2021 Master Diver Challenge

February 8, 2021/in Dive Reports, Dive Travel, Diving Courses, Frontpage Article, News, Scuba Diving Certification/by Matt Zimmerman

The 2021 Master Diver Challenge

SSI has updated their 2021 Master Diver Challenge program and now there are three prizes to win in 2021. One each for Master Diver, Advanced Open Water Diver and Specialty Diver. This is an awesome opportunity to win free trips around the world just for doing the dives and courses you already want to do this year! At our shops there are group courses planned every weekend and we can organize a scuba certification course for you at any time added onto our daily boat charters. You can qualify for a Specialty Diver rating with only one charter if you have 12 logged dives. This program is truly for everyone.

How to earn the free certifications

In the SSI system Specialty Diver, Advanced Open Water Diver and Master Diver are all free ratings. You get there by booking specialty courses and logging dives in your MySSI App. You can click on the picture here to get the free app and start a variety of free programs right away. Enter to win these prize by earing these FREE certifications:

Specialty Diver
- 12 logged dives
- 2 specialty certifications
Advanced Open Water
- 24 logged dives
- 4 specialty certifications
Master Diver
- 50 logged dives
- 5 specialty certification one of which much be Stress and Rescue

The 2021 Grand Prize for Master Diver

The Grand Prize is a liveaboard trip for 2 people to the Red Sea on an Aggressor liveaboard. Can be completed anytime in 2022. The prize has a value of $5400. That is pretty amazing. Island Divers did a liveaboard trip to the Red Sea in 2007. The diving was fantastic and we added on a week to go explore the antiquities of Egypt. We used another operator but I know that Aggressor can arrange this extra week as well. It was a combination of the upper Nile temples and tombs and Cairo for the pyramids. The upper Nile was our favorite. Karnak temple being the highlight in our opinion.

Here is a high quality link Red Sea Master Diver Challenge for 2021 to the prize description.

2021 prize for earning Advanced Open Water

The prize for earning you Advanced Open Water in 2021 is a single space at the Blue Angel dive resort in Cozumel. It is based on dbl occupancy, so you’ll need to bring a buddy or pay for a single supplement, but it is still a great prize. Island Divers Hawaii Dive Travel plans a trip here every couple of years. Here is a past example.

2021 prize for earning Specialty Diver

The prize for earning your Specialty Diver rating is 4 days of diving and 5 nights hotel at the Looe Key Reef Resort in Florida. Also based on double occupancy. What is great about this prize is that almost everyone can enter to win. Without even coming to Hawaii you could book a Nitrox Course and a Marine Ecology course, have logged at least 12 dives, and SSI will issue you a free Specialty Diver rating and automatically enter you to win. That is pretty amazing. We can set this courses up for you at anytime, from anywhere, just give us a call.

I love it, how can I get started?

Easy. Keep logging your dives in the free MySSI app. SSI regularly updates your profile with courses and dives and automatically applies your free earned ratings and enters you to win. Prizes are awarded in January of 2022 after everyone that earned the rating that year is entered. So all you need to do is start earning those specialty certifications. If you are visiting Oahu and booking dives with us, the easiest to add on is Nitrox for $125. That is the world’s most popular specialty and a good one to have. Nitrox does not require dives, so you can actually do it remotely. However, most people want to dive the gas during the course. Another easy way is to add on a fully online Ecology course, like the Marine Ecology course we have planned for March 20th. For dive club members, probably the best way is to join one of are Group Continuing Education courses that happen all year long on weekends.

How the SSI Master Diver program works

May 20, 2020/in Dive Reports, Diving Courses, Frontpage Article, Scuba Diving Certification/by Matt Zimmerman

How to achieve the Master Diver rating with SSI

As Island Divers Hawaii shifts its training focus from PADI courses to SSI, one common questions is how does this affect my progress towards the Master Diver rating. SSI calls this rating Master Diver and PADI calls it Master Scuba Diver. They are very similar ratings. However, the SSI rating has some pretty large advantages..

