Kona diving in september

[mkzwo]

Hey guys,

I finalized my trip to Kona in mid to end of september for a total of 7 days.
Now i still have a couple of questions and hope some of you might share their
experience. I read already a lot through this part of the forum so generally i
have some idea about differences in e.g. dive centers.

I'm a relatively fresh diver, so please keep that in mind. Right now i'm Nitrox
and Advanced certified and possibly have my Rescue diver done till then.

I probably will do all of my dives with dive centers in boat dives, due to me
traveling alone and not knowing anybody in Kona. I had email contact with
nearly all of the dive centers in Kona to check out what schedules they offered
especially on those afternoon and Manta night dives and there was the most
significant difference. Most small outfits have very limited offers on those, making
it very difficult to get most out of this trip. Originally i was planning to do most
of my diving with Wanna Dive Kona, due to many positive feedbacks here on the
boards and small groups, but unfortunatelly he has very limited afternoon/night
dive options for a single person and also couldn't offer any advanced three tank
trips. If i only do few morning dives with him it would also make those dives
comparetivly expensive and also i don't wanna carry all my heavy gear around
every single day from shop to shop.

Currently i'm tending towards using Big Island Divers for most of my diving, because
they seem to have gotten good reviews here regularly, were very fast in responding
to all of my emails, have very competitive rates and also they seem to have a very
good schedule of dive options e.g. an advanced 3tank trip mondays and nearly every
day those manta dives and also the possibility to do the Black Water dive.

Now comes my first question. I read a report on this Black Water dive and saw
some videos on youtube including one which i found quite unsettling with
an accounter of two blue sharks. Do you guys think this dive is safe and
worth it to do? I'm not generally afraid of sharks, but i hate to be bait

Generally i plan to get as many dives done as possible which means 4 per day.
Is it worth it to do the Manta dive 4-5 times? Or are there any other options
i'm not aware of yet?

Is the advanced 3 tank trip worth it? If any of you guys did it before what were
your experiences?

On my last day originally i planned to do maybe a Heli trip, but i think due to the
no fly limit that won't fit even if i skip the night dive. So what great things could
i do on Kona side on the last no diving day?

Thanks in advance for any help. I'm so much looking forward of coming to Hawaii
and hope it will be a trip of a lifetime

Kind regards,
mkzwo

 

[Bappelt]

You might want to check with Joshua about his dive package with Kona Honu Divers. It sounds like a good deal.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/tr...6-10-dives-kona-honu-divers-hawaii-400-a.html

 

[Lopaka]

To be complete in your research, you should contact Jack's Diving Locker. They do all the dives you are interested in, black water, Manta, long range 3 tank, etc.

Dunno if they still do it, but they had a neat pricing thing that the more trips you booked, the less you paid for each one. Knocked a nice bit of $ off the total, which over 5-7 days is significant.

Not affiliated with Jack's, just a long term customer.

 

[mkzwo]

Thanks Bappelt for the info. Take this into consideration.

Thanks Lopaka for your sharing. I have Jake's Diving Locker in my original schedule because they are the only ones i could find who offer the 2 Tank Manta dive on sundays. But generally their prices are on the upper end of the spectrum of my comparence.

mkzwo

 

[Scuba_HI]

we did the manta dive with big island divers, they cleaned and stored our gear overnight for the next day, great crew!!! also dove all week with them, had a blast. went back to them in feb. and just rented tanks for shore diving at two step. dove with bottom time that trip also, was with gabes dive club. going back 23 of sept. and renting tanks from big island and doing two step again then 2 tank manta dive friday night, 3 tanks saturday morning, going out with honu divers this time.
really want to get back out on big island divers boat but we keep going over there with the clubs that we are part of from oahu.

 

[lesismore]

Althouth I don't have any advice to give you, I am definately going to follow this thread since I'll also be in Kona in mid to late Sept. It will be first time in Hawaii and the Manta dive is definately on my list. I am not nearly as experienced as you - and haven't done any diving in the last couple years - but I am quite comfortable in the water and thought about the palaegic dive, thinking that if I do a few dives prior and demonstrate to the guides I can handle it.

I figure I'll reacquaint myself first by doing the three dive trip I've seen offered by several Kona shops - two tank in afternoon then on to the manta's in the evening.

 

[friscuba]

"I figure I'll reacquaint myself first by doing the three dive trip I've seen offered by several Kona shops - two tank in afternoon then on to the manta's in the evening."

Better double check to see if any shops offer a three tank afternoon/evening dive combo, I haven't seen it, I could be wrong as I've not looked at websites lately. Most shops offer a two tank morning/day dive, then either a anternoon/night dive combo or a single night dive, with the day dives and any afternoon/evening dive being separate charters. Pretty much everyone "offers" three tank day trips, starting in the morning and then ending before nightfall, although it doesn't really occur all that often due to actual numbers of customers signing up (gotta have enough to make a three tank trip worthwhile). The bigger companies with multiple boats have a better shot at pulling off a 3 tanker, but when the slow season hits we don't seem to see many boats out on the water for 3 tankers.

 

[mkzwo]

I'm planing on doing the Three Tank Long Range Dive with Big Island on 20. september and maybe if possible end the day with a 1 tank manta dive.

Lesismore: If you plan any dives between 16th to 20st september, let me know. Maybe we can do some together.

mkzwo

 

[Lopaka]

Doubt you will make it back from a 3 tank in time to catch a Manta dive.

 

[mkzwo]

Lopaka: Yeah probably not, which would be not a big deal though. Its the last day of diving anyway and until then i will have done the manta dive a couple of times. I would prefer a normal shore night dive, but seems none of the dive ops offer this.