Instant Reader Report on Diving
Ocean Concepts Scuba in
Hawaii/Oahu in
2003/07

 Broad Carribbean, Lake Tahoe, Cozumel, Roatan, Maui 

Dive Conditions

Be back on board with 500# -- though I never saw anyone actually check to
verify that we were complying with this restriction.  

The boat had a dedicated rinse tank for dive cameras.  Dive masters would
hand you your camera in the water and take it back before you got back
aboard and they would put it in the rinse barrel.  This was not an
overnight operation so there were no camera facilities.  

Overall Rating

I had the occasion to be in Honolulu for other reasons.  I had very low
expectations of diving in Oahu and couldn't find any information on island
operators -- but I had two days I could dive and didn't want to miss the 80
degree water.

Ocean Concepts Scuba was a delight.  They included complementary round
trip transportation from Waikaki to their operation on the West Shore in
the price.  They picked us up on time, were very courtious and friendly,
and saved us from having to figure out how to get to their operation which
was 45 minutes away and required going through Honolulu.

The dive operation was a pleasant surprise.  Both the shore safety
briefing and the boat orientation and dive site briefings were well done
and professional.  Their rental equipment was new ScubaPro regulators,
BC's, full foot split fins and UWATEC dive computers in the console. 
Everything was set up on the boat at your assigned seat.  Tank fills were
consistently in the 3400psi range.  Dive sites were a relatively short
distance from the shop.

Diving was in small groups (3-5 divers) grouped after reviewing your prior
dive history.  The typical dive was lead by a divemaster (one per group)
who handled the first 2/3 of the tour to find you the small critters and
point out the highlights of the site.  The remainder of the dive was on
your own -- leaving you with instructions to be back on board with 500 psi.
 You could burn out your air -- on both of the shallower second dives, I
logged more than an hour of bottom time.

There were great sandwiches between dives and fresh fruit (including
pineapple) after the dives.  The boat crew and divemasters were top notch
professionals who went out of their way to be helpful.

I had low expectations for the diving.  It wasn'tt great but it was better
than I expected.  We didn't have the hard and soft corals of the Caribbean,
but we did have an amazing diversity of Hawaiian fish life.  Some of the
fish that were new to me included various triggerfish, a tiger moray,
saddled goatfish, a bird wrasse, ketail needlefish, Moorish Idol,
Orangspine Unicornfish and a Peacock razorfish.  There was a wide selection
of other fish varieties on the dive.

I wouldn't go to Oahu just for the diving.  However, if you have to be
there for other reasons, I can strongly recommend Ocean Concepts Scuba as a
diving operation who will show you the best of Oahu diving. 

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