Scuba Diving Hawaii with AAA Diving of Honolulu, Oahu

Diving on Oahu is a little different than diving most other places, and we thought you should know how it works here. How is it different? Well read on:

Most of the dive operations on the island DO NOT own their own boat. Instead, they charter seats on not more than 8 boats. That means that when you are shopping with dive shops, you are in fact shopping for the same boat and boat seats. When you arrive at the boat with the shop you have finally selected, you will be on the boat with other shops and their customers.

Imagine when you booked your airplane ticket to Hawaii and that you purchased it from Hawaiian Airlines. When you got on the plane, you find out the guy sitting right next to you, booked his seat through United Airlines. The guy next to him booked through American Airlines. Three companies, same plane. Furthermore, since you all booked through a different airline, you are each assigned to a different stewardess. And because the airlines are so competitive, your neighbors' stewardess' will not even acknowledge you, as you are not their customer. Weird isn't it? But that's how most dive operations work here on Oahu.

To make matters worse, because the dive operations do not own the boats, they have no control over the dive locations and/or dive schedules. Meaning, even when the dive company shows up they are told by the boat captain which sites they will be doing.

Furthermore, the boat captains dictate the dive schedule. Most of them are on a tight schedule so they can make more runs per day. As a diver, do you want to be rushed through your dives? Or would you prefer to dive to the limits of your tank (or decompression), AND have a leisurely surface interval.

You will get one of two extremes:

A dive boat which will seem more like a cattle boat

A dive boat which promises you a '6 pack' meaning there will only be 6 divers on board.

Sounds great right? Consider that these boats are the size of teacups. You will feel cramped, despite the lack of bodies.

So how are we different?

We own our own boat

We sell no wholesale seats - eliminating competitive tension amongst our customers and dive guides

We get to pick the best sites based on ocean conditions of the day, and divers requests and skill levels

We are not limiting your dives and diving experience to a predetermined time restraint. You don't feel rushed, and you get to dive out each dive according to decompression limits, or air supply

We have 12 exclusive sites which are not accessible to ANY OTHER operation on the island!

We get to take time to smell the roses... or in our case, play with passing dolphins or whales

Click here to see our boat, The Elysium

So here are the names of the boats, and their locations. When shopping with dive companies, ask them the name of the boats they are using. And don't be surprised if they start to all sound the same!