Aloha Scuba Diving Company

I had the dive of my life. Holding an octopus wasn't on my bucket list but if I had known it was possible it sure would have been.

Can't complain about this company. All went smoothly and would highly recommend. Looking forward to the next time.

At 60 and retiring soon decided to learn to dive. Aloha Scuba was great from the first email and phone call right through the last dive. While making my reservation they answered all my questions and provided advice on what would make my experience better. Instructors Swayze and Rob were excellent giving us a review of key things from the online course aand the equipment. Everything was explained before we suited up and before each exercise for the first days confined water and shore dives. Next day everything was reviewed and briefed again for the two open water dives. It was great to finish the skills just after jumping in for the second dive and then get an underwater guided tour. Lots of fish, a dozen turtles and other life. The dive master was great too, just don't remember his name. Hi

I enrolled in Discover Scuba because I'm a newbie and my friend is an advanced diver and went on two of their dives.Discover Scuba is a good program, but if you have no prior diving experience it's not for the faint of heart. You'll be required to demonstrate the five basic scuba skills while bobbing in the ocean. If you haven't had prior dive experience -- like me -- it's a lot to expect of yourself. My perspective going into this was that I'd do my best and not get mad at myself if I couldn't do it all.Being the furthest thing from a Navy Seal or similar, I believed I was unprepared to dive. I was surprised/relieved to see ex-military in our group having difficulty with their first dive experience. I add this not as a criticism of them or anyone else, but to help level set the conversation some people have in their heads that invalidate themselves. Machismo has nothing to do with successfully passing the dive tests. You'll pass the tests in the water when you become comfortable with the routine dive actions. As it turns out, I didn't do it all. I couldn't continue with the group, but I was happy to hang out in the water around the boat. From the surface, I could still see fish and sea turtles. I was very happy with my experience and even happier I didn't push myself into a situation that could have ended dangerously. In the end, I'm better prepared for another diving adventure.

A Huge Mahalo to the Aloha Scuba team - Nick, Justin, Ken & Dante!Top Notch teaching, safety & patience. Great team to achieve PADI Open Water Certification.Aloha, see you guys soon!

If you choose to take a class from Aloha Scuba, do so at your own peril. Say goodbye to the people you love and make sure your affairs are in order.I arrived my first day for the confined water part of the class completely ready and confident. I have never scuba dived before but grew up on the ocean and am very comfortable in the water. I surf, own a sailboat and swim, I was raised on the ocean. We spent the morning getting our gear fitted followed by instruction and reviewing what skills / tasks were to be completed during our confined water dive. When I got into the water, the instructor told each of us to put our faces in with the mouthpiece in our mouths in order to get used to the feeling of breathing through a tank. I was immediately uncomfortable and could not understand why. "What's my problem?". "Why am I having so much trouble?" "I feel like I'm drowning." There was so much water in my mask and I tried to tighten the mask but it did not stay tight, I was told it was the right size.I completed the first skill while feeling like I was going to drown and shot straight to the top of the water. I asked the instructor what I was doing wrong and he said he didn't know, I did it perfectly then immediately went up. I said I felt like my mask was too loose and he told me that was not it. The issue was that I was breathing out of my nose and a mask should not be too tight or the fit on the sides of your face will buckle and let in water.Next task, next task, next task, executed while feeling like I was drowning the entire time. After about 2-3 hours, the instructor told me I was completing each task but he could tell I was uncomfortable and suggested I leave the class and book a private lesson. On my way to the dive shop I was trying to figure out what my problem was, why was I feeling like I was drowning, was it in my head, what was I doing wrong, how do I fix it and relayed that same information to the owner when I booked the private at an additional cost of $250 for the following day. The next day I arrived with my own mask, snorkle and fins for the private lesson. Put my face in the water - no problem, asked to perform a required skill and executed it perfectly the first time, every time; no discomfort, no drama, no feeling like I was going to drown. The only time I felt uncomfortable was when I performed the skill of filling the mask with water and then clearing it by blowing out of my nose - the exact same thing I did for 2-3 hours the previous day. The difference between day 1 and day 2 is my mask fit.That a company that makes its living teaching people how to scuba dive has a broken mask in the first place could be that they didn't know yet, no one said anything, I can understand that sort of - but really, who doesn't check their equipment?I cancelled the remaining scheduled boat dives since I was drowning in 10 feet of water with an instructor who was within feet of me. The instructor either could not identify the problem or chose not to fix it. If the instructor and the equipment is that bad that I was drowning in 10 feet of water for 2-3 hours, I would NEVER go miles offshore in 30-60 feet of water with that company.I relayed the information to the owner who refunded everything but the online learning portion of the class and the private lesson. Not refunding the online portion of the class - fair, I completed the course. The private lesson would have been unnecessary had the equipment been in order or if the instructor knew how to tell if someone was drowning.There are several scuba diving companies in Oahu, choose wisely, your life depends on it.

