We just got back from O'ahu where we dived with AAA Diving (
http://www.aaadiving.com ) and we had a great time.  This was their
first 3 shallow dive boat trip, and the format is great - it was our
first dive of our trip, so we got reattuned to skills etc. and then
had plenty of time to make use of them & enjoy.  We're holiday divers
with 25-35 dives a piece, mostly in HI.  We like marine life &
habitats most, of all diving attractions.

We went to 3 south O'ahu dive sites; Waikiki was in plain view & we
started Diamond Head (east) about off Kuhio beach & moved Ewa (west)
ending close to south of Sand Island (my estimates).

Turtle Canyon - this is a favorite which we had been to once
previously with a different operator.  This time we saw a bunch of
turtles, including a turtle cleaning station with 4 clients present at
the same time.  Several instances of turtles sleeping "under" coral
heads, good fish variety.  In my lay opinion the coral here is fair &
shows more signs of damage (dead &/or less than vibrant color &
abundance) than other places (see next).  Visibility was not bad
(guess 50 ft); the next dives were better.

Horseshoe Reef - reef fish here were abundant, as well as eels.  My ID
skills suck, so I'll say only that we saw a slender dark green eel
with small light spots, and an even more slender light-colored eel.
The usual cast of reef characters (Moorish idol, yellow tang - don't
flame me bro, if I've missed...) as well as a type of small semi-round
fish with white body & gray border congregating in 20-30 around small
coral heads, haven't found it yet in the books.  Coral here was more
abundant, varied & subjectively healthier looking than at Turtle
Canyon.  Visibility was better too.

Keehi Pipe - this is an obsolete storm drain running out of Waikiki
that fed runoff out of Waikiki before the Ala Wai was completed (just
relating what I heard).  It makes for a tripping environment because
it's what looks like a 4-ft culvert running horizontally out from
shore with 6 large outflow pipes allowing access.  These had a rich
and varied collection of marine life growing on and in them; one of
the more intrepid members of the trip entered one of the outflow pipes
and exited from another.  This scared the cr@p out of me (I was
visualizing how to maintain air supply while a rescue op was formed
etc.) & appeared to cause the dive leader consternation, but all ended
well...  Anyway, such antics aside, this site probably had the most
abundant fish life of the three, with puffers, trumpetfish, a moray, a
scorpionfish, several octopii, and a fine variety of abundant &
healthy-looking coral.

A side note to all of these is that while I think sharks are very cool
I seem fated not to get to see them; this was another trip where
everyone talked about the sharks they saw & all I could say was
"duh".  White-tipped reef apparently... (not for lack of effort by the
dive leaders to point them out).

A couple notes on AAA; we've encountered them on two previous trips,
first where we were snorkeling off a boat that they were diving off,
and then on a boat dive where the operator we went with and they were
sharing a boat.  During that second trip we observed our operator's
vs. AAA's mode and concluded that we would rather be diving with AAA.
This year we managed to hook up with them and are glad we did.  Their
boat is large, comfortable, well-equipped & stable, which was nice
given the swells at the beginning of last week.  The principal is a
fun character with long experience in the O'ahu dive industry and
elsewhere in the world.  Our dive leaders were gender- and ethnically-
diverse, with one having dived all around the Pacific Rim for the last
10 years, and the other an O'ahu native with long experience with
O'ahu dive operators.  Together they had the dives and trip well in
hand, had the professionalism aspects of the experience down pat, gave
us the Goldilocks level of attention (not too much, not too little,
just right ;) and where needed) and were fun to spend time with to
boot.

Go diving with these folks, you'll be glad you did.  (BTW for you
slackers like us who wait for once- or twice-yearly trips to warm
water (cause it's still f*ing cold in a 7mil suit in mountain lakes in
upstate NY) to maintain our dive skills or otherwise are not diving
continuously over the year, you will be firmly but gently reattuned to
your needed skills - don't be intimidated, take advantage of the
expertise these folks have at their fingertips.)