Diving vacation in Hawaii - recommendations?

[pacificparadisedivers]

Hi, all

I'm trying to plan a diving vacation on Hawaii this for my wife and me. We just sertified recently and still very green (11 dives, including 4 OW check-out dives, all in Monterey). So we're looking for easy, shallow (60' max) diving, probably mostly shore, with maybe 1-2 days of boat diving thrown in. We did take AOW class, so we can go deeper than 60' in theory, but I went through my tank in 20 minutes on 85' dive, so it's not all that much fun until we learn to use our air better.

The idea is to dive/eat/sleep for a week, so we have no interest in night life, and less crowds, the better.

So, questions:
- First and foremost, where to go -- which island? From reading the board, Kona seems the favorite
- which dive operator/rentals shop? We will need to rent almost everything (except mask/wetsuit)
- is there a good agency/place to get the whole package from (hotel + rentals + car + maybe few boat dives)?
- would you recommend to take Nitrox class before going?

Any other suggestions also appreciated. Thank you!

Aloha Deo-

I moved to Oahu from the Bay Area and a veteran of many a weekend at the breakwater.... Although I liked diving there, I love the diving here!

Any island you choose to visit will be great. When are you two planning on coming?

On Oahu- there are dive spots all around the island that are available from beach and boat. There is a huge variety of diving to be had!

As far as beach dives go- Sharks Cove, Electric Beach, Three Tables, Secret Beach,& Hanauma Bay are all outstanding. There are multiple dives at each of those dive sites.

Some of the best diving here is to be had from a boat. YO-257, Sea Tiger, Mahi, Corsair, Baby Barge, Sea Cave, Portlock Wall (spitting caves), Makaha Caverns, Black Rock awesome dives! Some of these are a bit more on the advanced side- but I do believe that you will find them all well within your capabilities. The cold waters off Monterey have produced some outstanding divers! (including me!)

That being said- I would have to agree with the other person (sorry didn't catch the name) but going unguided at this point might not be the wisest choice.

An experienced guide will be able to show you many things that may have been missed by yourselves as well as assist in building your knowledge and confidence as divers.

As far as a good operation goes- make sure they know your goals, help both of you achieve them, all while providing a great service and focused attention. There are many dive operators on all islands....While making your selection- keep in mind that the biggest does not always mean the best!

As far as Nitrox goes. I would suggest taking the course here. Believe it or not, dive instruction is actually cheaper here on the islands in most cases. The PADI EANx coursework doesn't take long at all, and needs to be followed up by two dives. I would suggest the dives be planned for a depth where Nitrox is most beneficial (60-100 ft range).

I do understand the concern about going through your air quickly and would suggest using larger tanks until you have had more time to practice breathing. No worries though! This is something that many of us as divers have to learn and work on.... and just takes a little practice. Do know that 20 minutes at 85 feet is not out of line for your first deep dive. That is really to be expected and one of the reasons the deep dive is required in the AOW course.

There is actually a ton more I can share with you about diving/diving in Hawaii- as it is my passion and #1 past time!

Please let me know if you would like any more info on diving here on Oahu.

Mahalo!

Chris

 

[RPanick]

As a newbie we did some shore diving in Kona, and while we didn't have any problems, we didn't have all that much fun. Simple reason we lacked experience and ended up swimming a lot more than we should have.

Place of Refuge is a park South of Kona, that has a boat ramp and parking area where people snorkle. If you want to do some pretty simple shore diving that may be a good place. Just watch out for boats at the ramp. You can stay relatively shallow and see lots of good stuff.

Dick the Diver http://www.ilhawaii.net/~dpdresie/ has lots of info posted for shore diving. If you stop in at Jack's on the main drag in Kona, they can give you some places and a map too. They also rent gear.

Boat dives on Kona can get you to lots of places that are tough to shore dive. The problem with the Big Island is that entry/exit points are sometimes a bit tough to manage, particularly if it isn't sheltered.