To achieve the Master Diver rating with SSI you need to

Log 50 dives
- These dives need to be logged in the MySSI app. Since not all divers are habitual dive loggers, this is the minor disadvantage mentioned earlier. If you have been logging elsewhere, there is a shortcut that a dive center can help you with. As an SSI dive center, we can access your SSI diver profile and manually change the number of logged dives in the system for you. We’d are happy to do this for our divers that have logged dives elsewhere.
Complete the Stress and Rescue specialty
- SSI treats the Rescue course as a specialty course. There is no need to achieve the Advanced Open Water rating prior to starting the course.
- A prerequisite for stress and rescue is React Right or an equivalent CPR First Aid certification
Complete 4 more Specialty courses
- There is an extensive list of specialty courses available. Interestingly with the SSI program, none of them have to be specialty courses that include diving. Meaning that a diver that is interested in pursuing the Master Diver certification with SSI can complete many of the course requirements from the comfort of their home. This includes Nitrox
- We recommend that one of these specialty certifications be the online nitrox course. Nitrox certification allows you to dive nitrox. While all the specialty certifications are going to expand your knowledge base, there are only a few that are required for a certain type of diving. Diving with nitrox is one of those that will require certification.
- Currently, almost all our specialty courses are $125 without dives. So, for ecology programs and the like that do not require diving, that is the final cost. Most other specialties can be completed with one set of boat dives. Again, if you are reading this from somewhere with no local diving, you can complete your online learning in advance and just schedule your dives when you are able to come to Hawaii.

Once these are completed, SSI will automatically recognize you with the Master Diver rating. Meaning, once your instructor certifies your last specialty in the SSI system and you have 50 dives you will be automatically awarded the Master Diver Rating. There is no $50+ application fee. The fee that PADI charges for this is one of the reasons we believe the SSI system is better.

It is worth noting that along the way to Master Diver in the SSI system, you will also get the Level II Specialty Diver* rating and teh Level III Advanced Open Water Diver** rating for free. Achieving each of these ratings is automatic upon getting the specialities and logging the dives and you also get entered to win dive trip prizes.

*12 dives logged and 2 Specialties ** 24 dives logged and 4 Specialties

What do you get with the SSI Master Diver rating?

Entry into a yearly drawing for a liveaboard dive trip for 2 people. Each year SSI takes all the people that achieved the SSI Master Diver rating and puts them into a drawing. In early 2020 the winner for the 2019 Master Diver Challenge was announced. Nate Kilgore is the lucky winner in the picture on the right. He won a liveaboard trip for two on the Belize Aggressor. In 2020 the winner will got a liveaboard trip for 2 on a liveaboard trip to Honduras. Here are the 2021 prizes.

Master Diver rating is Level 4 diver in the SSI recognition path, Level 5 diver is the next recognition level with 100 dives. The SSI Master Diver level is primarily a personal achievement. It is also the goal of our dive centers to encourage people to shoot for this goal. We have been doing this a long time. Many people come out of their certification course and just stall, not sure what to do next. We like Master Diver as a goal because it includes training that is going to help you be a better diver and be able to better assist dive buddies (Stress and Rescue). Also, if you make the 50 dives logged goal you really gone from being certified to being a true diver. For many of us that work here, this has been our primary hobby and source of friends and adventures for years. It is a worthwhile goal.

If I’m currently holding PADI certifications, how can I switch?

SSI is pretty generous in this regard. Your initial certification can be with ANY training agency. SSI lets you count any two specialty courses with any other training agency towards the Master Diver rating. Stress and Rescue and 2 other SSI Specialty courses must be part of your profile.

If you have specialty courses from another training agency SSI allows us to verify those certifications in the SSI app. Let us know if you need this. We will need photocopies of the card. Big bonus for doing this is that your card will go into your SSI diver profile and be available for free for life! Just like all of your SSI cards.

