My wife and I were in Kona from the 26th to 30th of December and stayed at the Outrigger. We had no problems with the hotel. Our room was large, clean and comfortable even if it was a little worn down.
The Outrigger is a three minute walk to Keauhou Bay. The surf was big while we were there, so the viz was down to 10-15' or so, but the snorkeling was still pretty good. I went over two or three times while we were there, and found a ton of Green Sea Turtles, as well as eels, butterflyfish and a few fish that I didn't see on the boat dives (esp. the Picasso and Rectangular Triggers). We were also told that there is some great snorkeling around the Captain Cook monument, but we weren't on the island long, so we didn't get a chance to explore it.
We did the Manta Night dive with Kona Honu Divers. The whole thing was very cool to see, and I'd totally do it again, but we were lucky enough to get really close to a couple of Mantas on the dive before, and I found seeing them in a more natural setting even more enjoyable. The night dive itself is kind of a contrived experience, like the Reef Shark feeds in Nassau. Usually three-six boats are all tied up at Garden Eel Cove, and the divers all form up in rings around a series of milk crates filled with high intensity lights. The lights bring in the Plankton, and the Plankton brings in the Rays. On our night dive the surf was also big, and the dive site is fairly shallow, so there was a lot of surge - to the point where divers were struggling to hold onto rocks and banging into each other left and right. If you're going in June hopefully the water will be a little bit calmer.
While we were there, the water temperature was around 77 so we wore full 5 mm suits. I think it's supposed to hit a low around February around 75/76 and then start getting warmer again from there to a high of 80 or 81 in September and August..
You'll love the helicopter tour. Seeing the Volcano, and the coast from the air is an amazing experience. When we planned things out we followed the DAN rule and made sure we had at least 12 (single dive) and 18 hours (multiple dives) of SI time before we took the helicopter tour or headed up to the Volcano. The one exception to that was one shallow tank shore dive we did down at Place of Refuge. After a couple of hours basking in the sun, we did the drive back before we realized what the altitude was. Thankfully, we experienced no adverse effects.
Definitely do the Manta Dive and explore Keauhou Bay a little bit. I'm sure you'll have a great time. Have you ever dove Hawaii or the South Pacific before? All the aquatic life is very different from what I was used to from the Caribbean and even Pacific Costa Rica.
Cheers,
D
The Outrigger is a three minute walk to Keauhou Bay. The surf was big while we were there, so the viz was down to 10-15' or so, but the snorkeling was still pretty good. I went over two or three times while we were there, and found a ton of Green Sea Turtles, as well as eels, butterflyfish and a few fish that I didn't see on the boat dives (esp. the Picasso and Rectangular Triggers). We were also told that there is some great snorkeling around the Captain Cook monument, but we weren't on the island long, so we didn't get a chance to explore it.
We did the Manta Night dive with Kona Honu Divers. The whole thing was very cool to see, and I'd totally do it again, but we were lucky enough to get really close to a couple of Mantas on the dive before, and I found seeing them in a more natural setting even more enjoyable. The night dive itself is kind of a contrived experience, like the Reef Shark feeds in Nassau. Usually three-six boats are all tied up at Garden Eel Cove, and the divers all form up in rings around a series of milk crates filled with high intensity lights. The lights bring in the Plankton, and the Plankton brings in the Rays. On our night dive the surf was also big, and the dive site is fairly shallow, so there was a lot of surge - to the point where divers were struggling to hold onto rocks and banging into each other left and right. If you're going in June hopefully the water will be a little bit calmer.
While we were there, the water temperature was around 77 so we wore full 5 mm suits. I think it's supposed to hit a low around February around 75/76 and then start getting warmer again from there to a high of 80 or 81 in September and August..
You'll love the helicopter tour. Seeing the Volcano, and the coast from the air is an amazing experience. When we planned things out we followed the DAN rule and made sure we had at least 12 (single dive) and 18 hours (multiple dives) of SI time before we took the helicopter tour or headed up to the Volcano. The one exception to that was one shallow tank shore dive we did down at Place of Refuge. After a couple of hours basking in the sun, we did the drive back before we realized what the altitude was. Thankfully, we experienced no adverse effects.
Definitely do the Manta Dive and explore Keauhou Bay a little bit. I'm sure you'll have a great time. Have you ever dove Hawaii or the South Pacific before? All the aquatic life is very different from what I was used to from the Caribbean and even Pacific Costa Rica.
Cheers,
D
