This program is well worth it. Helped me face a big fear and come out feeling confident.read more

Great operation! Friendly and professional staff answered the phone in one ring, got us outfitted…read morewith rental gear short notice. Equipment was high-quality and well-maintained. Staff was very helpful showing us resources for finding dive sites--Sharks Cove was full of turtles! Hassle free equipment return and fair price. We will definitely be back.

We booked a trip to HI to do our referral dives to get PADI certified. We were lucky enough to find…read moreAustin. He was awesome!! He made my two girls 13 and 10 years old feel safe and comfortable in the open ocean. He was extremely knowledgable, patient and had really good, positive energy to help the girls gain confidence on their first dives. He had a vast knowledge of where things were underwater and what we should see while we were there. We got to see sea turtles, white tip sharks, and many fish gathering around the coral reefs. He helped us complete the referral dive tests with flying colors! We would highly recommend him as a diving guide or instructor. He took pictures for us of all of the highlights so we didn't even have to worry about the camera. Very organized and informative the whole way through. Excellent!

It'd been 10+ years since I last went diving, so I was a bit apprehensive, but Devin's review of…read morethe gear and diving techniques helped to ease my nerves. The dive was wonderful! 10x better than the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific. The biodiversity was incredible - there had to be over 100 types of fish, a couple of small eels (safe distance away), and a turtle. Even the "tougher" parts of diving that I remember were made easy with Devin's pointers and patience. I'd highly recommend taking a dive tour with Banzai and will certainly be doing it again myself!

This was my 2nd dive with Banzai Divers but my first dive for the Open Water certification. Devin…read morethoroughly oriented our group of 3 with what to expect, the equipment we will be using and all the safety precautions. He was so organized, prepared and professional. The dive experience was amazing and fun! I would highly recommend going with Banzai Divers for all diving experiences, be it a discovery dive or the PADI certifications. Devin is extremely patient and knowledgeable!

Let me first start by saying the review would be a five star review if it were not for Marina, one…read moreof the dive guides. Let me go through the positive aspects first, then, I will cover the areas for improvement. First, the dive service is great for beginners. I did one previous dive in Moorea and they didn't explain anything. This time, Reef Pirates did a good job of explaining the physics and the safety procedures of diving. Also, there were several practice drills in shallow water before diving deeper, and so I think they did a good job of following proper safety and dive procedures. The guides, Dray and Marina, had over 10 and 20 years of experience, respectively, and definitely knew their stuff. Dray, who was my dive guide, was excellent. In comparison to Marina, the two have polar opposite personalities. Dray is very outgoing and friendly. I felt really safe with him as my guide and he did a good job at showing us creatures underwater. I'd highly recommend Dray if you can get him. Marina, on the other hand, is very stern and serious. I had originally been scheduled to dive with her, but I failed a shallow water test and so she sent me to Dray's group (thank God because Dray was way better). My main issue with Marina came down to the photography / videography that I purchased for $95 beforehand, but moreover, her bad attitude. After the dive was over, Marina told me she needed time to color-correct the video footage before sending it to me. Okay, I thought. Sounds fine to me. But when I received the files, she added a slow-motion effect to all of the videos right in the middle. This effectively made the video footage unusable for my purposes, and since I did not request any special effects added to the videos at the time of purchase, I requested she send the unedited videos without the slow motion effects. Marina told me she immediately deleted the originals without obtaining a final acceptance from the client. This was her first mistake. Never delete your originals until the client accepts them. Then, my real gripe was with her attitude, and she went on to say that she was doing me a "favor out of the kindness of her heart" by giving me the files, and that she had washed her hands of the responsibility of videography, and attempted to transfer the responsibility to Dray, which was pretty poor character of her throwing her colleague under the bus like that. I told her that it was not a favor she was doing for me and that she owed me videography services, and I showed her my receipt for the $95 photography/videography. She basically told me to ask Dray for any questions about these services. I requested a refund, but she declined it. Rather than making a big deal about it, I chalked it up as a loss and moved on with my life. Still, I thought it was pretty low of Marina to try and blame Dray for her mistake. Besides, some of us have to work in jobs where we get held accountable for our mistakes, so I don't have a lot of sympathy for her. The other issue with the videos and photos, not as big a deal, was they were all in "portrait" orientation (as opposed to landscape orientation). For my purposes, this also made the videos and photos unusable, for me at least. Thankfully I brought my own GoPro and had some usable footage of the turtles. In the end, I'd recommend taking your own GoPro and filming yourself, saving the $95. The diving is great and we saw many turtles. In this regard, I'd give Reef Pirates a five star review but had to take off 2 stars because of Marina.

