"Long range" and "advanced" dives in Kona - worth it?

[dougmatic]

My girlfriend and I are headed to Kona in a couple of months, probably diving with Jack's Diving Locker. I noticed that pretty much all of the dive operators in Kona advertise "long range" trips, and to further complicate things, Jack's advertises "advanced long range" and "advanced local range" trips, both at much higher costs than the basic 2 tank morning trips.

Are these trips really worth the extra cost, or are most cool sights seen on the basic 2 tank morning trips anyway? In addition to wildlife sightings, we really enjoy swimthroughs which I believe Kona has - would we be able to get our fix of those on the basic 2 tank trips?

Figured that if I ask the shop directly, they'll try give us the upsell on the higher priced trips, so I wanted to get honest opinions from customers who have hopefully experienced both.

 

[tursiops]

I thought the long-range dives were some of the best we had. I don't remember an advanced moniker, but maybe they were. This was in 2005, don't really remember.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

On my first trip to Kona, we made the two-tanks dives every day. We noticed that because the island drops off quickly, most sites are near shore. The next two times we went, we rented tanks and weights and made shore dives instead. We went through the same swim through, saw the same reefs with the exception of the manta ray night dive.

 

[tursiops]

On my first trip to Kona, we made the two-tanks dives every day. We noticed that because the island drops off quickly, most sites are near shore. The next two times we went, we rented tanks and weights and made shore dives instead. We went through the same swim through, saw the same reefs with the exception of the manta ray night dive.

And there are many sites -- like in Bonaire -- that you can only get to on a boat.

 

[lexvil]

Best dive I had on Kona was “rip off reef” there was so many critters including a 12 foot tiger shark, why is it called “rip off reef”? Because they literally pull just to the side of the harbor entrance stop.

 

[grantwiscour]

The Long Range trips either go to the north or south...further than the regular trips. Many of the "Long Range" trips go to places where you can shore dive after driving the rental to Miloli'i, Puako or others.

With that said, the long range trips are lots of fun and an easy way for a visitor to get to some of the less traveled sites.

 

[lexvil]

A few of the pics i still have from Kona

 

[grantwiscour]

A few of the pics i still have from KonaView attachment 539587View attachment 539588

Nice shots...we've been seeing the Tiger Sharks at Honokohau Harbor/Alua Beach this summer. Fun and easy shore dive for those who don't mind crossing the 100 yards of lava.

 

[dougmatic]

On my first trip to Kona, we made the two-tanks dives every day. We noticed that because the island drops off quickly, most sites are near shore. The next two times we went, we rented tanks and weights and made shore dives instead. We went through the same swim through, saw the same reefs with the exception of the manta ray night dive.

Thanks...I'm not totally opposed to shore diving in general, we shore dive off Laguna and other spots here in SoCal. But for Hawaii, I think my girlfriend prefers the ease of boat diving given that we're going to be on vacation, even if the boat isn't "necessary"...maybe I can convince her otherwise.

 

[tarponchik]

A few of the pics i still have from KonaView attachment 539587View attachment 539588

I have pictures of them both. I suspect someone feeds this Yellowhad because she was following us.