Kona-Hawaii 8-8 thru 8-13 trip report

[JMC99]

Sounds like a great trip! I'll be heading over there in late September, diving out of Jack's. I plan on doing two nights of Manta diving. Will a 3mm full be enough, or too much? Hood/beenie?

I did the manta dive in Feb with a 3mm full. A little chilly after an hour since you mostly just sit still. Late Sep 3mm full is plenty. You could probably get away with a shorty, and the headgear would be overkill.

 

[Teamcasa]

We took our hoods on the last Manta Dive, there was a jellyfish warning. Can't hurt to bring it along. I used a 3/5mm full in June, perfect. My lovely bride wore her 3mm full and had no problems with temps.

Dave

 

[JMC99]

I was Diving Kona about the same time and IDed at least 164 different species over the course of 13 dives. It was my first time diving on the Big Island so don't have much to compare to, but the bio diversity seems to be doing just fine.

I was with a REEF Field survey group and as a group we saw collectively a total of 213 different species.

We dove with Jacks for 5 of the days and hit 10 different sites. We also did shore diving at Place Of Refuge and I did an additional dive off the shore of the condos I was staying at.

I was the only one in the group in a shorty (2 mm) and dove it for all the dives. I come from a cold water background and never felt chilled either before, during or after a dive. My average dive time over the week was about 70 mins per dive with the shortest being 43 minutes in high current and the longest being 90 minutes. The rest of the group wore a variety of long suits up to and including full 7 mm with hood and gloves. Most of the divers were warm water only divers and many complained of being cold on just about every dive.

I was in Kona that week and saw a guy underwater with a clipboard at POR. Might have been you. I don't get the overdressing I see. I wore my 3mm shorty on night and early morning dives, then just a rashguard for late morning and afternoon dives. Part of the beauty of diving Kona during the summer is not having to wear all that rubber and lead.