We had the absolute time of our lives on our very first scuba diving adventure with Reef Pirates…read moreDiving! As complete beginners, this family dive turned out to be the absolute highlight of our trip to Hawaii. Marina was simply incredible--professional, warm, incredibly patient, and attentive. Thanks to her guidance, our children had a magical underwater journey. My daughter loved it so much that she even took off her fins and danced at the bottom of the ocean! What touched us most was how Marina cared for my wife. My wife doesn't know how to swim and was initially terrified of going into the ocean. Marina gently eased her fears with immense patience and expertise. Encouraged by Marina, my wife eventually let go of the line and went for a confident "stroll" right through the coral reefs. It was a huge milestone for her. The team's professionalism really showed when I made a beginner's mistake. Forgetting the instructions to equalize slowly while descending, I let go of the line and sank too fast, which caused severe head pain. Marina and Greg acted immediately and guided me safely back to the surface with complete composure and care. To wrap up a perfect day, they even helped us fill out our official certification paperwork after we got back to shore. This was hands-down our family's best memory in Hawaii. Thank you so much, Marina and Greg, for making our first dive so safe, joyful, and unforgettable!

I am just coming off my discover dive with Captain Derick and Toby as our guide and have nothing…read morebut deep gratitude for my experience. I hardly write reviews but their considerate and meticulous service made for an unforgettable experience. Many companies offer discover scuba lessons in Oahu so I called a few to understand the itinerary before making a decision. I spoke with Toby, he welcomed all questions and gave an honest glimpse of what the experience would be. He was also courteous enough to let me know that they might reschedule our reservation in case they don't have enough people to meet a minimum for the boat. This did happen but the company let me know this promptly well in advance and even followed up to remind me about completing e-learnings etc. Fast forward to the day of the scuba and my mother & I met with Toby and the captain on Diamond T II, their boat along ala moana. The captain did a quick lay down of the safety instructions and Toby walked us through the nuts and bolts of diving - key skills, sign language, etc. The crew split us into parties of two each. The sea was a little choppy and I was feeling a little sea sick so I asked the cap if I go jump in the water till the first pair finished their training and dive and he even gave me snorkeling gear!! This was a great way to kill time and also get a preview of the dive ahead. The cap also encouraged my mother to join me and despite her fear of water, she felt at ease in doing so. This half an hour was unexpectedly enjoyable as we were able to interact with some marine life and my mother felt more comfortable being in water. We then got into our gear, which was labeled, super clean and hygienic, and proceeded to do our training session with Toby in the water. This was the highlight of our experience as jumping in a water can be pretty daunting with heavy gear, especially if you run into tricky problems like water in the mask or your regulator. Despite my mother running into these frequently, Toby was incredibly patient and relentlessly made an effort to do her skill training without rushing her. Unfortunately, she was feeling pretty sea sick and also tired by her time in the water so she decided to pause but Toby and I carried on into the water. We spent a serious amount of time close to the ocean bed, Toby was alert yet let me free roam in the water so I gained some confidence too. I was surprised by how clear the water was and we saw plenty of fish, it was magical. On returning, I found out that my mother got sick on the boat so the cap helped her with a pair of goggles, some jelly, and light humor to alleviate her motion sickness. The crew was highly aware of most passengers feeling sick so they expedited our return to the waterfront. I fail to see how this experience could've been more enjoyable and how this crew could've been more considerate to first time divers. Thank you so much for this!!

I have been a PADI certified diver for over 25 years. For the first time in all these years, I am…read morewriting a bad review about a PADI Dive Shop. At the end of this month, I am traveling to Honolulu, Hawaii with my wife and five-year-old daughter for vacation. I reached out to "Aloha Scuba Diving Company" (www.divealohascuba.com) a PADI 5-star IDC, inquiring about their dives. We exchanged about 10 emails, where they offered me to do a Wreck Certification. In those emails, we went over the dates, time requirement per day, dives, and cost, among other details. After a lot of negotiation with my family, they allowed me to step away from our time together, to go diving for a couple days. Based on the information Aloha Scuba Diving Company provided in those emails, I coordinated with my wife and scheduled the rest of our vacation (booking activities with my family, rather than going scuba diving by myself). After booking the rest of the activities in our vacation, I emailed Aloha Scuba Diving Company and they asked me to call the shop to make the payment and confirm the booking. Yesterday, I called the shop, and they took my credit card to confirm the booking. After the call, I received emails confirming the booking and notifications from the credit card company confirming the charge. The first thing that happened was that they overcharged my credit card compared to the price they quoted me on the emails (even when during the call I pointed to the specific email with the price they had quoted). I called back and they offered to do a refund for the difference. A few minutes later, the same person I spoke to called me, and told me that all the information that was given to me in our email correspondence was wrong. He told me that there was "some miscommunication" and that the certification required more days, more dives, and that they would need to increase the cost they had quoted. I told them that I had booked my whole vacation around the information they had provided and that they should honor what they told me. The person on the phone said he would talk to the dive shop owner and let me know. After we finished that call, within 2-3 minutes, I received emails cancelling my booked course. I immediately called the shop again to find out what was happening, but they just did not take my calls. I followed up with an email asking for an explanation, but they did not reply (again, all this within minutes of them taking my credit card, confirming the booking and calling me trying to charge more). In all my years of diving, doing so in multiple countries, I had never faced this situation. They clearly do not understand the commitment (cost and time) that going diving requires for a diver traveling with his/her family where they do not dive. I am taking precious time I could spend with my wife and five-year-old daughter, creating memories, for the diving certification. I also planned and booked all other activities around the information they had provided by email. When things are written, there is no room for "miscommunications." The fact that they tried to overcharge me (even when over the phone I pointed to the email where they quoted the price", and after catching their intention to overcharge, they started coming up with these additional days, additional time, additional dive, and additional cost required, is absolutely unacceptable, a deceptive practice (bait-and-switch), and disrespectful to someone that is booking a whole vacation around this activity. I always book my diving with shops that are listed in the PADI site because it gives me the peace of mind and certainty that they are established dive shops that abide to PADI's Quality Management Practices, Safety Guidance, and involving qualified personnel. This is the first time in all these years, and diving in multiple countries, that I find myself in this situation. Do yourself a favor and avoid Aloha Scuba Diving Company at all costs.

