Anyone have any info. on the Kona Aggressor, likes or dislikes?
Kona Aggressor
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Noboundaries
Guest
Good question. I was just looking at their website yesterday.
My wife and I dived it the week between Christmas and New Years a couple of years ago.
We haven't been back.
On the good side:
It was very affordable.
The boat has the most amazing toilets I've ever seen on a boat. Science meets design. Form and function.
The Crew was sweet. They were mostly replacements as the regular crew was home for the holidays. They were all excellent. To their great credit, they did their best to put us on good diving. It was pretty stormy right before we got there (no rain or storm our week, thankfully) so the water was very surgy. Some days we only got in 2 or 3 dives.
On the other side:
We were the youngest passengers on the boat. And we're in our mid-40's.
NO nightlife. By 8:30 or 9:00 each night, it was crickets. And we're not party vikings. Both the upstairs bar and hot tub were empty for 7 days.
Because of the way Hawaii rises very steeply from the ocean, get a mile off shore and you're in a zillion feet of water. So you're always, ALWAYS diving very close to shore. I could pick up WIFI at the mooring a couple of nights. We were never out of cell range. You're just cruising up and down the ONE side of the island. If you want remote diving at exotic locations, this is the polar opposite.
Kona diving was very disappointing to me. Of course it was winter. Of course it was rough, etc. But that doesn't change the topography. Its all about the fish, as its mile after mile of hard coral. Very, very small fish. 'Sall good - but after Belize that July, diving Kona was a huge let down. The turtles are cool. But the topography is miles of gray short hard coral with lots of very colorful small fish, some eels and the occasional grouper mixed in.
I was the only person on the boat that did all of the dives. That surprised me. I expected more "divers" but this boat is was filled with more vacationers. No biggie, but it surprised me.
Our room had an air conditioning problem. It never got below the 82 to 84 degrees. Very unacceptable. I slept in the salon two of the hotter nights.
The two days we spent in Kaliua-Kona before the boat and the 5 days we spent on the island after the boat were the highlight of the trip. Kinda sad for a live aboard trip.
Nice folks. We won't be back.
---
Ken
We haven't been back.
On the good side:
It was very affordable.
The boat has the most amazing toilets I've ever seen on a boat. Science meets design. Form and function.
The Crew was sweet. They were mostly replacements as the regular crew was home for the holidays. They were all excellent. To their great credit, they did their best to put us on good diving. It was pretty stormy right before we got there (no rain or storm our week, thankfully) so the water was very surgy. Some days we only got in 2 or 3 dives.
On the other side:
We were the youngest passengers on the boat. And we're in our mid-40's.
NO nightlife. By 8:30 or 9:00 each night, it was crickets. And we're not party vikings. Both the upstairs bar and hot tub were empty for 7 days.
Because of the way Hawaii rises very steeply from the ocean, get a mile off shore and you're in a zillion feet of water. So you're always, ALWAYS diving very close to shore. I could pick up WIFI at the mooring a couple of nights. We were never out of cell range. You're just cruising up and down the ONE side of the island. If you want remote diving at exotic locations, this is the polar opposite.
Kona diving was very disappointing to me. Of course it was winter. Of course it was rough, etc. But that doesn't change the topography. Its all about the fish, as its mile after mile of hard coral. Very, very small fish. 'Sall good - but after Belize that July, diving Kona was a huge let down. The turtles are cool. But the topography is miles of gray short hard coral with lots of very colorful small fish, some eels and the occasional grouper mixed in.
I was the only person on the boat that did all of the dives. That surprised me. I expected more "divers" but this boat is was filled with more vacationers. No biggie, but it surprised me.
Our room had an air conditioning problem. It never got below the 82 to 84 degrees. Very unacceptable. I slept in the salon two of the hotter nights.
The two days we spent in Kaliua-Kona before the boat and the 5 days we spent on the island after the boat were the highlight of the trip. Kinda sad for a live aboard trip.
Nice folks. We won't be back.
---
Ken
I went on the Kona Aggressor in December 2005. It was my first liveaboard, and I had a great time.
