Kona Dive Op: Sea Paradise

[scubamax]

I will be visiting Kona this winter and nearest dive shop to where I am staying is called Sea Paradise. I took a look at the web site and they appear to be decent, but did a search on SB and did not find much.

Anyone have any opinions on this operation?

Feel free to PM me as an alternative.

Scubamax

 

[scubamax]

Anybody out there? One month and no replies. I can't believe there are no opinions to be had for this dive op?

 

[Wildcard]

Never heard of em. Sounds like an op out of someones home.

 

[stevethepirate]

check my thread! its the next one down, or something like that.
There are loads of dive ops over there, it all depends on what you want. There are a few bigger ones, where they load you onto a boat with a bunch of people, and then the smaller boats, like Wanna Dive (steve, on this board) who give you more personal attention.

are you staying up north? if you are down towards kailua, there are a bunch. its up north by mauna kea and those areas where there arent many possibilities.
most of the boats leave from Honokohau harbor, or something like that. thats closer to kailua.

 

[LioKai]

sea paradise runs out of Keauhou Bay. The boat is a large new cat that looks beautiful. They do a lot of the south-of-town dive sites as well as the Manta dive in front of the Sheraton, commonly known as the "Kona Surf". You are not hearing much about them because they are one of the only dive boats out of Keauhou Bay, 4 miles SOUTH of town. The other 25+ dive ops run out of Honokohau Harbor 2 miles NORTH of town. I have not been in their dive shop since the mid 90's. No other reason than I haven't been to Keauhou since the mid 90's. We are not talking about a far away place, just somewhere I haven't been in a while, but I do see the boat if I am running to the south manta dive site.

So, here's what I know:
new catamaran
serve fresh fruit on board
south dive sites
Kona Surf Manta dive
I have never heard anything bad about them
Keauhou Bay location, so if you are near Keauhou Bay then you won't have any traffic
They have been in business more than 12 years (I've been here 12 years, they have been here longer)

 

[Wildcard]

I'll have to check them out the next time Im there!
Do they do balck water dives?

 

[stevethepirate]

we were staying right by keahou, and drove up to honokohau every morning, really quick drive.

you can always try them out, and if you dont like it, you can use one of the other many dive ops.

 

[aquachick]

We dove with Big Island Divers. Had a great time with them. Please let us know how you like Sea Paradise. Have fun!

 

[espantoon]

Try Pacific Rim Divers. They are a boat only (no shop) operation, and provide top notch personal service. Patrice, the owner/DM/capt, makes fresh brownies that should be illegal they are so good. They also have equipment rental if needed. The boat is a six pack, so you are never crowded. My wife and I use them every time we go to the B.I., we will be back in March. PacRim runs out of Honakohau Harbor, just north of town.

 

[Wildcard]

I have many friends that run boats out of Kona but it seems I end up with Matt at Big Island divers most every time. There is a reason. Most everyone there is good, they have to be.