Dives for certified divers

We dive the beautiful reef surrounding Rarotonga four times a day, seven days a week

We will do everything we can to ensure that you get the very best out of your Dive Rarotonga experience!

Our dive trips in more detail:

Dive times

We offer morning and afternoon dive trips, so you can choose the best time to suit you. Our morning dive trips are purely for certified divers. We dive four times a day, with the main dive times at 8 am and 1 pm, seven days a week. The only exception is Sunday morning, when no diving takes place, in accordance with the Island’s permissible trading hours. Each trip consists of two dives (two different dive site locations) with the two dives separated by a surface interval.

Our boats

We have a custom-built 7.5 m aluminium pontoon boat and a New Zealand Mac 5.7 m boat designed specifically for diving. This means that we can offer comfort whilst always keeping our diving groups small. Boats are equipped with safety gear including oxygen, first aid and VHF radio. The boats are set up with tank racks and storage, allowing divers to gear-up on dry land. Ever been sea sick? Well if you have, you will appreciate having your gear assembled and ready to go, so when the boats stops, it is a quick buddy check and in you get!

Launch sites

There are four launch sites around Rarotonga, meaning most days we can find a calm spot to dive. Although we use all four, we are the only dive centre with one of our boats permanently moored at one of the sites, meaning you do not have to help with the launching of the boat. We also have access to toilets and showers to make your breaks that little bit more comfortable!

Safety

Our boats are equipped with all appropriate safety gear including oxygen, first aid, life jackets, GPS, EPIRB, and marine VHF radio etc (inspections are welcomed). The nearest hospital is approx 2 km from the dive centre.

**Our boats are manned while you dive We man our boats on every single dive with qualified Cook Islands Boatmasters and RYA-trained skippers while you are underwater. Our skippers are also rescue-trained and are experienced, qualified Instructors. Their job, for your safety, is to keep watch while you are guided underwater by a second Instructor.

Dive duration

We do not allow unlimited dive times — for obvious reasons. We also do not allow dives that require decompression — there are no re-compression facilities on the Island. All our dive times are safely calculated to fit into multilevel profiles with a safe one-hour surface interval between dives. An example of one of our dives would be to a maximum depth of 18 m, for up to 50 minutes.

Do guided dives mean that we all surface when the first person is low on air?

Definitely not. If a couple of divers are low on air, the dive guide takes them back to the line, keeping an eye on them whilst they do their safety stop. Then the guide continues the dive with the rest of the group. Yes, the visibility is that good that the guide can see you all at once!

Night dives

We also offer night dives — how about watching the sun go down over the South Pacific before entering the water to explore after dark? Simply ask us if you fancy a dip as the sun goes down.

Dive sites

Rarotonga is home to some of the best and most diverse diving in the Pacific — there are about 35 dive sites around the island and of these, there are some that are consistently better than the rest. Every day we check the weather and swell and choose the best sites for both morning and afternoon trips. Find out detailed information about our dive sites by clicking here.

The fringing reef surrounds the island of Rarotonga and all the dives we conduct for certified divers are outside this reef. We generally moor the boat in 10–12 m of water and then complete a tour of the site to the planned maximum depth: for Open Water divers it is a maximum depth of 18 m; for Advanced Open Water divers there are drop-offs where we conduct dives to a maximum depth of 30 m.

Guided

Our dives are always guided (unless we have agreed to a specific request) at no extra cost and we are proud to have by far the most experienced dive guides in the Cook Islands.

Marine life

We are very proud of the fact that the graceful humpback whale chooses the waters of Rarotonga to rest with her calf on her migration back to the colder southern waters. And, there is so much more — over 70 species of colourful coral, moray eels, reef sharks, lionfish, turtles, maori wrasse, anemone fish, butterfly fish, angelfish, rays, pufferfish, trumpetfish and many, many more!

Water temperature and visibility

We experience a range of temperatures from 23° C to 28° C. The visibility in the waters around Rarotonga is always great — upwards of 20 m. So you need never fear missing that turtle!

Briefings

You will be given a full briefing of the dive site and safety info by our staff before each dive, so you will know just what to expect when we get submersed. Then, after the dive, you are invited to join us for a debriefing back at the school — a great chance to get those log books filled in.

Nervous diver or not dived for a while?

Please book a pool refresher with us. For just a small cost, we can spend some time helping you to get comfortable in the water again, before diving off the boat. You will get more enjoyment out of your dives that way, trust us!

Our group guided dives are guided by a dive professional. This dive leader is not there to compensate for divers who have been poorly trained or are incapable of diving due to lack of knowledge, or who have fitness issues. If you believe you need special help, book a one-on-one instuctor-led experience instead (POA).

Bad weather

OK, so we live on a beautiful South Pacific island where the sun always shines … But occasionally it blows a hooley (is that even a word??)! If this is the case, you will not find us diving. After all, diving is supposed to be fun! Hanging over the side feeding the fish, does not count as fun in our book. We will not take you out just to take your money!

Why not complete a PADI Dry course with us if we get blown-out? We teach the following courses: EANx, Emergency O2 Provider, Equipment Specialist, a selection of Project AWARE courses and Emergency First Response.