Diving Kona is Great, But Driving From Kohala Isn't

[Scubagolf]

We just returned from a week at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, which is part of the Mauna Kea Resort on the Kohala Coast. The hotel is wonderful, the beach is great, the room service the best, and the bills are the biggest. Yaddah, yaddah, yah....

Unfortunately, any place on the Kohala Coast is just too long a drive to the top dive operators that are in Kailua-Kona, about 30 miles away. Traffic has gotten terrible and one operator in Kailua-Kona recommends that you give the drive a FULL HOUR to get from the resorts on the Kohala Coast down to the "city center" in Kailua-Kona.
I drove it every day, either to dive or to the airport, or to restaurants. Never Again.

However, both of the dive operators I dove with this week were A++ on my scale: Dive Makai and Jack's Diving Locker. Both are the subject of many comments on this board and I concur with all of the favorable ones. If I were to stay in Kailua-Kona it would be a toss-up, depending on the family situation.

Dive Makai is a one boat, no shop operation. We met at 7:15 at the boat harbour outside of Kailua, made two very good dives, and we were back in the harbor before noon. This is my kind of operation. I am the sole diver, and it's nice to keep the afternoon open for either family stuff, or maybe even an afternoon round of golf.

Jack's Diving Operation is a full-service dive operation with a very nice retail store in town and three boats. Two are 10-12 diver capacity and the third I believe is a 6-pack. This is a really great dive op for diving families, or for anyone who doesn't want to get up too early. You meet at the shop at 8:30, and you are back at the shop around 2:30 in mid-afternoon. The dives were at a variety of sites, and you could dive your computer if you and a buddy had 'em. I did the Night Manta Ray Dive on Wednesday. It was simply bizarre. Don't miss this if you haven't done it, and if you have, you already know what I mean.

I'm not staying up on the Kohala Coast again. Too much driving, and I was not comfortable with what I had read about the few operators located on the Kohala Coast. Next time, we'll stay in closer to Kailua Kona---or got to Maui or Kauai instead.

 

[RonDawg]

I was in Kona a year ago, and while I couldn't dive (due to lack of time) I have driven around the Big Island.

I have to agree with your observations about driving on the Big Island. Even though the island's more heavily travelled roads appear to be of fairly recent vintage (standard-sized lanes, ample shoulders, etc.) they aren't comprised of enough lanes in the crowded areas around Kailua-Kona to handle the traffic. If I remember correctly, the only 4 lane sections seem to be in/around Hilo which (to me) wasn't as crowded as Kona.

Of course the only solution to that is to build more lanes, which could spoil the "feel" of the area and bring even more traffic which necessitates more road building and so on and so on...

However that could be said for all of Hawaii. Oahu is definitely like that; on my trip last year, I was supposed to stay with a friend in Waianae, but gave that up after a few days. Stop and go traffic on Farrington Highway and the H-1 was definitely taking a toll on my "aloha spirit." From what others have told me, Maui (where I'm supposed to be in a couple of weeks) has gotten as bad.

I do agree that it's best to stay near where you plan on hanging out much or most of the time, because of the traffic. As much as I didn't really want to stay in Waikiki because of its ridiculously touristy nature, it was convenient to nearly everything I was doing in Oahu. My friend in Waianae would even drop by my hotel after work (he worked downtown) and we'd hang out until it was time for him to head back up Farrington again.

 

[gkndivebum]

[...] I have to agree with your observations about driving on the Big Island. Even though the island's more heavily travelled roads appear to be of fairly recent vintage (standard-sized lanes, ample shoulders, etc.) they aren't comprised of enough lanes in the crowded areas around Kailua-Kona to handle the traffic. If I remember correctly, the only 4 lane sections seem to be in/around Hilo which (to me) wasn't as crowded as Kona. [...]

Kona traffic woes are a hot issue. The county government seat is located in Hilo, and for years the
majority of the tax revenue has been generated on the Kona side, with the proceeds being spent on
improvements for the Hilo side.

Doesn't sit too well with the Kona folks (myself included). There's been increasing amounts of
animosity towards our elected officials when they can bother to come over to the Kona side to
hear and see what's going on over here. Grumble.