The best snorkeling tour! We saw a lot of different fish and huge turtles! The team did everything…read morefor our pleasure! Captain Krash and his team took a lot of photos and videos, told a lot of information, this team does their job from the heart, thanks them! Carlos swam with us in the ocean and showed the most interesting moments. Thank you so much for the incredible emotions, I will remember this tour for the rest of my life!

Rainbow Scuba Diving…read more Wow Wow Wow Now, I'm not sure if I can write anymore.... We booked Rainbow Scuba for our holiday and I have to say that Ken and the team are sensational. I would recommend to ANYONE, being an experienced diver to the first timer that Ken is the man to see. We took my wife, son (15 years), daughter (18 years), my daughters BF (19 years) and myself. Ken and the team were thorough, patient and simply excellent! His briefing into scuba for the first timers was sensational.... Spoke in terminology that the kids understood and demonstrated the important things. Made sure everyone was able to perform the skills before committing to the dive. My daughter who gets really bad motion sickness struggled and Ken was so patient. Gave good advice on how to fix it and was genuinely concerned. The dive itself was superb.... a vast array of sealife from a variety of fish, turtles, sharks, moray eels and octopuses. I couldn't recommend Ken anymore highly.... If you visit Hawaii and want to go for a dive, albeit a first timer or an experienced driver... Contact Rainbow Scuba and Ken will look after you!

This is by far the most underrated scuba company in the ENTIRE WORLD. The entire staff - Moto,…read moreYosuke, and Shima are incredibly wonderful, and treat the customers as family (they even bought a new diver cake for her birthday!). From the very beginning, they were the most sincere and patient teachers one could ever ask for. And by the end we had seen countless turtles, swam with dolphins, and were certified as scuba divers! On top of that, they are the MOST AFFORDABLE dive shop in Hawaii! We were able to do our Open Water + Advanced Open Water certification in 4 days at a super good price. We will definitely be returning back to the dive shop when we return to Oahu for your Rescue diver training ***FYI: Despite only having a website in Japanese, they speak ENGLISH and JAPANESE very well***

highly recommended！…read more We chose sunshine scuba(me for AOW and my boyfriend for OW), and this is the best decision we made for our trip! For AOW, we had three divings at the magic island on the first day and two amazing boat divings, including one wreck diving, on the second day. First, Shima and Yosuke are great trainers: they know what they are doing! Besides, they are friendly, responsible, and humorous. It is fun and safe diving with them. Second, comparing to other diving shops, their price is very reasonable. Third, our class is small enough(two people only) that everyone gets more individualized attention and interacts more with the instructor.

Dave is so wonderful, helpful and knowledgable about diving, equipment and dive sites. His many,…read moremany years of diving experience is very obvious with his customer care. He makes scuba diving easy and relaxed. His classes are small and intimate or he can take a larger group of friends/family members. It is especially nice that the dives can be captured on video or on pictures. He offers guided tours, photography, various levels of scuba diving courses, boat and shore diving. excellent experience Mahalo nui loa.

Did my Open Water recently with Dave Sanford. He is an excellent instructor and took the time to…read moreclearly explain all of the materials and objectives. He is easy to work with and an outstanding communicator. He answered emails and phone calls promptly, and was on time for each of our meetings. He was able to adjust his class to fit my schedule. My class was a one to one ratio, and you just CANNOT GET ANY BETTER than that. I still cannot understand why more people would not gravitate more towards this kind of instruction rather than the larger classes that the bigger shops tend to have. It was like having my own personal coach. I was completely at ease with him and learned a great deal. I plan to continue my education through Dave, and that says a lot.