Kona trip in four days- Dive op or stick to Shore?

[dianna912]

So, I’m usually little miss plan everything a very long ways in advance.

Until Covid and having our last March Hawaii trip cancelled, and feeling like every trip is somehow doomed to more cancellation.... and how’s everyone else doing on the anxiety front?

Anyways, we did at least get a rental jeep and a place to stay, so that’s the good.

We are in Kona for 15 days for our 10 year anniversary, yay! We mostly plan to shore dive and I did just get the Shore Diving book suggested in another thread.

We’ve done the manta dive and the black water which was the only dive I’ve ever just bailed on. But that was an extremely short 2 days before switching to Maui, so we didn’t get to learn the lay of the land at all.

Are any other boat dives can’t misses? We’ve gotten the impression that most of the boats just go to the same shore sites, so is booking a boat even worth it?

Kona Honu has very few spots available, maybe just one day on their advanced charter, same with Jack’s. Neither site really gives any info on where an advanced charter goes.

Guidance would be greatly appreciated!

 

[OrcasC205]

We did the advance charter with Kona Honu in May and they took us to a couple sites far to the south that would not be accessible to shore. One was a lava tube cavern/cave and another was a pinnacle just south of there. It was nice because it was a small group and very uncrowded, pristine dive sites.

The normal morning charters do hit some sites that would be difficult to reach from shore, but the reefs are not much different that what you can get from diving from Old Airport, Dog Beach or Puako (to name a few shore sites I've been to.) It depends on how much work you want to do yourself to understand which sites will be accessible with the weather/waves that day.

 

[fisheater]

The boat captains choose the dive sites on a day-to-day basis, based upon conditions and diver experience and preferences. The "advanced" and "long range" charters are more likely to go where you couldn't get from shore.

Shore diving on Kona is great, but be sure to get some advice from experienced locals, as conditions dictate where you should go and how you should enter/exit. The shops are happy to assist.

 

[P-Dog]

Call Big Island Divers or Aquatic Life. See if either of them is running a Long Range or Advanced. Especially a Long Range.

The advantage of the Advanced or Long Range boats is that they have no students on them. So, even if you are with a dive master and certified divers in your group, the instructor on the boat decides with the captain on the dive site - it's about depth so the students can complete their skills.

A Long Range going south might go to Three Room Cave (it's farther south than Honaunau) or Touch of Grey if they go a little north in the open ocean.

IMO the sites you want to see on a normal two tank morning dive are Pyramid Pinnacle and Suck 'em Up.

I'd also call around and see if anyone is offering a night reef dive. I know that, at one point, Big Island Divers was thinking about putting that on the menu, but there isn't much demand because everyone wants to see the Mantas at night.

 

[fisheater]

. . .

I'd also call around and see if anyone is offering a night reef dive. I know that, at one point, Big Island Divers was thinking about putting that on the menu, but there isn't much demand because everyone wants to see the Mantas at night.

Kona Honu and Kona Diving Company do night reef dives. Big Island Divers does not.

 

[P-Dog]

Kona Honu and Kona Diving Company do night reef dives. Big Island Divers does not.

Has Kona Diving Company fixed their boat? It was broken last week (or the week before) and they were placing customers on the boats of other shops.

Pacific Rim has a night reef dive listed on their website as on request as well.

Looks like Pacific Rim, Kona Honu and KDC may be the only options for night reef dives.

 

[aceswerling2]

For shore diving, I suggest contacting Chris and Yoshie at Kona Shore Divers. They're great folks and will coach you on where to go. They were very helpful for our trip in June and they even dropped off rental tanks at my condo. Kona Shore Divers | Scuba Diving & Tour Company | Kona Hawaii

 

[grantwiscour]

We do self guided dives at Two Step, Pebble and Miloli’i. All pretty safe and simple if you are familiar with your compass.

The dive ops often hit the same old spots over and over on the regular dive trip. How many dives do you want at Suck em up?

 

[SoCalRich]

Take dive Lights.