The most amazing dive company! Captain Kevin is the BEST! He's seriously my favorite captain ever. Mike and Saul led such fun dives and brought a great energy even underwater. We saw lots of turtles & sea life, and the wreck dive was so worth it. The only problem with diving here is you won't want to dive anywhere else afterwards. Counting down the days until I can come back!

Captain Derrick was hilarious and helpful. DM Swayze showed us cool stuff. We started on time and retuned on time!

Safe enough for tourists to try scuba diving for the first time but CAUTION!!!Anyone who is an experienced diver, or is looking to do a certification and actually learn something about the sport should steer far away and spend your time and money at one of the many other dive shops on the island, who care about their business and their customers.My dive was rescheduled multiple times, then doing my advanced ow cert. I was rushed through my lessons so the boat could cater to the first time divers who were also aboard. I had a bottom time of 20mins then sat on the boat for over an hour waiting to do my next dive. While I was trying to ask my advanced instructor questions so that I could learn, the captain/owner kept barking orders at my instructor to help with the other group of newbie divers, and I barely had any time to ask questions, despite my unnecessarily long surface interval.When I reached out to the owner letting them know I felt I didn't get the education I was expecting because the boat was completely full of newbies and my instructor was overworked, I received a nasty response from the owner himself. I was told they only have to give me 20mins per lesson and their reputation with PADI is perfect so my opinion doesn't matter.The worst part is that I was buddied up with someone doing their reactivate lesson, while I was doing my advanced. The guy hadn't dove in 20yrs and had no clue how to use his BCD! I ended up saving him from an uncontrolled ascent and spent a lot of time just keeping this newbie alive. While I was paying big money for my AOW cert. Extremely dangerous for the reactivate lesson, and extremely inconsiderate to me, the advanced student.The next day ( it was prepaid. Otherwise I wouldn't have gone again.) I had a new instructor, and when I told him what happened, he seemed sympathetic but then told me that is their standard practice, to pair new people with experienced people so they can help. This might be acceptable during a recreational dive. But not a VERY expensive lesson where I had the expectation of learning something.Heres the sparksnotes version of my review:-Inadequate gear (aside from BCD)-They put 16lbs on me when I requested 10lbs-Advertised as 3 tank dive. I didn't even use 2.-Owner/Cap. Was rude and mistreated his instructors and even yelled at one of them in front of me.-Only care about profits from tourists not teaching scuba.- I did not feel welcome on the boat.- I was paired with a beginner and expected to look after them instead of learn.-Did not get to choose my specialty dives.- I feel I just paid for my AOW card and did not learn anything. -Falsely advertising as a family business-WAY more expensive than alternative dive shopsTo the owner: If you do not enjoy your work. You can change professions! People are spending their hard earned money to come on your charter and deserve to be treated with respect. This company operates with ZERO Aloha and is an embarrassment to the SCUBA world and this amazing island that you occupy.I made a yelp account just to leave this review because I was so let down. I would leave 0 stars if possible.

Hussein was the best dive instructor ever! he is very patient and very accomodating. The crew is also very helpful and amazing!!