Kona Dive Trip – Shore and Charters

[Teamcasa]

My lovely bride and I are returning to dive Kona’s great sites. Since her first experience with diving was a SNUBA dive with Fair Winds, she has been hooked! Now we want to return to dive Kona properly.

Are HP tanks available (for rent) in Kona? We have DIN regs but we can also bring the yokes if necessary. Any suggestions on good shore sites, dive shops for rental/gear storage, boat charters?

I was also told to bring a dive flag, any local preferences to type/size?

Will be there in June.

Have video camera and housing ready to get some beautiful Hawaiian undersea life!


Dave

 

[Wildcard]

Dont miss out on the manta dive followed by the black water dive. Book early in your trip so you can reschedule if the weather comes up. For travel a standard dive flag on a small float. Maui is the big problem with tickets for dive flags. Only ever got one warning on BI and I never use a flag except when teaching.
Not sure about the HP tanks.
Enjoy your visit!
Aloha

 

[Teamcasa]

Dont miss out on the manta dive followed by the black water dive. Book early in your trip so you can reschedule if the weather comes up. For travel a standard dive flag on a small float. Maui is the big problem with tickets for dive flags. Only ever got one warning on BI and I never use a flag except when teaching.
Not sure about the HP tanks.
Enjoy your visit!
Aloha

Thanks WC.
Manta’s and Black Water are definitely on the must do list. Any recommendations on dive ops for these dives?

Dave

 

[friscuba]

There's basically only one dive op that does the black water dive on a semi-frequent basis - Big Island Divers. They try to do in on Monday's if they have takers from what I understand. Jack's Diving Locker may have done it on occasion over the years from what I've heard rumored, there are others on the board more familiar with their scheduling. My guess is a black water dive may have been done off Kona a total of 2-3 dozen or so times last year, it's not necessarliy a regular event so you'll want to try to schedule it in advance.

The manta dive is another thing. Most of the dive ops do it on a regular basis and you can expect 3-5 or more boats out pretty much every night of the week doing that. A few companies go out 5-6 nights a week, most go out when they have enough to make a trip out of it.

Not sure about the high pressure tanks as far as rentals go. It might be handy to have the yokes.

You've got a bunch of good shore diving... Old Airport, Place of Refuge, Mile 4, the south side of Honokohau Harbor, all of Puako, as well as others. Do a search for Dick Dresie's Let's go shore Divin' website or shorediving.com for some ideas.

 

[Teamcasa]

Thanks Steve.
Do you also do Manta Dives? I'd just as well dive with your operation.

Is there easy shore access to Kealakekua Bay (Captain Cook's Monument). We would love to explore that bay again but I read the access was limited after the earthquake.

Dave

 

[friscuba]

I pm'd you on the charter info. The monument is actually not directly accessible. To get there you need to do a boat, a 3 mile hike with a 1300-1400 foot elevation change, kayak a mile, or do a heck of a surface swim. I don't consider it a shore dive, and the part of the bay you can easily access is not a great dive by any means.

While monument always has been a great snorkel, it used to be a mediocre dive, but it's recovering nicely now from the hurricane back in the early 90's - it's a steep dropoff and as rocks roll they take out a wide swath below them, the best stuff used to be in snorkeling depth up on the shelf but the wall's groing back again. I still think there's generally better diving off Keei and the Place of Refuge which are nearby and are shore accessible.

I hope this helps.

 

[mred]

I second the recommendation on the black water dive. It was awesome. Big Island Divers is a good outfit. BUT you really do need to book in advance to ensure you can get in all the dives you want. Esp. during June when things really begin to get crowded.