Notable Dive Operation Experiences - lets talk about the above water experience

Since few of us are able to go diving, perhaps we can share some of the experiences we enjoyed by talking about the dive operators/operations you've enjoyed enough to recommend others try them.  Or perhaps operations that no longer exist, but you remember fondly.

I've had two places I've gone that were fun due to the character of the operation itself.  Happens to coincide with some of the best diving I've seen too, but I'm talking about the non-diving stuff.   The first was on the liveaboard NAI'A in Fiji.   First liveaboard for me, and it's sure a nice one.  Exotic locations, and introductions to Fijian society and customs.   The crew had a kava ceremony for us, sang to us, and of course took great care of us above and below water.

The second location is not for everyone, but it's charms (or lack of them?) has grown on me.  I mean the Reef House Resort, which is a little bit like part of the family I only see once or twice a year.   The place has very few amenities, but you constantly interact with locals, especially US and Canadian ex-pats who live there full time.  "Everything you need and nothing you don't".   I've only recently realized that this is the type of experience that maybe you can't find anymore as the world has become more and more developed.  It's like a place that time forgot in a sense, and so it's like coming back to a small town that never changes.  Except growth is just starting to make its way that far down the island, and you can just feel that in a few years something that has always been there will be gone amid cruise ship tours, and something like big box stores.  This is the type of place you expect to see only after some multiday extended travel that keeps most tourists away, but it's actually pretty easy to get to.   The area seems unspoiled by mega resorts, but every few years another one opens up closer.