Kaimana Divers — Attraction in Honolulu

Kaimana Divers is an excellent place to come dive and get certified as a diver. I completed my open-water dive certification on Wednesday, October 12, 2022, with Gabe the owner, and his excellent and professional diving staff. My dive instructor was Greg. Greg was awesome, calm, and very patient in his teaching and instructions. Greg has a very relaxed method of teaching and is clear and precise making it easy for you to follow instructions and directions from him. All the other instructors like Gabe the owner and Alex follow the same method of teaching that builds confidence and assurance so that you get past the dive courses and tests. The first day of the three-day certification was a book review and testing so that you're aware of the PADI safety and regulations dealing with your gear, equipment, water pressure, air, time, etc. so that you're prepped for your shallow dive in the pool later during the day. The pool was fun, but not as fun as the open water dive in the ocean. You'll do some safety skills in the pool that you'll also repeat in the open water dive in the ocean for the second and third day of your certification. The second day of diving is where the fun starts to really happen, because you're now in the open water diving 50 ft and doing all your safety skills and really getting a feel for the ocean wildlife and the feeling of how you're in 50 ft of ocean water and all the surrounding elements of water, pressure, air and remember to always breathe!!! The third day of diving was a touch-up of your safety skills that you did on the first day at the pool and the second day in the ocean, but this time with a lot more time to explore the ocean bottom with turtles, octopuses, fish, and eels. This was a great experience for me getting certified as a diver because the start of this journey was made to be a safety-first experience followed by a training and teaching course over three days that gave me the confidence and assurance from professional scuba instructors that was calm, patient and confident that I fed off of to be the best-certified diver that I can be at the end of my certification. I really enjoyed this experience and I had a lot of fun. Kaimana Divers was the place for me to get certified and I recommend you do too if you're looking to get certified or just need to book a dive. The instructors are awesome, Gabe, Greg & Alex are awesome!!! The female divers are awesome as well for any women divers looking to dive. Give Kaimana Divers a call and they'll take care of...

My wife and I just finished the Open Water course with Kaimana. It was a last minute 40th birthday present for my wife, and I was worried that we would be too late to get set up. I contacted Gabe and he was quick to respond and set up a private course with Denise as the instructor. Gabe was fantastic in terms of flexibility, and more important, keeping contact as the course developed. When we got to Honolulu we went to their office and met Gabe. He walked us through what we would be doing and gave us our books. It was last-minute, as I said, and Gabe had offered ways to get us the books before our departure, but those didn't work since we were so close to departure (and we live in Sweden), so we got our books only three days before starting the course. If possible, get the books early so you don't have to study 250 pages on your vacation.

When the course began, we met with Denise and spent the first day going over the academics, and practicing skills in shallow waters. Denise was great (and stoically put up with my bad jokes), and everything worked well. I can say that the mask clearing is very uncomfortable on day 1, especially the removing and replacing part. Be patient, it gets better!

Day two was two beach dives at Shark's Cove on the North Shore. First real dive, and it was fantastic. We didn't go all that deep - around 10 meters, and everything was very controlled and relaxed. We always felt secure with Denise near us. We saw a shark and a turtle, but were probably too focused on what we were doing to enjoy them appropriately. Two dives there, with skills training. Mask clearing getting easier. The group diving consisted of my wife and I with Denise, another couple with another dive master, and a third dive master tagging along for fun. Felt very safe!

Day three was two boat dives. Again, it was my wife and I with Denise, and another two with another dive master. This was an 18 meter (60 foot) dive, with more skills practice. I mentioned mask clearing as the most disturbing part of the course, remember? By day three we were sitting on the bottom with 60 feet of water above us, and easily took off our masks, replaced them, and cleared the water. After the skills we swam and enjoyed the beautiful reef and aquatic life.

We didn't know what to expect from a dive course and diving, but can say that this was a fantastic experience. Diving is something everyone should try, and if you are interested, I doubt if you can find a better group than Gabe, Denise, and the others at...

5 stars not nearly enough!

Updated 11 months later. Original review at the bottom. Still 5+ stars!

DMs Joshua and Tanner were awesome. Good safety briefings. Very solicitous and great marine life spotting. Dove YO, San Pedro, & Sea Tiger as well as the reef near the end of Pipeline. Too many fishes and variety to count. Many huge turtles, plenty of eels and a couple of eagle rays. Joshua named the reef, "Taco Reef" in homage to the abundance of octopus. I've never seen so many ever before. On my last ride out, we were joined by a pod of dolphins including at least one juvenile.

I can't say enough good things. I think Kaimana is well suited to deal with new drivers and crusty old crabs with hundreds or thousands of dives in their log books, too. I first contacted Gabe, and 3 other local dive shops, about a year before my planned arrival. I liked Gabe the best even though, year's earlier, I'd dived with one of the other operators - who'd since changed ownership. I liked his reviews the best and his responses.

I did 6 dives over 3 days including YO and Sea Tiger as well as most of the pipe, including turtle cleaning and "Secrets."

I saw many nudibranch in vibrant colors, some of the biggest and most plentiful turtles, a chill white tip, and 2 octopuses including one out picking fights with nearby fish. Of course there were many tangs and other usual suspects all around. Even though the viz wasn't the best and the deep current wiped me out, these were some of my best dives ever.

The boat was shared 2 of 3 trips but never overcrowded. Good captains.

Gabe's divemasters, Danny and Christian, made everything easy, accommodating, and enjoyable across divers with diverse skills. Both were super patient with me dealing with equalizing issues for the 1st time in 20+ years.

I recommend Gabe and Kaimana Divers to one and all. First timers and crusty crabs alike! Great dives. Great sites. Great critters to see from tiny to massive. Great people....