Aitutaki Scuba (Neil Mitchell)

We did 2 dives with Aitutaki Scuba in late August 2011, after Bubbles Below dive operator failed to turn up to our confirmed email dive bookings we had made with them a few weeks before. The divemaster was Dawn, son-in-law of owner Neil and he looked after my relatively inexperienced partner extremely professionally so she had a great dive. We dived the Rapae wall, which was absolutely awe-inspiring - disappearing down into the depths even with 50m+ vis. Second dive was even better - beautiful sea-life and corals, topped of with the sightings of 6 turtles and two huge majestic mantas. My advice: book with Neil at Aitutaki Scuba - ignore Bubbles Below - they won't turn up!

After Bubbles Below dive had failed to turn up to a dive booked and confirmed via email, we went on a 2 tank dive with Aitutaki Scuba. Owner Neil's son-in-law Dawn was dive master, and he looked after my relatively inexperienced partner very well so she had a great dive too. We dived off Rapae wall which was an absolutely awesome drop-off, made all the better by the 50-60m vis. On the next dive a km or so north we not only saw some awesome fish-life and coral, but also saw about 6 turtles, and a couple of huge majestic manta rays. Fantastic and well run dive - thanks guys. Don't use Bubbles Below - they won't turn up for the booking. Aitutaki Scuba are the guys to use

The first dive was at Rapae Wall was alright. We saw a turtle float past ... then another one which had been resting amongst the rock got up and took off. We also went down 28m into a canyon but there wasn’t much to see.

My dive was cut short a little as I was under-weighted ... I floated to the surface and the dive master didn’t have a spare weight for me. It was a bit dangerous being at the top while still far from the boat as there could have been other boats around and I didn’t have a fluorescent balloon handy.

The second dive at the Main Passage had a great start ... the water was crystal clear and there was a nice collection of small colourful fish (I’m not great with names) and plenty of Unicorn fish. Through the dive we saw a very large Napoleon Wrasse, a big Puffer fish and an Eagle Ray. For some of the time we were too far/high from the bottom/wall to see much. There were times when the water was less than crystal clear with some suspension. It was definitely the better of the two dives.

It may be a bit unfair to base my conclusion on these two dives ... I’ve seen better diving up in Malaysia and Indonesia in terms of marine life. Also, things here are a bit “easygoing” for the money you pay ... but this is typical of the Pacific Islands (eg. food, accommodation).