You can read through the posts to get an idea of some good dive boats to go out with, there are a number of real good operations. My favorite is Kona Honu Divers, just North of Kona. You get to park real close to the boat, so you don't have to haul gear very far. The boat is big and comfortable, and has never been too crowded. Also since the boat is one of the faster boats they often go farther up or down the coast that most of the others. They get bored doing the same old spots that everyone else uses, so they often look for an excuse to go somewhere out of the ordinary. The equipment they had on board was also very nice. Good friendly and helpful crew too.

Definitely do the Manta dive if the Manta's are around.

Bob

 

[Wildcard]

Id avoid Oahu if you want relaxed. Still some bagans to be had in Kona. Go to a shop and hire a DM or buy a scuba tune up and have them show you around. Two step aka place of refuge is hands down the best shore dive on hte island.I have prolly 80-100 just there. Awsome shallow coral, good deep wall lots of bikinis at the exit point! and tons of turtles. Go to "shore diving.com" for great maps and reviews. They will talk you throug every good shore dive there. And again DO NOT MISS THE MANTA dive. Book it early as it get cancled a lot due to weather. Aloha!

 

[KrisB]

I guess nobody noticed the age of this thread -- the first post was about a year ago on 06-01-2004...

 

[pacificparadisedivers]

Yep you are right Kris----- Oh well hopefully someone will find the information usefull in the future!

Chris Wade

 

[Intermission]

Yep you are right Kris----- Oh well hopefully someone will find the information usefull in the future!

Chris Wade

I found it useful. It's funny cause I didn't notice it was that old either, but I read it because work may be sending me and my wife to Oahu at the end of July. Plan on getting some diving in, first time to Hawaii.

 

[KrisB]

I found it useful. It's funny cause I didn't notice it was that old either, but I read it because work may be sending me and my wife to Oahu at the end of July. Plan on getting some diving in, first time to Hawaii.

Tough life... wish my work would send me to Hawaii instead of just giving me the cash to go!

Enjoy your trip! Where in Hawaii are you likely to end up?

 

[StacyT]

The info in this thread is good, even if the thread is old.

I was just coming to the board to do a little research on the dive operators in Maui. Didn't have to look far to find what I was looking for.

 

[Intermission]

Tough life... wish my work would send me to Hawaii instead of just giving me the cash to go!

Enjoy your trip! Where in Hawaii are you likely to end up?

We are going to be in Honolulu, so I have been looking around for different dive shops. I seem to finding good things about reef trekkers. Anyone dive with them???

 

[BadMan]

Hi, all

I'm trying to plan a diving vacation on Hawaii this for my wife and me. We just sertified recently and still very green (11 dives, including 4 OW check-out dives, all in Monterey). So we're looking for easy, shallow (60' max) diving, probably mostly shore, with maybe 1-2 days of boat diving thrown in. We did take AOW class, so we can go deeper than 60' in theory, but I went through my tank in 20 minutes on 85' dive, so it's not all that much fun until we learn to use our air better.

The idea is to dive/eat/sleep for a week, so we have no interest in night life, and less crowds, the better.

So, questions:
- First and foremost, where to go -- which island? From reading the board, Kona seems the favorite
- which dive operator/rentals shop? We will need to rent almost everything (except mask/wetsuit)
- is there a good agency/place to get the whole package from (hotel + rentals + car + maybe few boat dives)?
- would you recommend to take Nitrox class before going?

Any other suggestions also appreciated. Thank you!

Right now i'm in Kona getting ready to do some shore diving which I recommend there are a lot of good dive outfits in the Kona-Kailua area but you might like Big Island,Jacks Dive Locker or if you want a small no frills dive outfit try Sandwich Island Divers. You don't need to be Nitrox certified there a great number of diving spots and most good shore diving is located within 45 minutes of downtown, if you have a Hawaian air credit card you can book a reasonable package. Any dive group shop will most likely give you a deal if you book three or more dives. Well gotta go diving !!!