If you are booking on your own/as a couple, check on who is booking for the charters you are considering. Try to go on one that is for individuals/couples rather than a group charter with a couple of spare spaces.
We had 10 guests (14 max I think) and 6 of us in our 30s, 1 in 40s and 3 early 50s. We got along very well. The crew was the regular crew at the time (I think it's a training boat and the crew does change frequently) and all very good. There were 5 diving crew members and they rotated duties and each one guided one dive per day. All of them were very knowledgeable about the local marine life. Each did an excellent briefing on their favorite critter for that particular dive. The last member of the crew was the chef who kept us very well fed that week.
We respect to the social life on board, we would sit on the top deck after dinner. Most people were in bed pretty early given the early starts and amount of diving each day. That's consistent with all of the other liveaboards, I've been on since. It's only on the last night (after the diving is finished) that I've ever been up very late.
Also just because they offer 5 dives per day doesn't mean you have to do every dive. On our trip only 2 people did every dive. It's not a sign that people aren't divers. I've noticed on trips that the more experienced divers pick the 3 dives they want to do for a day and stick to that plan. I did 3-4 each day on the Kona Aggressor. One day I did 5 but my ears were really sensitive after that day.
With respect to fish life, it was my first Pacific diving. We had very calm conditions our week (November). The topography is rocky not reefy. But we had lots of fish life and some great macro stuff (nudis, etc.). There is a night dive with the mantas which was nice -- we had 16 or 18 visit that night. The local divers have named them and they are identifiable by the markings on their underside.
It's a long trip back from London so I would go other places before returning. I have a whole list of more remote Pacific sites I'd like to do. But I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to others especially if you are planning to be in Hawaii anyway
If you are booking on your own/as a couple, check on who is booking for the charters you are considering. Try to go on one that is for individuals/couples rather than a group charter with a couple of spare spaces.
We had 10 guests (14 max I think) and 6 of us in our 30s, 1 in 40s and 3 early 50s. We got along very well. The crew was the regular crew at the time (I think it's a training boat and the crew does change frequently) and all very good. There were 5 diving crew members and they rotated duties and each one guided one dive per day. All of them were very knowledgeable about the local marine life. Each did an excellent briefing on their favorite critter for that particular dive. The last member of the crew was the chef who kept us very well fed that week.
We respect to the social life on board, we would sit on the top deck after dinner. Most people were in bed pretty early given the early starts and amount of diving each day. That's consistent with all of the other liveaboards, I've been on since. It's only on the last night (after the diving is finished) that I've ever been up very late.
Also just because they offer 5 dives per day doesn't mean you have to do every dive. On our trip only 2 people did every dive. It's not a sign that people aren't divers. I've noticed on trips that the more experienced divers pick the 3 dives they want to do for a day and stick to that plan. I did 3-4 each day on the Kona Aggressor. One day I did 5 but my ears were really sensitive after that day.
With respect to fish life, it was my first Pacific diving. We had very calm conditions our week (November). The topography is rocky not reefy. But we had lots of fish life and some great macro stuff (nudis, etc.). There is a night dive with the mantas which was nice -- we had 16 or 18 visit that night. The local divers have named them and they are identifiable by the markings on their underside.
It's a long trip back from London so I would go other places before returning. I have a whole list of more remote Pacific sites I'd like to do. But I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to others especially if you are planning to be in Hawaii anyway
caymaniac
Contributor
The thing we found out about Hawaii. We just recently returned from a trip to Oahu, Big Island, and Maui. This was our third trip to Hawaii. Hawaii has incredible beauty above water. Hawaii is not a dive destination but has diving. The fish life is sparse at best compared to other areas we've been. The thing Hawaii has is things like the ability to snorkel with dolphins, we had 21 of them within arms reach surrounding us off the Big Island. Hawaii has Molokini Crater off Maui where the diving is good especially on the backside & reefs end. The Big Island has the Manta dive, we had 13 large Mantas around us a week ago. From Dec. to the middle of April Hawaii has the whales, we seen them every day and heard them on Maui on every dive. Hawaii has plenty of shark sightings, we saw at least seven in our last three dives, and this was true of our last trip to Maui as well.
