A group of us will be on Kona in late February, and I am planning a few dives including a manta ray dive, a black water dive, and a day of diving on the reefs. I’m debating between diving with Kona Diving Company, Jack’s Dive Locker, and Kona Honu. I am open to using one operation, or using multiple if there are companies that specialize in certain dives. Any recommendations?
Dive shop suggestion(s)
- Thread starter rye_a
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
jonhall
Contributor
Don't think you can go wrong with any of the 3 ops you mentioned based on what others on SB write. They are all often recommended. I dove with Jack's the first time I went because of a recommendation of someone we knew who lives in Kona. They were a great op - we met them at their shop and took the transportation they provided to the boat and sometimes we just drove to the marina and met them at the boat. We dove with a different op the next time we went to the Big Island as we stayed up along the Kohala Coast.
My only experience has been with JDL. My recent trip was May 2024, and here's my trip report.
The blackwater dive is well worth it at JDL, and I like that you are tethered to the boat, unlike in other places like Florida where you're free floating in the dark and you have to keep a constant reference to the down lights, which, IMO, takes away from the experience. I don't know how the other ops do it on Kona, but I believe JDL was the first dive op to come up with this adventure dive.
I would not recommend JDL for reef diving. They've turned into a student mill and the sites are over-dived and boring.
I've had very enjoyable manta dive experiences with JDL. If you get Keller as your guide, he's the manta expert and can identify all the mantas by name and markings. His enthusiasm for the mantas is genuine. The dive site is a big commercial operation now with many boats of divers and snorkelers. Their setup is a bit different, though, than other dive ops. The first dive is a late afternoon/twilight dive, and they get to the site very early to get the best mooring. Then there's a very long surface interval, like 60-90 minutes, because they get you in the water halfway through all the other boats' dives. So, a few minutes after you're in the water, everyone is leaving and you get the site to yourself. It's soooo worth the wait, especially if you're a photographer. Keller always has a camera and he shares his photos and videos for free if you have an Apple phone. You're out of luck if you have an Android. He's taking the pictures for ID purposes. Years ago, he would sell his photos by putting them on a DVD at the shop post-dive. Back then, before everyone had a camera, his shots were taken with an eye toward selling the memories.
Here's are some videos I put on my YouTube channel.
Blackwater Diving-Kona, Hawaii-May 2024
Blackwater Diving-Kona, Hawaii-May 2024
Blackwater Diving-Kona, Hawaii-May 2024
Trip Report Thread 'Kona, Hawaii-May 2024'
The blackwater dive is well worth it at JDL, and I like that you are tethered to the boat, unlike in other places like Florida where you're free floating in the dark and you have to keep a constant reference to the down lights, which, IMO, takes away from the experience. I don't know how the other ops do it on Kona, but I believe JDL was the first dive op to come up with this adventure dive.
I would not recommend JDL for reef diving. They've turned into a student mill and the sites are over-dived and boring.
I've had very enjoyable manta dive experiences with JDL. If you get Keller as your guide, he's the manta expert and can identify all the mantas by name and markings. His enthusiasm for the mantas is genuine. The dive site is a big commercial operation now with many boats of divers and snorkelers. Their setup is a bit different, though, than other dive ops. The first dive is a late afternoon/twilight dive, and they get to the site very early to get the best mooring. Then there's a very long surface interval, like 60-90 minutes, because they get you in the water halfway through all the other boats' dives. So, a few minutes after you're in the water, everyone is leaving and you get the site to yourself. It's soooo worth the wait, especially if you're a photographer. Keller always has a camera and he shares his photos and videos for free if you have an Apple phone. You're out of luck if you have an Android. He's taking the pictures for ID purposes. Years ago, he would sell his photos by putting them on a DVD at the shop post-dive. Back then, before everyone had a camera, his shots were taken with an eye toward selling the memories.
Here's are some videos I put on my YouTube channel.
Blackwater Diving-Kona, Hawaii-May 2024
Blackwater Diving-Kona, Hawaii-May 2024
Blackwater Diving-Kona, Hawaii-May 2024
Attachments
Not on your list but Big Island Divers would be my recommendation. One of the best shops I've had the pleasure of diving with. Our boat only had 4 or 6 divers for the Manta dive so we got to take our time and weren't cramped on the boat, and they gave us in heated towels as we got out of the water. We did the 2 tank option with the twilight dive, I got a 75 minute bottom time on the 1st dive, didn't get cut off after the 1st person hit the 800 psi mark. The dive masters and captain were very passionate about teaching us the local fish we'd see. All in all just a fantastic experience.
Similar threads
