5 days to dive the Big Island

[stuartv]

I'm going to visit family on the Big Island. Arrive Sunday, April 17th. Leave Sat, the 23rd.

That gives me Mon - Fri to dive. I have dived off Maui and Oahu before but this is my first ever trip to the BI.

I already know I want to do the Manta night dive at Garden Eel Cove and the Pelagic Magic night dive. Is Jack's the only operator to do these with? From what I've read, it sounds like maybe there are other ops for the Manta dive, but Jack's is the only one doing the Pelagic Magic dive?

What I would like to do is dive every morning somewhere and then do the 2 night dives as well.

So, if you had 5 mornings to go diving off the BI (it's fine if the dives last into the afternoon), what would your itinerary be? I'm guessing there are some must-see boat dive sites and then also some good shore dive sites? Or are the Top 5 all boat dives? Or what?


I'm taking Adv Nitrox and Deco Procedures right now. I'm currently scheduled to do my checkout dives for that the weekend after I get back from Hawaii. But, if there are any must-see sites that I would need to do as tech dives, I could possibly get my checkout dives moved up. My instructor has already told me that I'm ready. It's just a matter of the other students being ready and scheduling. He *might* give me an earlier one-off checkout if I had a good reason.

So, in terms of difficulty, anything down to 150' is on the table.

Oh, and my research seems to indicate that bottom temps that time of year could be anywhere from 72 - 78, depending on where around the island I go. Does that sound right?

Please tell me what you'd recommend.

Thanks!

 

[diving4ever]

Just about everyone does the Manta dive, but only Jack's and Big Island Divers do the Black Water/Pelagic Magic Dive. At least those are the only two I know of.

For shore dives, I reccommend Place of Refuge / Two Step in Captain Cook. Parts of the shoreline are a religious site, so be careful when selecting the site to enter the water. I suggest the "two step" entrance that has two steps cut into the lava shore.

I also reccomend diving at least one day in North Kohala. You can Shoredive Puako Beach Drive from multiple public access points. There is a bit of a surface swim. Also Mahukona boat ramp is great with frequent Manta Ray action.

No info on tech dives.
Temps sound about right from my experience.

Have fun!

 

[stuartv]

Thanks, diving4ever!

I have been applying some Google Fu and I see that Kona Honu Divers also does a Black Water dive.

But, Big Island offers a 2-tank night dive where the 1st tank is the Manta Ray night dive and the 2nd tank is the Black Water dive. Right now, that is making me leans towards going with them just so I only burn 1 night away from my family to get in both of those dives.

So, now I'm thinking about that 1 night for BW+Manta, 2 or 3 days of boat dives and 3 or 2 days of shore dives.

Anybody have any input on Big Island Divers? Or another recommendation?

 

[diving4ever]

Sounds like a good plan. We got some use out of this site: http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/Hawaii/TBI/
My FAV op in Kona is Kona Dive Company, but you might want to stick with Big Island Divers since you are using them for the Pelagic. Hope you post a trip report. I'd love to hear how it all went. Have fun.

 

[AZTinman]

We love Kona and the Big Island!

Don't be surprised if your manta night dive ends up at the Sheraton rather than Garden Eel Cove. The dive op we booked with last July decided go to Garden Eel Cove because they were just sure we'd have mantas without the crowds; we got skunked.

Fortunately, I had booked another manta dive with a different company later during our trip. This company dropped us on the Sheraton site and we had lots of mantas. It was an incredible experience.

During our July trip, I booked multi-dive days with two different Kona companies in hopes that I would see some different dive sites. I was disappointed. Both companies used the same sites day after day. Kinda felt like I developed a personal relationship with many of the fish I saw over and over again. There was one particular frogfish that probably got tired of seeing me. As serious underwater photographer, it was a real bummer. I really don't fault the companies. I understand the cost of fuel thing and the desire to make a profit in order to stay in business. The operators deal with a lot of divers who only dive a couple of days while they're on the island.

When we return to the Big Island (and we will), we plan to spread our diving out with some shore diving, use of Kona operators, and some operators north of the Kona area. It's taken us a couple of trips to develop a strategy to cover more dive site areas and get some diversity.

Depending on weather and sea conditions, the night manta dive sometimes gets cancelled. Sometimes mantas don't show up. When we return, we'll book twice again in order to increase our chances of success.