So Hawaii has the big animals, maybe not so great on the numbers of smaller fish at divesites, but the variety is good of what is there.
Maybe as South Africa has the "Big 5" ( lepord, buffalo, lion, giraffe and rhino), Hawaii should have something like the Big 5 to include : Whales, sharks, Mantas, and dolphins and turtles.
So Hawaii has the big animals, maybe not so great on the numbers of smaller fish at divesites, but the variety is good of what is there.
Maybe as South Africa has the "Big 5" ( lepord, buffalo, lion, giraffe and rhino), Hawaii should have something like the Big 5 to include : Whales, sharks, Mantas, and dolphins and turtles.
Damselfish
Contributor
As far as Hawaii diving, it has good diving as long as your expectations are correct. It's about the fish and critters, some unique scenery, and the opportunity to dive with big stuff if you're lucky. I definitely do miss the corals and color when I'm there but it is what it is. Even though Hawaii diving doesn't excite me in general, some of my most memorable dives have been there. I personally would not make a trip to Hawaii just to dive. But if I'm going to be there anyway, which seems to happen to us every 4-5 years for family or business reasons, I'm certainly going to dive. One of the bonuses of diving in Hawaii is that the land is so good, it's great to combine land and diving. I think the reason to do the KA is not that it's outstanding diving or the worlds greatest liveaboard destination - but if you're in Hawaii for more than a week and want to dive and do land stuff, well it's just a heck of a lot more convienient diving than doing dayboats.
As far as the Kona Aggressor, or any liveaboard, you can't make any assumptions on what the passengers will always be like based on who happens to be on it one week. But, I've never experienced a real party crowd on any liveaboard even if passengers are younger. (Actually, some of more party inclined have sometimes been the older folks...) It varies but people are mostly there to dive, so people do tend to get up early and crash early. If people are up later maybe they're having a glass of wine and chatting or watching a movie or reading, but never partying and draining the bar until 3am.
KA is a nice boat, nice size. When we were there a lot of the crew was new, but things were good. The DMs would have benefited from more experience. The food was outstanding, due to a combination of a very good chef and the ease of provisioning they have in Hawaii compared to more remote or 3rd world places. The food was better than most of the restaurants we ate in on land, actually, and we try places from the local places that have good reps, to very upscale, and anything in between. The diving is remote for the Big Island, we went all the way south where the dayboats don't go and there is practically nothing to be seen on land but lava flows. They may not have gone that far south your week if conditions sucked? I'm not sure how divable it is if they went around the tip of the island to the other side. Yes, you can get wifi and cell coverage on the boat in some areas, you're close to a well connected island with antennas sitting up on volcanoes, it's not nicknamed the cell-phone-Aggressor for nothing.
As far as the Kona Aggressor, or any liveaboard, you can't make any assumptions on what the passengers will always be like based on who happens to be on it one week. But, I've never experienced a real party crowd on any liveaboard even if passengers are younger. (Actually, some of more party inclined have sometimes been the older folks...) It varies but people are mostly there to dive, so people do tend to get up early and crash early. If people are up later maybe they're having a glass of wine and chatting or watching a movie or reading, but never partying and draining the bar until 3am.
KA is a nice boat, nice size. When we were there a lot of the crew was new, but things were good. The DMs would have benefited from more experience. The food was outstanding, due to a combination of a very good chef and the ease of provisioning they have in Hawaii compared to more remote or 3rd world places. The food was better than most of the restaurants we ate in on land, actually, and we try places from the local places that have good reps, to very upscale, and anything in between. The diving is remote for the Big Island, we went all the way south where the dayboats don't go and there is practically nothing to be seen on land but lava flows. They may not have gone that far south your week if conditions sucked? I'm not sure how divable it is if they went around the tip of the island to the other side. Yes, you can get wifi and cell coverage on the boat in some areas, you're close to a well connected island with antennas sitting up on volcanoes, it's not nicknamed the cell-phone-Aggressor for nothing.
