ArcticDiver]

I'm also just back from diving in Oahu (and Big Island). I dove the Corsair and Baby Barge with Island Divers Hawaii. Great shop - but definitely more expensive than Rainbow - I should have shopped around...

Definitely.

I've dove with several shops on Oahu. Great experiences with a couple; mediocre with a couple, but BAD with only one; Island Divers. I'll be over there again next month and they definitely are not on my Go With list.

Who'd you use on the Big Island? It isn't on the schedule this time but I like to tuck info away for next time.

[Sockmonkey]

I've dove with several shops on Oahu. Great experiences with a couple; mediocre with a couple, but BAD with only one; Island Divers. I'll be over there again next month and they definitely are not on my Go With list.

I had a terrible experience with Dive Oahu. It was so bad that I refused to get in the water for the second dive. Unprofessional and unsafe and alot of other "un" words. Total charlie foxtrot.

I had an ok experience Island Divers Hawaii and the related Hawaii Technical Divers. No one on their boat blinked at my bp/w and long hose and they seemed totally service minded. If I ever go back to Oahu (not likely) I'd give them my money again I think. Nothing special about what they offer, just nice people with a basic dive boat business. Maybe because it wasn't crowded I had an Ok experience with them. The one thing I could say was that their DM wasn't at all experienced. I felt like I was keeping an eye on her more than she on me. Overall I was miffed I missed my chance to do a recreational dive with the tech minded folks... which is the only reason I dove with that outfit.

I also went out with the Hawaii Underwater Explorers for a couple night dives. Those guys were totally fun to dive with. You can contact rockjock3, ScubaAndDreams, or onfloat over at Scubaboard for more info. When I was there I think (sherman?) was using a megaldon and they are clearly CCR friendly.

Who'd you use on the Big Island? It isn't on the schedule this time but I like to tuck info away for next time.

I recommend Jack's Diving Locker... and not just a friend from high school works there. They're pretty chilled and very safe. If you dive on one of Jack's boats make sure ask for Eli as your DM and tell him I said hi. It won't gain you any favor... he's just an excellent underwater tour guide. MMmmMm mantas.

-Eric

[OreCoastDiver]

I was in OAHU same weekend SAMSON was in Maui. I dove with Rainbow Scuba for the second year. Ken was my guide again a great guy with a laid back attitude. 2 tank boat dives are $85 or $75 if you bring your own gear.

That sounds like a great trip! What I want to know is: Why are boat dives so much cheaper on Oahu than Maui? All the dive boats I know about on Maui charge $135 for a two-tank dive and knock off about $5 if you have your own gear.

[Tom Nic]

Competition? More tourists in Oahu than Maui? Maui being more hoity toity in general?

[Sounder]

Competition? More tourists in Oahu than Maui? Maui being more hoity toity in general?

Maui's got Molokini. Oahu also has more competition - it's a "big city" and with that comes big city small-businesses which are fighting for the tourist dollar. My wife's family has a place in Maui about 2 minutes from the Keihei (sp?) boat launch and we dive with ProDiver whenever we're there. They run a sweet 6-pack boat, complete with breakfast on the way out. We've worked out deals with them for multiple days and they seem to value that we're very loosely "quasi-local."

Maui's a neat place, though I would argue that there are better places to dive further south than at Black Rock.

[ArcticDiver]

Thanks for the Jack's Diving Locker reference. Your recommendation joins many others; none from HI. I've found that recommendations from locals are nearly worthless due to prevailing attitudes and culture.

Yes, Dive Oahu in my experience was one of the marginal ops. But, I was obnoxious enough they came through and gave me a pretty good set of dives on the second day of the package I bought. But, there are so very many operators on Oahu there is no reason to do business with any that don't fit your specs.