Patricia and I have arrived in the Cook Islands where we are staying with local legendary dive pioneer Greg Wilson, owner and manager of Cook Island Divers.  Greg has been a close personal friend for a number of years and has been to Yap over a dozen times.  Believe it or not, this is the first time for Patricia and I to visit the Cooks.   Greg regularly reminds me that he has been working 20 years to get us to visit.

We have done the various tourist type things, round island drives, up to scenic points, visiting local watering holes and participating in Island Night at one of the local hotels for a traditional feast and dancing.   All of it has been good but the highlight for us has been the diving.

We have been out on the dive boats with Greg for the past 4 days and have seen some very good fish life, clear water and some stunning underwater vistas.  I have to say that I have been very pleasantly surprised by the dive quality but I suspect a lot of this has to do with Greg and the fact that he has been diving these waters since 1973.   We regularly see other dive operators’ boats in locations that we don’t dive and go past them to what Greg says are much better dive sites.  Seems that saving fuel is part of other operations plans while Greg and his staff go out of their way to put you on the day’s best diving.  Greg obviously shares my views on giving customers more than they expect.

At Yap Divers, we stive to under promise and over deliver and Cook Island Divers seems to share this viewpoint.  I urge anyone reading this to consider a stop in the Cooks for any planned New Zealand or Tahiti trip.  Managed by a transplanted Englishman, Ian Wheeldon, Greg’s dive shop specializes in SCUBA Training from Discover Scuba through to Instructor with PADI, NAUI, SSI or CMAS.  You will be in good hands as a new or experienced diver.

Next up, St. Patrick’s Day and Patricia’s Birthday and then more diving.