Current Diving Conditions

[sffrenchman]

Will be going to Kona next week for a week of diving with Big Island Divers. How have the diving conditions been recently i.e. water temperature, visibility, etc....I am very excited since it will be my first dive trip to the big island....

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[S0ckm0nk3y]

This past Saturday down at Keei the water was 75 or so at depth. The viz was pretty good maybe 50-75 ft? I suck at judging viz. It was calm in the bay all day.

Up north on Sunday at Puako the water was 80's on the surface and 72 at depth. The viz was great in the morning and I could see features in the sand at 70' from the surface. Mornings have been like a pond out there. There also has been a 2' layer of muck thanks to the rain we've had but below that was lovely. Up here it's made for crappy snorkeling... but that may just be around here not Kona. Of course as the wind came up in the afternoon on Sunday the viz went to crap... around 30' maybe?

The winds have really died down in the last week or so... unless the trades pick up you should have pretty nice weather.

Good luck!

 

[gkndivebum]

Been seeing a pretty consistent 72-73F for temperatures, which is quite a bit below "normal" for this time of year. Viz is going to vary depending on the dive site and the swell conditions. Right now we're in that transition period between winter NW swells and summer SW swells - it was Lake Kona out there over the weekend; there was a small SW bump yesterday but nothing major. Viz at Naia (Alua Bay, Manta Ray Bay, Honokohau, Ripoff Reef - whatever you want to call it) was about 80 feet on Friday and about 50 feet yesterday. Sites with less boat traffic and less of a sandy bottom will fare better...

 

[friscuba]

Hopefully it's warming up, it was quite nice today temp-wize... seeing 75 on our first dive when we'd been seeing 72/73 the last few weeks with the same computers. Conditions have been EXCELLENT the last week, who knows about next week 'til it happens. Yesterday's viz sucked though, some kind of plankton/algae bloom, but it was better today.

 

[sffrenchman]

Thanks all.

 

[cuddlefish]

I hate to jinx the manta dive...but there have been record numbers of mantas every night for a while now at Garden Eel Cove (not the Sheraton site(. Water temps are FINALLY creeping up to around 75 (from a brisk 71-72). Vis had been good...though today at Turtle Pinnacle is was low. You should have good diving while you are here. Have fun!

 

[Black_3000psi]

cant comment on the dive conditions, but i want to thank you for flying those beautiful California colors. made me home sick.

 

[S0ckm0nk3y]

I hate to jinx the manta dive...but there have been record numbers of mantas every night for a while now at Garden Eel Cove (not the Sheraton site(. Water temps are FINALLY creeping up to around 75 (from a brisk 71-72). Vis had been good...though today at Turtle Pinnacle is was low. You should have good diving while you are here. Have fun!

Just back from a manta dive tonight... and there must have been over 25 of them this evening. If you're in Kona this week... get your butt to a dive shop and go check out the mantas!

-Eric