Hawaii - Big Island

[Lateralus]

Looking for pointers from Big Island Vets.

Going to the Big Island to explore with my wife for 5 days. We are landing in Kona and plan to have Kona be our home base.

We both dive, but she will be sitting this one out and be snorkling since she will be 5 months pregnant. With that said, I will be getting a few dives in.

Outside of Famous Night Manta Dive, which I plan to do, what other stuff should be on my itinerary (Dive and Non-Dive related)?

So far I know I want to make it to the top of Mauna Kea and watch the sunset, snorkel around Kealakekua Bay (Dolphins) and visit the Waipi'o Valley.

Any tips would be appreciated (Lodging, eating, dive operators, dive sites).

 

[49north]

We have used these guys and were very happy:

Welcome to Diving Bell Scuba

 

[Brian Khan18]

I’d suggest you try the Pelgic Magic Black Water Dive.

Pelagic Magic Black Water Night Dive | Jack's Diving Locker | Jack's Diving Locker

Insanely cool!

Also Kona is very famous for world renowned coffee beans. Even if your are not a coffee snob, I’d suggest you try the Kona coffee and look into a coffee tour if that peaks you or your wife’s interest. Safe diving, have fun!

Brian

 

[diversteve]

Your wife can snorkel on the Manta Dive - the boats have surface mounted lights so it brings them up. My niece and friend did while their dad dove - same boat.
Although do mention the pregnancy, some boats insurance may not allow that.

we liked Kona Diving Company but most operators have a shop in town and keep their boats at Honokahau harbor a little north of town and you meet there after checking in once. At a few of the dive sites south of town Spinner Dolphins may join your dive - my buddy dove with about 200 once.

A good snorkel is Kahulu'u Beach Park - about 8' deep - usually has turtles sleeping on the beach.

I liked Akaka Falls if you find yourself in the area - south. N ot a big detour if going to Volcanoes NP.

I liked Roy's Waikoloa if you're up that way. Maybe an hour? from Kona

Pre-book the car the airport walk up rates are significantly higher

If you take the car to go diving, your wife can use the trolley that runs around Kona and south to at least Keahou. Runs pretty often and stops at the popular places. https://historickailuavillage.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Trolley-Schedule.pdf

Very few of the condos on south Alii Dr. are beachfront but a lot are waterfront. Or there's several large resorts. It's all good snorkeling but sometimes access is difficult over the lava - and it's sharp.

 

[Compressor]

Good ideas above. Big Island divers are great and so is Jack's Diving Locker.
Mahalo.

 

[Hoag]

@Lateralus are you interested in activities other than diving?

If so, Volcanoes National Park is simply spectacular! It doe shave a couple drawbacks though for a dive trip activity. The elevation of the park is high enough that you should probably not do it within 24 hours of your last dive. (It is up at about 6-7,000ft so about the same as the "altitude" of the cabin of a commercial airliner.) Kilauea was very active in the spring of 2018, so there is likely a lot to see. If you have a day off from diving, but want to stay near sea level, you could head south out of Kona to the black sand beaches of Punulu'u.

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

I have gone out with KDC
on three separate trips to Kona. Their shop is just outside of town and they have a catamaran dive boat based out of Honokahau Boat Harbor just north of Kailua-Kona. Very professional. They let me dive my mostly home-made dive gear and DH reg. The divemaster let me explore on my own as long I didn't stray too far from the small group on board. The DM did start tugging at my fin as I was trying to photograph an eel which upset me but when I turned around I saw he was just trying to show me the 12 foot long Tiger Shark that was swimming by so close I had to duck to keep from being hit by one of its pectoral fins. By the time I got my camera up I managed to get a 2 second video clip of its tail as it swam off to the sportfishing dock in the harbor to look for a meal. All in all a good operation. Have fun in Kona. My wife and I keep looking at retirement condos over there - which tells you how much we like it. My 2psi. Mark

 

[bethie]

When are you going? I will be there in April, and hope to do some shore diving.
Snorkeling and shore diving is nice at Two Step (get there early-gets really crowded) I dove there last year with Garry from http://www.sugar-inc.com/sugar-cottage and we hung out at 40 feet watching hundreds of Spinner Dolphins cavort around us.
My boyfriend does not dive and snorkeled the Manta trip. He was just as thrilled as I was.
This is our favorite beach (for boogie boarding, swimming, etc.) I have seen some people snorkeling there but usually pretty wavy. Kua Bay (Manini'owali) white sand beach | Big Island | Hawaii
And of course Volcanoes (will be interesting to see what has been obliterated since last year)
Five days is not much time to explore the wonders of the Big Island. We have gone year after year, and have a hard time wanting to leave even after 2 weeks!

 

[bmorescuba]

If you like shore diving, try Puako (in addition to 2-step, etc.).

If you like botanical gardens, Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, A Garden in a Valley on the Ocean is incredible.

If you like donuts, you must try Tex Drive-In for Malasadas (not far if you visit Waipi'o)

As others have said, my wife snorkeled while I did the Kona Manta dive with Kona Honu divers. She loved it.

We enjoyed spending time in Hilo as well. It felt more local. I did some shore dives there. Turtle heavy, but with limited time probably best to dive the Kona side.

 

[peterak]

All good advice above. I recommend you pick up a copy of Hawaii the Big Island Revealed: the Ultimate Guidebook by Andrew Doughty. Doughty really knows the Big Island, so much so that many BI residents, including myself, utilize the book. He even has reliable reviews of several BI dive operators. Better yet, pick up the app, which includes the entire contents of the book and adds gps navigation. Paperback