Trip Report Kona, Hawaii Feb 2022 with Kona Dive Company (KDC)

[beldridg]

My wife and I spent about 10 days in Kona and I dove on four of them. Kona is not known for their wreck diving and I was diving with a single AL80 in a wetsuit so I was definitely "out of my element" in many ways.

I even managed to take some pictures of sea-life and not just rusted metal. I only had my GoPro with me and was traveling light.

I did manage to dive a very cool Beechcraft airplane wreck on my last day diving along with a Landing Craft and got a pretty good photogrammetry model of the latter.

My full trip report is at

Trip Report : Kona, Hawaii (Feb 2022)

My wife and I went tp Kona, Hawaii for ten days on our first “real” vacation since Covid started in March 2020. We wore “double masks” and flew United direct from LAX to KOA…

wreckedinmyrevo.com

Below is a picture of the Beechcraft and a link to the post about that dive.

Beechcraft H18 Airplane (Kona, Hawaii — 100+ fsw)

Backstory As mentioned in my previous post, Kona is not exactly a hotbed for wreck diving. However, if there is a wreck to be found, I will definitely go searching for it. While on my second day of…

wreckedinmyrevo.com

Don't worry - I'll be back to posting some very cool stories about SoCal in the next week or two. I just got done diving two different deep sites on the B-36 off San Diego and have a post in the works.

Regards,

- brett

 

[NaughtyDogDiving]

Looked like a great trip. Do you have any experience diving the other islands? I have dove Maui and had a fantastic experience; trying to see which one I should go to next. Look like Kona might be at the top of the list.

 

[beldridg]

Looked like a great trip. Do you have any experience diving the other islands? I have dove Maui and had a fantastic experience; trying to see which one I should go to next. Look like Kona might be at the top of the list.

I'd probably say Kona is a safe bet.

I did some diving on Kauai but it was a long time ago.

I've also done some diving on Lanai (most people leave from Maui to dive Lanai) and really enjoy the Cathedrals dive sites there.

If you are into wrecks, Oahu is the place to go.

If you want sharks, I hear that Molokai is a great choice but I've never been diving there. The channel crossing from Maui can be temperamental and it is a relatively advanced dive from what I hear and, of course, no guarantees on seeing sharks.

It somewhat depends on what you are looking for.

- brett

 

[NaughtyDogDiving]

I'd probably say Kona is a safe bet.

I did some diving on Kauai but it was a long time ago.

I've also done some diving on Lanai (most people leave from Maui to dive Lanai) and really enjoy the Cathedrals dive sites there.

If you are into wrecks, Oahu is the place to go.

If you want sharks, I hear that Molokai is a great choice but I've never been diving there. The channel crossing from Maui can be temperamental and it is a relatively advanced dive from what I hear and, of course, no guarantees on seeing sharks.

It somewhat depends on what you are looking for.

- brett

Thanks.

Molokai is great and the crossing wasn't too bad. Maui also has a lot of fantastic and easily accessible shore diving.

 

[IslandDiversHI]

Cool man, I've been in Hawaii 22 years and never heard of this one. When your on Oahu you should hit the Friendship (fishing boat in 190fsw). There is a coal barge in 300fsw, but that is a bit deep for what you get out of it. The guys doing 100m training hit it though occasionally, and with a scooter you can do your deco over a reef, so not that bad it the long run. Actually most commonly done from shore with tech scooters. Usually with the Friendship and Sea Tiger (115fsw) in the loop. About 3-4 hour run time.

 

[beldridg]

Cool man, I've been in Hawaii 22 years and never heard of this one. When your on Oahu you should hit the Friendship (fishing boat in 190fsw). There is a coal barge in 300fsw, but that is a bit deep for what you get out of it. The guys doing 100m training hit it though occasionally, and with a scooter you can do your deco over a reef, so not that bad it the long run. Actually most commonly done from shore with tech scooters. Usually with the Friendship and Sea Tiger (115fsw) in the loop. About 3-4 hour run time.

Cool, thanks! I've been on the Friendship and the Sea Tiger. Definitely fun wrecks.

- brett