soo we are coming to Hawaii

[JamesBon92007]

I assume that from your comment about your 2.5 mm wet suit being fine that this is your normal dive gear ? I'm trying to decide if mi going to buy a 3mm as well as the new 7mm I will likely need to get (I'm moving back to NZ and I don't think my 5mm will cut it in the colder water.. the 5 mm is only really working in Perth with the thermal vest but no hood) tho i guess getting a 3mm and wearing both would work

Now that I'm old and retired and have the time and money I do most of my diving in the tropics so I guess you could call it my "normal" gear now. It used to be a 1/4" farmer john with hood and booties for Southern California. I have gotten by with the 2.5mm suit with a shorty under it in California but I recently bought a 5mm for such places as the Sea of Cortez and Puerto Vallarta (but the 2.5mm is fine there most of the time). I finally grew out of my old farmer john so I'm going to find out if the 5mm and a shorty, along with a 7mm hood is adequate for Southern California. I would not take a 7mm to some place like Cozumel--there isn't any point. It takes up too much room in the luggage, takes way too much weight to sink it, and it's a PITA to put on. Plus you'd probably be too warm. My 2.5mm is very compact and slips right on and off On the Manta Ray Night Dive you are just sitting there so a little extra insulation might be nice but not essential. For general Hawai'i diving I've only worn a 3mm or the 2.5mm and never got too hot or too cold or even thought much about it. If you think you will get very limited use of a 3mm then perhaps you could just get a 3mm shorty for Hawai'i and then wear it under your thicker suit in NZ. I just happened to get a super-great deal on my 2.5 full suit on ebay so it's worth having even if I didn't use it all that much. For me, the shorty in Hawai'i might be a little bit light but some people dive in only a T-shirt. But I'm from California where we put on a jacket when it gets below 70F

 

[Joshua Pritchard]

mmm tthats a really interesting set of thoughts about a 7mm, I think I will see if i can get a 3mm (or 2.5 hell was that extra .5mm going to do anywho ) that will fit under the 5mm nicely and then between the two ill be pretty much set for any conditions up to "bugger that i need a drysuit" and yeah i know what you mean about Jackets .... its going to suck going back to NZ as i gave gotten used to the Perth heat but well my GF is in Auckland and has a much better job than i do ... and 8 hours by plane is a whole lot to much air gap between us for my slowly (well might be quicker than i realise) slipping sanity.

 

[jonhall]

Dove in Feb. in Kona. Water temp was 75-76º every dive. I wore my 3mm full suit and was comfortable. Did a few swim throughs where we cautioned about getting caught in a surge, so some protection may be warranted, or maybe they warned us just to keep us on our toes.

To throw another wrinkle in things, I'll suggest the flap flaps as a snorkel trip. We did it this way as we had non divers with us and also because I couldn't see paying for the dive when you were going to kneel on the bottom for 40 minutes and see the same mantas just swimming in a different direction. Just something to think about.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Dove in Feb. in Kona. Water temp was 75-76º every dive. I wore my 3mm full suit and was comfortable. Did a few swim throughs where we cautioned about getting caught in a surge, so some protection may be warranted, or maybe they warned us just to keep us on our toes.

To throw another wrinkle in things, I'll suggest the flap flaps as a snorkel trip. We did it this way as we had non divers with us and also because I couldn't see paying for the dive when you were going to kneel on the bottom for 40 minutes and see the same mantas just swimming in a different direction. Just something to think about.

The last time I did the manta dive I was with three people who did the snorkel version and they all loved it, but I can't say for certain which is better because I've only done the scuba version.

 

[jonhall]

Going to be on Big Island again next year so I have time to decide how to see the mantas before we arrive. Want to do the Pelagic Magic dive for sure this time.

 

[Chocoholic]

For Maui consider staying at the Maui Hill or Maui Kamaole condos. The Maui Hill condo is directly across the street from the Kihea boat ramp. You can just walk down the hill and across the street to meet the boat to go to Molokini crater. BTW the boats leave really early in the morning like 5:30 or 6am. I found Maui Dive and Sea, they leave a bit later in the morning (7:30am).

 

[Chocoholic]

For the Big Island: There are a lot of condos, none are very close to the Honokohau Boat harbour. The Dive ops will not pick you up at your hotel but they have Uber on the island now. I like Big Island Divers but most of the ops are quality.
You will need a rental car on each island to get around to all the cool sites. Check out tripadvisor for reviews of all the hotels and condos.

 

[JamesBon92007]

I agree with Chocoholic that you need to rent a car--you'll need it for shore diving and to get to the boat (unless you are staying near the Kihei boat ramp). We signed up for the Hertz Gold club and got an amazing deal on our rental car (big island). On Maui I used Kihei Car Rentals and it was pretty cheap and the paint was a bit faded but they picked me up promptly from the airport and took me back when I dropped off the car. I suspect that the Hertz deal might be even better.

 

[Mike1967]

My buddy dove with KDC

My buddy ate some KFC

 

[Chocoholic]

As far as the Manta dive... I loved the dive. The snorkel was good but the whole time I was thinking I would rather be under water and I felt warmer being underwater for the dive than I did floating on the surface waiting for the mantas. To be fair the dive had two mantas performing just for us and the snorkel had one manta that was in the distance.