Big Island with Lobo Del Mar

[johnphickey]

This past December (2010), My wife and I went to Hawai'i for our honeymoon. We spent 3 days in Honolulu just taking in the sights, took a couple of tours, then off to the Big Island of Hawai'i. We stayed in Kona and our first evening we stopped for dinner at Bongo Ben's just across from the shore. While we finished our meal we were approached by Louisa who appeared to be an employee checking on us. She was very friendly and excited for us to be on our honeymoon. Then she explained to us that she set up tours for Lobo Del Mar, and gave us some information on what was available.

There were several choices that interested us, and some of them were not in season or not as exciting as they have been in the past (due to low lava flow into the water, or cold water preventing the humpbacks from traveling close to the island). Louisa was honest about these trips and explained that they may not be worth the money.

After a couple days we decided to book a couple tours, first we went on the Manta Dive. Upon arriving at Bongo Bens for the complimentary shuttle to the boat we were warmly greeted, filled out the paperwork and were on our way. On the bus we learned that the whole organization (Lobo Del Mar) was all family, from Louisa in the cafe, to the captain (Bart) on the Sea Wolf. They even had some of the kids (around 16) out on the trip to help with gear and such. There were several snorklers on the boat, my wife and i were the only divers. They set us up with gear, from tanks to masks and a divemaster and got us in the water. As promised the Mantas came to eat. They said 9 in total but it looked more like 12-15 of them, ranging from 8ft to 17ft across. Beautiful creatures.

We got back on the boat after the dive and were greeted with towels and hot chocolate and snacks. The took us back to the harbor and chatted all the way back to drop us off at the cafe.

We booked another trip to snorkle with dolphins 2 days later and everyone remembered us and treated us as a part of their family. I would highly suggest anyone who makes their way to Kona on the Big Island stop by Bongo Bens and have a snack and chat with Louisa, book a trip and it will be well worth your while!.

John Hickey
Padi Certified since 1996

 

[cuddlefish]

Glad to hear you enjoyed your time in Kona...and glad to know you enjoyed your trip with Lobo. I personally prefer to recommend dedicated dive operators who have shown a commitment to the Kona community and the local underwater environment. There are quite a few operators that have been in business here for 10, 20, 30 years (and a couple of good newer companies). Some of these operators haven proven their commitment by actively dedicating their energy to community clean-ups, environmental commitees, programs for local kids and schools, installing and maintaining moorings, and much more. It will continue to be my preference to refer people to these operators rather than a restaurant who decides to run trips out on the water with no show of commitment to the marine environment. I'm not saying they're not nice people and I'm not saying they didn't treat you well and run a good trip for you...I'm just saying I would not recommend them over a company dedicated to the local marine envirnment.

 

[johnphickey]

My appologies for being unclear about who Lobo Del Mar is. They are not a restaraunt that does charter trips. They are a family owned operation with several boats that do various trips around the Big Island. They have been around for several years, though many of those years were spent doing dive trips in Mexico. With the cooperation of 2 local restaraunts in Kona they have booths set up where you can meet members of the family who will give you information about the trips they provide, as well as christmas cookies that Louisa's Mom made...if you're there at the right time.

While we were out on the sea wolf for our Manta dive we met a Marine Biology Professor from Arizona who used to dive with Lobo while they were operating in Mexico, he had not been out with them for several years since they moved their operation to the Big Island, and the whole crew and the staff in the cafe and on the boat remembered him from those trips in Mexico, as well as his diving habbits and history.

I agree there is a value in maintaining the local habitat to assure that future generations can share these same experiences, unfortunately I did not ask what they do to contribute to this effort while on my trip. Like most tourists on a budget, I sought out affordable tours, and they provided them to us.

As for posting a link, Scuba board wont let me do that yet, because I just created my account, feel free to visit lobodelmar.com if you have an interest in pursuing tours with them in the future.

 

[cuddlefish]

My appologies for being unclear about who Lobo Del Mar is.

I know exactly who they are. And I stand by my previous post. But, again, I 'm glad you had a good time.

Cuddlefish