-AZTinman

 

[stuartv]

During our July trip, I booked multi-dive days with two different Kona companies in hopes that I would see some different dive sites. I was disappointed. Both companies used the same sites day after day.

What companies were those?

I emailed 4 companies in Kona for info and have gotten replies from all of them, I think. At least one said that if I dive with them multiple days, they will try to ensure we don't repeat sites. Another explicitly said they WILL make sure if I dive with them multiple days we won't visit any of the same sites.

 

[AZTinman]

Wow, it sounds like you're doing the same things I did and getting similar responses. Loved the one I got about not visiting any of the same sites if I booked multiple days too. Maybe, you'll do better than I did with their efforts to ensure and explicitly state that they won't visit the same sites if you book multiple days.

My past experience has led me to plan to spread my business along the west side of the island to ensure that I'll have access to different dive sites, but that's just me.

I'm not interested in 'flaming' any of the three different dive ops I've booked with in Kona. I enjoyed diving with all three companies. All three had good people and ran safe operations. I felt like I was a better fit with two of the companies that the other. I wouldn't have any reservations diving with the two I enjoyed the most. I was simply disappointed with the repetitive dive site selection thing. When we return, I'm just not going to rely on the companies to drop me on different dive sites on multiple days.

There are a multitude of reasons that dictate the decisions companies make when deciding which sites to use. Sometimes their reasons outweigh diver preferences. That's okay; it is what it is.

-AZTinman

 

[stuartv]

2 dive companies offer "local advanced" plus "long range advanced" charters and 2 of them only offer a local charter and a long range charter.

The 2 that do not offer a "local advanced" charter have both basically told me that all the local stuff is shallow and there's nothing really advanced, locally.

It seems like, EITHER, 2 of the companies are simply charging more to show some local sites that the other companies take you to for no extra charge, OR, the other 2 companies don't go to some of the local sites that might be pretty cool and they are just selling me a bill of goods that there are not any local sites that are "advanced", so that I won't take my business elsewhere.

What is the real story there?

 

[stuartv]

I'm still curious of anybody knows what the story is on "local advanced" dives. Is that a ploy to get me to pay more to go to the same sites I'd be going to anyway (albeit, with another operator)? Or are the other operators just choosing to cater only to the "non-advanced" divers and trying to convince me that "there's nothing to see over there"?

In the meantime, some more info I have gathered that may be useful to someone else later, maybe.

Big Island Divers has AL63 and AL80 tanks and they limit dives to 700 psi or 70 minutes.

Kona Diving Compnay has AL80s, but they do have some steel 100s and 120s on a first come, first served basis, and they let you dive your whole tank.

Kona Honu Divers has AL80s that they say are "thicker walled and fill to 3200 - 3300 psi." They also have AL100 tanks. But, they limit dives to 70 minutes.

Apparently, they all expect you to dive as part of a group, so you aren't in a situation where you have a specific buddy (who probably has an AL80) and you have to go up when your buddy is low on air, regardless of your own air status. When someone in the group gets low, they send them up individually and the rest stay down. So, with KDC and a steel 120, you could potentially get some really long dives. At least, I guess, as long as the DM can stay down.

 

[diving4ever]

I'm still curious of anybody knows what the story is on "local advanced" dives. Is that a ploy to get me to pay more to go to the same sites I'd be going to anyway (albeit, with another operator)? Or are the other operators just choosing to cater only to the "non-advanced" divers and trying to convince me that "there's nothing to see over there"?

So, with KDC and a steel 120, you could potentially get some really long dives. At least, I guess, as long as the DM can stay down.

I don't know the answer to the advanced dive question. I've never really run across a particularly hard or deep dive in Kona. I have in Maui and Kauai...and of course there is Molokai (which I haven't dove for exactly that reason). Most of my dives in Kona are long (relatively easy) critter dives. Rarely you get some nasty current or surge, but that is about as bad as I've seen it. I do know that KDC does a lot of rebreather diving.

I dive 100s at KDC. My partner (with high air consumption) dives the 120s. I've never had trouble getting a large capacity tank, but they did warn me that the tanks are limited. Note: Regardless of how large your tank is: you will never outlast Kerry (the owner). If she is onboard (which she usually is) you'll have a dive buddy until you are ready to surface.