I was on the Kona Aggessor from March 29 thru April 4 (a couple of weeks ago) and enjoyed the trip very much. The boat usually holds 14 persons and there were only six divers on this trip so I got my own cabin. There were six crew to take care of six divers so it felt very luxurious. Captain Rob was very agreeable and the crew was pleasant and helpful. The food was superb as our cook was a graduate of a cooking school in the US. A crew member went on every dive and you could follow them or not. I did 24 dives during the week and they were all over an hour long. The water temp was a little chilly at 75F and definitely needed the 5mm full suit and during dive 4 and dive 5 (the night dive) I wore the hood. By the end of the dive day I was too tired to stay up late and was usually in bed by 9pm. The underwater topography was unlike anyplace else I had ever dived. Many of the sites were black fissured lava rock from previous lava flows with lots of underwater black sand which I thought was pretty cool. In there places where there was lava rock there was no coral. Some dive sites did have hard coral but not as much as other places I have dived. There were lots of moray eels and many nudibranche
to be found. It seemed like we saw new things on each dive. We saw manta rays on one day dive and one night dive, on another dive we saw white tip sharks, on another dive we saw turtles and on several dives we could hear whales "talking" to each other. On the surface we saw spinner dolphins and whales. Other than the chilly water temp the conditions were perfect, calm and clear with warm air temperature. All in all it was a most enjoyable trip different in many positive ways from other aggressor boats I have been on and you don't need a passport.
to be found. It seemed like we saw new things on each dive. We saw manta rays on one day dive and one night dive, on another dive we saw white tip sharks, on another dive we saw turtles and on several dives we could hear whales "talking" to each other. On the surface we saw spinner dolphins and whales. Other than the chilly water temp the conditions were perfect, calm and clear with warm air temperature. All in all it was a most enjoyable trip different in many positive ways from other aggressor boats I have been on and you don't need a passport.
UnderwaterBumbleBee
Contributor
Do any of you have underwater photos (or topside too) from your trips on the Kona Aggressor? Just curious to see what the underwater landscape looks like.
robint
Contributor
I am with Damselfish on this one - I have never been on a liveaboard where people stayed up past 9pm most nights. We were up to 10:30pm a couple of nights on the Nekton as we did the night dive and watched a movie afterwards to wind down, but most people were already in bed. The crew was even out by 10pm every night.
We were in Kona a few years ago, Dec 2006, and only did land-based. The diving was good but TOTALLY different than Caribbean diving. The topography is rather dull in color - just rocky/lava and no pretty sponges or sea fans, etc. However, we had lots of fishlife, tons of eels and butterflyfish, turtles, dolphins, etc. No, it wasn't like the fishlife other places in Pacific for sure, but it was still good. I wouldn't go there expecting to see anemonefish (they don't have them) or lush soft coral displays (don't have those either).... but if you like other cute colorful fishlife, it is there. My photos and videos are here: Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii 2006
If you do go to Kona, be sure to do a day or two topside visiting the Volcano Nat'l Park and the waterfall/rainforest district over by Hilo. You cannot miss either of those - absolutely spectacular and worth traveling there for them alone in my opinion.
robin
We were in Kona a few years ago, Dec 2006, and only did land-based. The diving was good but TOTALLY different than Caribbean diving. The topography is rather dull in color - just rocky/lava and no pretty sponges or sea fans, etc. However, we had lots of fishlife, tons of eels and butterflyfish, turtles, dolphins, etc. No, it wasn't like the fishlife other places in Pacific for sure, but it was still good. I wouldn't go there expecting to see anemonefish (they don't have them) or lush soft coral displays (don't have those either).... but if you like other cute colorful fishlife, it is there. My photos and videos are here: Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii 2006
If you do go to Kona, be sure to do a day or two topside visiting the Volcano Nat'l Park and the waterfall/rainforest district over by Hilo. You cannot miss either of those - absolutely spectacular and worth traveling there for them alone in my opinion.
robin
raviepoo
Contributor
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I was on the Kona Aggressor a few years ago, New Years week. I loved it.
We had water temperatures from 77 - 79 degrees. The water was crystal clear, 100- 150 ft of visibility on every dive. Weather was perfect, if a little bit blowy once we got close to south point. It was whale season and we saw loads of them.