The current "promise" is that the Queen K highway will be 4 lanes from Henry Street to Kawaihae
by *2015*. Sigh.

What passes for our local newspaper, West Hawaii Today, will have some stories about this.

Back to diving -

 

[lynnk]

I just returned from the big Island where I stayed at the Hilton Waikaloa resort. This resort was beautiful, truly breathtaking. Dived with Big Island Divers for a Manta Ray Night dive which was terrific. Two 8 foot wing span rays gorged themnselves on the plankton illuminated by our lights and came within inches of our group kneeling on bottom. This dive operation was very professional and just plain fun. Brand new spacious dive boat. Although there is no garantee that you will see rays, we lucked out. We also dived with Red Sail Sports located at the resort, but weren't thrilled with having to cart our equipment approx. a 3/4 mile along a sand beach to climb onto their boat which was berthed a few yards from the beach. It made it difficult to keep any cameras and such dry as you waded into the water. I have logged about 800 dives in several hot spots around the world, and was not impressed with the divng on either the Kohala or Kono coast. Little color or fish life. Perhaps that is the way it is at the Big Island? The Manta Ray night dive was definitely worth it. Most of the two tank dives run about $100.00. Also toured the Volcano national park and this was well worth the excursion also. Allow yourself at least 2-3 hours to really do it justice.
Lynn

 

[friscuba]

It's definitely a good idea to ask your activities people about drive times, even prior to booking a place to stay. I occasionally get people calling me saying they are staying at a nice little cotage 38 miles form the airport in HOVE or Papa Bay. Sounds like a half hour drive to many tourists, while most every local knows during drive time that's probably more like an hour and a half to two hours, longer if anyone in front of you has car trouble or a fender bender.

 

[Rick Inman]

There is some fantastic shore diving right near Kohala. Check out ShoreDiving.com.

You think the drive to Kona from Kohala is long, try it from Spokane!

 

[chepar]

It's definitely a good idea to ask your activities people about drive times, even prior to booking a place to stay. I occasionally get people calling me saying they are staying at a nice little cotage 38 miles form the airport in HOVE or Papa Bay. Sounds like a half hour drive to many tourists, while most every local knows during drive time that's probably more like an hour and a half to two hours, longer if anyone in front of you has car trouble or a fender bender.

This is exactly the reason why I am debating whether I want to drive into Kailua town twice in two days to dive. I'll be at the Waikoloa over Admissions Day weekend in August - and while I'm willing to drive into town on Friday night for the manta ray dive, I was thinking about going through Red Sail for 2 tanks on Saturday morning - specifically because it was convenient to the resort.

It's not an option to stay in Kailua town - this weekend is so my daughter can enjoy the resort's pools - the last time we were there she was sick for most of the time and couldn't do much at all. The fact that Red Sail operates out of the hotel appeals because I can literally step off the boat and start playing at the pool with her, rather spending an hour driving back to the hotel. If I was staying for a longer period of time, it might be an option, but I'm flying in Friday, leaving Sunday afternoon.

lynnk's report is making me reconsider, though - but at the same time I REALLY don't want to do the drive again. Is the diving off the Kohala coast really that bad? As long as it's comparable to what it's like on Oahu, then I'll be fine - I'm used to the no color.

 

[bluemagoo]

lynnk's report is making me reconsider, though - but at the same time I REALLY don't want to do the drive again. Is the diving off the Kohala coast really that bad? As long as it's comparable to what it's like on Oahu, then I'll be fine - I'm used to the no color.

I remember it being horrors coming down into town at around pauhana time; crawling from before the harbor. School letting out seems to be the major factor when coming up from the south. Mornings until very early afternoon seemed to be ok either way. It's nothing like the work commute from, say, Waipahu to town and back. I'm more worried about tri-wannabe's on their bicycles wandering into the roadway.

 

[gkndivebum]

[...] Is the diving off the Kohala coast really that bad? [...]

Puako is close by, and has very good diving (especially in the morning). I particularly like this
dive:

Puako Village End

 

[Rick Inman]

Puako is close by, and has very good diving (especially in the morning). I particularly like this
dive:

Puako Village End

Puako Church is awesome!