Remember, that as the dive center we call manually adjust your number of dives if you are not yet using the dive log on the MySSI App.

Scuba Diving Lessons For All Levels in Oahu, Hawaii

November 29, 2017/in Diving Courses/by Lauren Smith

Where should you dive for your first time or for your hundredth dive? A dive center with the capabilities of offering all persons of all levels comfortable and unforgettable experiences is a winning choice.

You want to be able to bring your friends and family of all diving skill levels together to experience on their own the freedom and excitement of scuba diving. Island Divers has an array of beginner to advanced diving options for everyone.

For Beginners:

You can try your first breaths underwater in a pool while learning a few skills to make you more confident to then dive with your instructor in open water. Through our Discover Scuba Dive Experience those who have never had the opportunity to breathe underwater can get the brief training and experience with wonderful astute instructors to guide you while diving the reefs of Oahu. Once you realize the joy of diving, getting your Open Water certification will be your next opportunity to move forward to being a certified independent diver.

Open Water Certification options on Oahu

Island Divers offers many options to fit your schedule. You can take our Week Long Open Water Course that is tailored for people working 9-5pm. You can do a semi-private course and pick your days to complete the course. Maybe you can start on Monday but then can’t do the next day till Saturday. No worries! Our Instructors will always be there to complete the course on your time. Really want an exclusive experience? Ask about our Private Open Water Course. Any of the choices you choose above will always be lead by our valued instructors and you will be provided the top of the line equipment and diving with one of the only operations in Oahu that offers diving on three sides of the island on one of our 6 boats!

Diving doesn’t just stop with Open Water certification; there are many paths you can take as a diver. A three-day Advanced Course will get you oriented with deep diving, wreck diving, and navigating yourself around dive sites. You become more confident in your abilities to be a good diver and a good dive buddy. After this, you can focus your dive education into many different specialties.

Advanced Divers:

Specialty certifications are our Specialty!! What do you love about diving? Do you love the fish, the weightlessness and controlling your weight as you glide through the water ahead of you, the penetration of a wrecked vessel sitting on the ocean floor, or the joy of underwater photography? We offer you many different courses to hone your skill in a specialized area of diving. There are over 20+ specialties that you can get certified in and educate yourself in all facets of diving. You are now ready to be a Master Scuba Diver, the top of the diving food chain for recreational divers.

Let us here at Island Divers Hawaii give you the experience of a lifetime, as well as the opportunity to continue to progress in the world of diving with the best prices on the island!

Fantastic Mother’s Day Dives! 5/14

May 14, 2017/in Dive Reports, Diving Courses/by Mary Christensen

The day started out with some beautiful blue skies here on Maunalua Bay. We had a full boat, lots of students and some down right happy divers. Baby Barge was our first site of the day. We had some current today but all of our divers were up for the challenge. We were visited by turtles, eels and octopus at this site. Our photographers on the boat were pretty happy with all wild life at the boat of the sea.

While we were on the first dive the seas picked up a little. Made the choice to do drift dives in a little shallower this time at Fantasy Reef. Boy was it a turtle show there! Also had a free swimming shark on the reef and Octopus! It was so nice to just lazily drift along and take in all the sights. The reef, as always was crowded with reef fish of all types and even some great barracuda!! It was a fantastic peaceful dive.

Our final dive was at Angler’s Reef. The current died down some so we were able to move up and down the reef at will. We got to see ton’s more eels, porcupine puffer fish, octopus and tons of reef fish. It was pretty amazing out there on the water today and everyone was super happy!! What a nice day we had!

Congratulations to all the New Advanced Open Water Divers! Ken, Samantha, Preston, Stephanie, and Sean!

Awesome Divers: Florent, James, Jared, Ken, Steve, Russ, Jose, Kelly, Arvin, Caroline, Samantha, Preston, Stephanie, Sean and Glenn!