An earlier post complained about the fact that you're always in sight of the Kona coast. That was a plus as far as I'm concerned. I loved waking every morning and seeing the stern, beautiful mountains of Madam Pele out my window. The same post compained about the people on his boat, the fact that they were a bit long in the tooth, didn't want to party, and didn't want to do every dive. Unless you do a dive club charter, you don't know who is going to be on liveaboard trip. My Kona Aggressor trip was full of photographers and videographers in their 20s, 30s and 40s. They were serious, experienced divers and also great fun.
The Kona Aggressor only takes 14 - 15 passengers. I think that's a great group size. It's easy to get to know everyone and you don't bump into each other too much on the dive site.
The boat also has a broader beam than most of the other Aggressors. This allows most of the cabins to be on the same level as the main salon. The double cabins line the starboard side of the boat. During most of the journey, the starboard side faces the coast, allowing the magical view I mentioned earlier. The cabin doors open into the main salon. That might be a problem if you're on a cruise with a bunch of partiers and you want to sleep.
The quad cabin is on the upper deck. It's pretty roomy for a quad.
The Hawaiian islands are some of the newest land on earth. There hasn't been enough time for barrier reef systems to grow around Hawaii. There is coral, and plenty of it, but it's mostly rocky coast and low profile reef. This isn't a negative. It's just different. Instead of swim throughs you get to explore lava tubes.
The really great thing about diving the Kona coast is the fish. They're big, colorful, psychadelic Pacific fish. Hawaii doesn't have the diversity of some other part of the Pacific, but it does have a really high percentage of endemic. Almost 30% of the fish you'll see in Hawaii can be seen nowhere else in the world.
The Aggressor visits sites that are visited by local dive boats, but it also gets down south, to sites that aren't visited by the day boats. The southern dive sites were really, really amazing. I've wanted to get back to them ever since.
I fell in love with Hawaii diving on my kona Agressor trip and I've been back to the islands to dive every year since. I hope to drag my husband on to the Aggressor some day. Book the trip. You'll be glad you did.
We had water temperatures from 77 - 79 degrees. The water was crystal clear, 100- 150 ft of visibility on every dive. Weather was perfect, if a little bit blowy once we got close to south point. It was whale season and we saw loads of them.
An earlier post complained about the fact that you're always in sight of the Kona coast. That was a plus as far as I'm concerned. I loved waking every morning and seeing the stern, beautiful mountains of Madam Pele out my window. The same post compained about the people on his boat, the fact that they were a bit long in the tooth, didn't want to party, and didn't want to do every dive. Unless you do a dive club charter, you don't know who is going to be on liveaboard trip. My Kona Aggressor trip was full of photographers and videographers in their 20s, 30s and 40s. They were serious, experienced divers and also great fun.
The Kona Aggressor only takes 14 - 15 passengers. I think that's a great group size. It's easy to get to know everyone and you don't bump into each other too much on the dive site.
The boat also has a broader beam than most of the other Aggressors. This allows most of the cabins to be on the same level as the main salon. The double cabins line the starboard side of the boat. During most of the journey, the starboard side faces the coast, allowing the magical view I mentioned earlier. The cabin doors open into the main salon. That might be a problem if you're on a cruise with a bunch of partiers and you want to sleep.
The quad cabin is on the upper deck. It's pretty roomy for a quad.
The Hawaiian islands are some of the newest land on earth. There hasn't been enough time for barrier reef systems to grow around Hawaii. There is coral, and plenty of it, but it's mostly rocky coast and low profile reef. This isn't a negative. It's just different. Instead of swim throughs you get to explore lava tubes.
The really great thing about diving the Kona coast is the fish. They're big, colorful, psychadelic Pacific fish. Hawaii doesn't have the diversity of some other part of the Pacific, but it does have a really high percentage of endemic. Almost 30% of the fish you'll see in Hawaii can be seen nowhere else in the world.
The Aggressor visits sites that are visited by local dive boats, but it also gets down south, to sites that aren't visited by the day boats. The southern dive sites were really, really amazing. I've wanted to get back to them ever since.
I fell in love with Hawaii diving on my kona Agressor trip and I've been back to the islands to dive every year since. I hope to drag my husband on to the Aggressor some day. Book the trip. You'll be glad you did.
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