Kona Aggressor ?

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stu_in_fl

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newly land-locked in Cinci-freaking-natti
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looking at diving on the Big Island - sometime in the early part of next yr...

..anyone with recent experience on the Kona Aggressor (like in the last 6 moths or so) ? I read some older reports that said it was not up to the standards of the other Aggressor boats, but the price of shore based operators seems quite high (and you would be hard pressed to do 3 tanks in a day let alone 5 ), so value for money Agressor although a little pricey, seems not too bad.....(assuming it doesn't suck too much !)
thanks !
 
is there a question in there somewhere?
 
yes, ...if anyone has had recent experience on the aggressor and what they think of it (in terms of value for money vs shore based ops)
 
If you're going strictly to dive, I'd guess the Agressor is a good deal. Reviews I have read seem happy with it. You get to go to the southern sites and, yes, land-based ops are expensive, as are most expenses on Hawaii.

But don't neglect the other charms of the Big Island. I would probably never do the Agressor because I love Hawaii above water so much. If I did do it, I'd include at least a week on land. There's so much to do, the people are so fantastic, and there's plenty of fantastic free shore diving. We did one day and one night on the boat on our recent trip and shore dove the rest of the time. Sure, we didn't do 5 dives a day...nowhere close. But we did a lot of stuff you can't do on the Agressor like kayak diving, hiking to a completely deserted black sand beach, snorkelling in vast tidepools, hiking to flowing lava etc, etc

So, if you want a full-on dive vacation and don't care about the other aspects of Hawaii, go Agressor. It'll be awesome (there are definitely some reviews on this board). But remember, Hawaii is a lot more interesting (IMHO) than a lot of dive destinations above water.

Aloha! :D

Gregg
 
Heading out Fri. for a Kona cruise, then a 7 day cruise of the islands. I'll post trip report when we get back. We've been on Cayman, Belieze, and T&C Aggressors several times so should be able to give comparison.
 
I agree if you only have a week do land based, you will get in less diving but other things in Hawaii are so worth seeing. But the Aggressor might be a good idea for diving if you have at least say 10 days so can do both. I wanted to do that last time we were in Hawaii but they were booked at the time. I will probably be there next year, free week in family's time share, and may try again to stick the Aggressor on one end of that.
 
Stu, here's a reply I made on the subject this last February:
Hate to be negative - but - avoid the Kona Aggressor. We were dissapointed beyond words this last August.

Suffice to say that all the crewmembers who were cheerful, talented, knowledgable, and safety conscious, have all quit or been fired.

If you've been on any of the other Aggressors, there is a huge gulf between the KA2 and, say, the Cayman Aggressor.

I was saddened to write this then, and still am to read it now. The members of the crew were superb, and I truly hope to meet them again sometime.

All the best, James
 
thanks everyone

yes, I was thinking of spending a several days doing sights first and then diving

....I had seen James' comments regarding his trip last yr when i did a search, so was hoping that the Aggressor had fixed their issues since then and someone could report that is was now great (as $2k is alot to spend if they are not up to par)

will be interested in scubabears report !

thanks,
S
 
stu_in_fl:
<snip>
will be interested in scubabears report !

thanks,
S
As will I! Here's hoping he has a great trip.

All the best, James
 
Update.....

Spoke to the Aggressor folks this last weekend at the Long Beach Scuba Show.

Apparently, the source of our issues on the KA2, the Captain, was let go from the company for the very same problems as we'd had. I believe the quote was "a stack of complaints".

Scott, who is great, formerly from the Tahiti Aggressor, is apparently the Captain of the KA2 now.

It's great to see the Aggressor organization does have a QC mechanism in place, and they do listen to the feedback forms we send in.

All the best, James
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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