Amazing Dive Staff: Capt. Shiloh, Dive Instructors Mary, Dave and Jeremiah, Fantastic Crew Becca

Dive Sites:

Baby Barge, Wreck, 85′, Viz 100′

Fantasy Reef, Drift, 55′, viz 75′

Angler’s Reef, Drift, 50′, Viz 100+

Thank you to all our new friends for coming out with us today!!

Double Drifting Monday!! 4/18 AM

April 17, 2017/in Dive Reports, Diving Courses/by Mary Christensen

It was a blustery start to the day today but the weather cleared quickly as the dive boat headed out to the sites. We drifted off the LCU wreck today and headed west after that. The barracuda were out like crazy today, hundreds of them. We explored parts of the ocean floor that we seldom get to see. Never knowing what you will see out there is pretty exciting. So many reef fish around on this dive and the cutest little free swimming octopus. It’s always fun to do this drift when we get the chance.

Barracuda Moray EelDay Octopus

Next we drifted Fantasy Reef. The water was crystal clear today and the reef was full of turtles. This was pretty exciting for most of our divers today. Lots of people taking pictures and enjoying the sites. We saw a couple of nudi’s and yet again another free swimming octopus. One of the favorite parts of the dive was finding the red frog fish, this is one of my personal favorites around. They are not common and a little hard to find. Towards the end of the dive we even got to see the big present white tip shark we have been seeing around. She is so slow when she swims now that everyone had a chance to take good pictures. Lot’s of eels on this dive also….was so much fun.

Imperial Nudi Day Octopus Green Sea Turtle Blue Dragon Nudi Red Frog FishMoray Eel

Thanks to our awesome divers: William, Pat, Amanda, Josh, Nico, Carly, Angelo and of course Pastor Tim.

Congratulations to Carly and Angelo on their New PADI Enriched Air Certifications!!

Amazing Dive Staff: Capt. Joe, Dive Instructor Mary and Maddie as Crew!!

Dive Sites: LCU Drift, 95 max depth, 100 ft Viz.

Fantasy Reef, 55 max depth, 100 ft Viz, Drift

Thank you Everyone!!!

Diving and a Booby!! 8/10 AM dives

October 8, 2016/in Dive Reports, Diving Courses/by Mary Christensen

Diving on Saturday morning is the perfect start to a weekend. We had light trade winds and our seas were calm. Greeted at New Barge with 150+ feet of visibility. Ed was doing his PADI Wreck Spec on this dive so he was laying line inside the wreck on this dive. The rest of us made our way around the “Z” Block pile outside the wreck, so many fish!! Devin was doing his PADI Enriched Air Spec so we got to spend some extra time on the wreck. We made our way to the wreck as a group and explored inside and out. When we came back up there was a very curious Booby watching all of us. Guess he liked our group there today!

Growth on Wreck

Crown of Thorns

Pyriamid Butterfly fish, millet butterfly below.

picture taken from the sand at the wreck!! SO CLEAR!!

Our quest on the second dive was to see turtles!! Check…..Fantasy Reef is like Turtle Land! We also got to see Octopus, Sharks, Scorpion Fish, and a million reef fish. Oh wait did I mention the 20 Turtles. Talk about excited divers when we came back up. The water was clear and warm and the reef life was abundant. We really lucked out on having such a nice drift dive. Everyone got to talk lots of pictures… Best way to start a weekend.

Devil Scorpion Fish

blue dragon Nudibranch

Dive Sites: New Barge, Max depth 90 feet, Viz 150+ feet, Wreck Dive

Fantasy Reef, Max depth 55 feet, viz 75+, Drift Dive

Awesome Divers: Anki, Bill, Brittany, Chuck, Devin, Ed and Zachary!

Congratulations Ed on Wreck Specialty and Devin on Nitrox Specialty!

Amazing Dive Staff: Captain Daniel, Dive Instructors Mary and Matt, and Super Crew Kelsey!

