EXPLORING THE DEPTHS OF HAWAII
When we reached the island of Oahu in Hawaii we knew there was one thing we simply had to do - scuba dive. We hadn't dived in almost over a year and we were itching to jump back in and explore more of our vast oceans.
While waiting out the front of our accommodation we were greeted with a welcoming wave from Dave at Living Ocean Scuba. We jumped in his van and as we headed down to the dock Dave popped on a quick PADI intro video that gave a quick brief about what to expect. Once we arrived and forms were signed we met up with our two fellow divers, a lovely father and son from California (both first time divers). We watched as our boat was filled up with tanks, flippers and goggles - ready for the days events.
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Scuba Tanks
The boat was ready and we were called onto the boat by a blonde haired, blue eyed scuba instructor named Nate and the boats sea dog Buddy. He told us we were heading out to Horse Shoe Reef (dive sites are decided on the day and depend on the days weather conditions). We set sail, and as we were doing the introductory dive, Nate briefed us on the key things we needed to know to dive - readying the team for our Hawaiian dive experience.
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Before we knew it our tanks were on, goggles strapped and we were heading flipper first into the water. Nate took us down a few metres first as he showed us what we needed to do if we were to get water in our goggles or lose our breathing apparatus and a few minutes later were back at the top waiting for our fellow divers to complete the same task. As they were both first time divers, it took them a while to get the hang of it all, but Nate patiently showed them a number of times how to perform the important tasks and eventually they got there and we were ready to dive deeper.
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As we slowly sunk to the bottom of the ocean floor, we began to be surrounded by all types of different fish, many native to the islands of Hawaii.
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Buddy
After diving for around 30 minutes we ascended to grab a bite to eat, but surely enough before we knew it were back down for a second dive that lasted 45 minutes. This time we swam further out and saw white tip sharks, star fish, tonnes of tropical fish and the largest sea turtles we had ever seen!
stephen scuba diving
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We truly can't say enough about our dive instructor Nate. He handled the different experience levels in our group effortlessly and truly impressed us with his breadth of knowledge about diving, the creatures that live in the Hawaiian waters and making the day fun and relaxed.
Our divers of choice were Living Ocean Scuba, based in Oahu. They cater for both certified and uncertified divers, so if you have no experience what so ever they will have you covered.
Tour Price: $130 per person for a non-certified diver
If you want to see some footage from our experience, we have been daily vlogging our time travelling around the globe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwhrmCZ4jvU
Where was your first diving experience?
Many thanks to Living Ocean Oahu for hosting us during our dive. As always, all opinions are our own.
READ NEXT: OUR GREAT BARRIER REEF SCUBA DIVE EXPERIENCE
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