Kona report - August 2019

[anchochile]

I just got back from Kona where I dove with Pacific Rim Divers. They were outstanding and I will definitely dive with them again next time I'm on the Big Island.

Diving itself was good and very enjoyable but not outstanding. Visibility was below average for Kona throughout the week, with a lot of large particulate in the water - probably 40ft on average, up to 50-60ft on occasion. Maybe this was due to the rough conditions, which seemed like a mix of chop and swell from all directions, I think due to the two tropical storms that passed north & south of the islands early in the week.

With the exception of a brief and thrilling pass from a 15-foot tiger shark on one dive, large animals were absent - nary even a turtle on 10 dives and multiple snorkeling outings to Two Step and Kahalu'u where we have always seen turtles in the past. Maybe with better viz we would've seen more big stuff? Lots of great small stuff, though, thanks to the excellent critter-spotting guides - nudis, shrimp, frogfish, eels galore, many octopus, and more. And tons of fish everywhere, all the usual suspects. This was a stark contrast to our trip to Maui in November, where fish seemed very scarce compared with past visits.

It's always great to be in the warm Kona waters and we'll certainly be back.

 

[Aloha Joe]

I hope your trips was still good despite less than stellar dive conditions! It's been the same around O'ahu - poor visability (in relative terms), choppy, and turtles and larger creatures have been absent, but lots of small stuff. It's been this way for the past 2-3 weeks, since the 2 storms that recently passed.

 

[Crazybaldarcher]

How was the coral?

 

[anchochile]

How was the coral?

Some sites had lots of healthy coral, other sites had minimal live coral, just large fields of coral rubble. These were still great dives, with lots of life and little critters hiding in the rubble. We were told that much of the coral loss was due to a few large swell events over the past several years that tore up the bottom, plus I believe there was a bleaching event a few years ago.