Three Tankers Rock!!! 9/18

September 18, 2016/in Dive Reports, Diving Courses/by Mary Christensen

Everyone on the dive boat this morning was super stoked about the historic Corsair being the first wreck today. It had been requested by over half the boat. There was a pretty kicking current this morning but our divers made their way down the line to the wreck. They were rewarded with crystal clear water and a super nice dive around the wreck. Divers Gene, Heather, Ron, Riana and Omar were doing their PADI Enriched Air course so they got to spend some extra time down there. It’s amazing that the wreck has been there over 65 years and still is in pretty good condition. This is one of the most popular dive sites in Hawaii being the only natural wreck on Oahu. At 107 feet deep Chloe, Riana and Omar also did the deep part of their PADI Advanced Open Water course. Great job all of you!

box crab

divers on corsair

front of corsair

kind of looks like James is piloting

over view of corsair

Baby barge was our next stop and maybe we should have called it the Turtle Barge today! We counted at least 10 of them there. On the wreck, under the wreck, in the wreck, on the side of the wreck, doing swim bys, it was amazing! We also got to see a friendly little free swimming white tip and a few eels hanging around. We stayed right at the wreck and explored today. Pretty sure everyone was pleased with all the turtles as I could hear the squeals of excitement coming from their regs! We were rewarded with great visibility again which is always a treat!

Capt Neal and Malia prepared a nice lunch of sandwiches for the group when they got back up. Divers are always hungry!!

Local Yellow Margin Moray that lives at wreck

Hono on the wreck

Free Swimming white tip

There are 4 turtles in this picture!! Having a meeting I guess.

Winds picked up a little so we went a little closer in to Angler’s Reef for our last dive. The reef fish were abundant and the divers were happy exploring all the little hiding places up and down the reef. This is one of those dives you want to go real slow on so you can see everything and yes….Great Vis again!

Dive Sites: Corsair, max depth 107 feet, 100+ viz, Wreck

Baby Barge, max depth 85 feet, 100+ viz, wreck

Angler’s Reef, max depth 50 feet, 100+ viz, reef

Awesome Divers: Barbara, Chloe, Gene, Haley, Brian, Heather, Ron, James, Riana and Omar!!

Amazing Crew: Capt Neal, Dive Instructors Mary and Alex, boat crew Malia.

Shark! Shark! Shark! Shark! 9/10 am

September 10, 2016/in Dive Reports, Diving Courses/by Mary Christensen

If you wanted to see sharks, like our divers did today, they were out in force. LCU is always a good place for us to find sharks and today it was fantastic. Two good sized white tips under the wreck and then we were met outside by four large eagle rays!! It was a super day on LCU, with 100+ visibility. We had fun exploring the “Z” blocks surrounding the wreck also. Kevin and Izzy had extra time on the wreck while doing their PADI Enriched Air course. What a perfect day to have extra bottom time. It was epic for a beautiful Saturday dive!

Eagle Rays

free swimming shark in Z Blocks

White Tip under LCU

We drifted along our spitting caves dive site. This is a beautiful wall dive with abundant life on it. There are several small caves where our white tips like to sleep. Usually we get to see one or two on the dive site, today was quite different. Every small cave we shined a light in had a shark!! It was amazing as we went along. Everyone was super excited to see them. We also got to see Devil Scorpion fish and also our very elusive frog fish. The frog fish is a light yellowish green color and looks exactly like the coral on this site. He was nestled all in but the keen eye of the dive instructor found it. We had a nice long dive on the lazy current of the day. This was the best start to a weekend. Back on the boat Kelsey made us all hot towels to freshen up with and Capt Joe had fresh pineapple for the excited divers to snack on.

White Mouth Moray

Frog Fish

Devil Scorpion Fish

Dive Sites: LCU max depth 90 feet, Viz 100+, Wreck dive

Spitting Caves, max depth 50 feet, viz 90 feet, Drift dive

Awesome Divers: Ben, Dave, Eric L., Eric O., Jordan, Juhyun, Kevin, Izzy, Drista, Okahuin, Peter, Sergej, Zaur, Alek and Tim!

Amazing Dive Staff: Capt Joe, Dive Instructors Mary, Sarah and Ashley, boat crew Kelsey!

Best NIGHT Dive of the Year!! 9/8

September 8, 2016/in Dive Reports, Diving Courses/by Mary Christensen

Taking the boat out at dusk for our first dive we went to baby barge. It was teaming with activity at the change over at sunset. The turtles were settling in for the night but still pretty active around us. We saw several at the wreck. Also the sharks had woken up and were out free swimming around. We made our way to the shark cave where Peter, our PADI Night dive Student was doing some skills. On the way back the sunlight had all but disappeared and at this time it always makes the wreck look so eerie. You can make out the shape of it but it still looks so big in the water. Exploring this wreck at night makes it so different from our usual day time trips.

free swimming white tip

Now our second dive was at Angler’s Reef. This dive site is very interesting during the day but at night it totally changes. We always get to see a variety of things here but this night we really got to see it all. Spanish Dancers were out, an octopus that put on quite a show for us. It stayed active on top of the reef and flashed us different colors and textures for over 5 minutes. Eels everywhere and of course just tons of reef fish. We got to experience the fish all nestled away for the night so the hunting predators couldn’t find them. The anemones that showed us their colors….it was all so breath taking. We had some first time night divers on the boat and they were quite taken by what it had to offer. Peter finished up his PADI Night Spec also. It was a super dive, by far one of the best so far this year!!!

Spanish Dancer on Reef

Spanish Dancer Swimming

Spanish Dancer with a rider if you look close

Slipper Lobster

Octopus

same octopus

Can you see me now? Same Octopus

and one more of the same Octopus

Eel

Dive Sites: Baby barge, max depth 85 feet, Dusk Dive, Wreck

Angler’s Reef, max depth 50 feet, Night Dive, Reef

Awesome Divers: Dave, Sarah, Kevin, Mike, and Peter!

Amazing Dive Staff: Capt Matt and Dive Instructor Mary!

Super Saturday!! Sept 03 am

September 3, 2016/in Dive Reports, Diving Courses/by Mary Christensen

Always a fun time when we get to dive the historic Corsair wreck. This plane had to do an emergency ditch in 1948 and still sits on the sea floor today. For being down there over 65 years it sure has held up well. The water was clear and warm as we made our decent. You could see the plane from almost the moment you jumped in the water. Lots of reef fish around, and the beautiful scorpion leaf fish that have taken up residents there. The wing in the sand and the body listing a bit to the side. It’s always amazing to think of how many missions this plane may have flown before finding it’s final resting spot here in Maunalua Bay. A perfect setting for many to check off bucket list dives and for Nick to do is PADI Enriched Air course dives, giving him extra time.

Corsair

In search of turtles for the next dive, Fantasy Reef was our choice. The Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles or Honu as we know them in Hawaii were everywhere! There are so many beautiful reef fish here, you add in eels,sharks, turtles, and the various odd fish we get to see makes this dive one of our favorites. The Honu were out in force today and had lots of interest in the divers. The current for our drift dive was pretty light which made exploring more of the reef super easy. Everyone really had a great time. This was the perfect dive for Peter to finish his PADI Drift Diving Specialty on. Kelsey had hot minty towels for everyone to freshen up with after the dive. It was really a Super Saturday!!

smiling white tip reef shark

Green Sea Turtle

coral

green sea turtle

hiding yellow margin moray

Green Sea Turtle and Divers

Dive Sites: Corsair, max depth 107 feet, viz 100+, Wreck dive

Fantasy Reef, max depth 55, viz 100 feet, Drift Dive

Awesome Divers: Bob, Dave, Eric, Sara, Tom, Kevin, Matt, Nicholas, Brian, Peter, Steven and Tim!

Congratulations Peter on your Drift Diving Spec and Nicholas on your PADI Enriched Air Spec.

Amazing Staff: Capt Joe, Dive Instructors Mary and Matt and Fabulous Kelsey was crew!