About this time last year, my wife and I were discussing our annual "big" trip, which we take each summer. It was a milestone birthday for me, so i said I'd like to dive more than usual on our shared trip (my wife only snorkels, so our annual vacation is a 'trip with diving' as opposed to a 'dive trip'). Since it was a milestone, we discussed - what's our favorite place we've ever been? The answer was easy and a consensus - Hawai'i Island (The Big Island). I said that I wanted to so as much shore diving as possible, since I love shore diving.
I thought - wouldn't it be great to be able to stay for 2 weeks? I had the vacation time, but the accommodations are prohibitively expensive. So I started searching online and after awhile, I found the Sugar Cottage (https://www.sugar-inc.com/sugar-cottage). I was somewhat taken aback by its affordability - $100/night. Plus - guided shores dives, tanks & weights included. I had to double check, as I couldn't believe the price. But that's right, a cottage with 1 bedroom, kitchen, bath, and parking. Plus, a gear rinse area! I read some reviews online, they sounded positive, so i went ahead and booked 2 weeks in June, 2019.
The cottage is located about an hour south of Kona near the town of Miloli'i. The location is really the only possible disadvantage, depending on what you want from a Big Island vacation. A car is required to do anything, and it's not exactly close to much. But, we were planning on driving a lot anyway, so this didn't matter to us. The cottage itself was clean and functional. It's not fancy, but not budget-motel feeling either. Bugs weren't too bad - the screened in porch helped a lot. No A/C, but it didn't matter much - the fans and the elevation made for pleasant sleeping. The host was available whenever we needed anything, but hands-off otherwise. The cistern water isn't potable, but he provided 5 gallon containers of filtered water for drinking.
Some estimates of travel times. Kona downtown ~1hr/Volcanoes NP ~1hr/Hilo 2-3hrs, depending on route/Puako ~1.5 hrs./Kohala ~2hrs./Waimea - 2.5hrs/South Point ~45mins. These are real travel times. At first I was concerned because everything seemed far away. But we really enjoyed seeing parts of the island we hadn't seen the first time, especially South Point, Green Sand Beach, Ho'okena, Pebbles, Punalu'u, and Naalehu. We spent a lot of time at Two-Step and Kealakekua. 3 or 4 days we went early to Two-Step and snorkeled together, then I would get a dive in while my wife continued to snorkel. Twice we got to snorkel with spinner dolphins, and there were turtles galore, plus a huge eagle ray in the shallows. Two-Step gets crowded for sure, but we had a great time there. We wanted to spend a couple days in the Hilo area, so I booked one night at a B&B in downtown Hilo. Sugar Cottage was so inexpensive, I didn't mind losing one night there.
The diving was an informal setup - the host wasn't available every morning, but he was available most mornings. And when he wasn't available, I was able to take full tanks and weights and dive on my own (after he saw I knew what I was doing). All the dives were shore dives, and the host's knowledge of local shore dive sites was extensive. He had 80s, 63s, and 100s. His compressor was a small unit he kept onsite. We managed 75-90 minutes for each dive, depending on depth. Here's what I managed to dive:
5 dives at Two-Step (3 solo, 2 with host)
2 dives at Miloli'i Rock with the host
4 dives at Miloli'i Boat Ramp with the host
4 dives at Pebbles with the host
1 dive solo at Ali'i Mile Marker 4
2 dives solo at Puako
I requested going back to Pebbles and Miloli'i boat ramp because I liked them so much. I will never forget the champagne bubble sound of the rocks being tumbled close to shore at Pebbles. I made the drive all the way up to Puako, because I had such fond memories of it from 6 years ago. But, Puako had a lot of what looked like bleaching and was a little disappointing. Highlights for me were spinner dolphins, eagle ray, turtles, nudibranchs, and the usual assortment of beautiful reef fish.
I kinda hope no one else finds out about this place, but I asked the host if he'd like promotion, and he said yes, so here you go. It was an incredible trip. Other places have more coral, more fish, or more variety, but nowhere else compares to shore diving on the Big Island for me. I just wish I could afford to live there.
Here's some sample pics. Full galleries are here: Land (https://flic.kr/s/aHsmJ4rjg3) and U/W (https://flic.kr/s/aHsmGEYt1m)
I thought - wouldn't it be great to be able to stay for 2 weeks? I had the vacation time, but the accommodations are prohibitively expensive. So I started searching online and after awhile, I found the Sugar Cottage (https://www.sugar-inc.com/sugar-cottage). I was somewhat taken aback by its affordability - $100/night. Plus - guided shores dives, tanks & weights included. I had to double check, as I couldn't believe the price. But that's right, a cottage with 1 bedroom, kitchen, bath, and parking. Plus, a gear rinse area! I read some reviews online, they sounded positive, so i went ahead and booked 2 weeks in June, 2019.
The cottage is located about an hour south of Kona near the town of Miloli'i. The location is really the only possible disadvantage, depending on what you want from a Big Island vacation. A car is required to do anything, and it's not exactly close to much. But, we were planning on driving a lot anyway, so this didn't matter to us. The cottage itself was clean and functional. It's not fancy, but not budget-motel feeling either. Bugs weren't too bad - the screened in porch helped a lot. No A/C, but it didn't matter much - the fans and the elevation made for pleasant sleeping. The host was available whenever we needed anything, but hands-off otherwise. The cistern water isn't potable, but he provided 5 gallon containers of filtered water for drinking.
Some estimates of travel times. Kona downtown ~1hr/Volcanoes NP ~1hr/Hilo 2-3hrs, depending on route/Puako ~1.5 hrs./Kohala ~2hrs./Waimea - 2.5hrs/South Point ~45mins. These are real travel times. At first I was concerned because everything seemed far away. But we really enjoyed seeing parts of the island we hadn't seen the first time, especially South Point, Green Sand Beach, Ho'okena, Pebbles, Punalu'u, and Naalehu. We spent a lot of time at Two-Step and Kealakekua. 3 or 4 days we went early to Two-Step and snorkeled together, then I would get a dive in while my wife continued to snorkel. Twice we got to snorkel with spinner dolphins, and there were turtles galore, plus a huge eagle ray in the shallows. Two-Step gets crowded for sure, but we had a great time there. We wanted to spend a couple days in the Hilo area, so I booked one night at a B&B in downtown Hilo. Sugar Cottage was so inexpensive, I didn't mind losing one night there.
The diving was an informal setup - the host wasn't available every morning, but he was available most mornings. And when he wasn't available, I was able to take full tanks and weights and dive on my own (after he saw I knew what I was doing). All the dives were shore dives, and the host's knowledge of local shore dive sites was extensive. He had 80s, 63s, and 100s. His compressor was a small unit he kept onsite. We managed 75-90 minutes for each dive, depending on depth. Here's what I managed to dive:
5 dives at Two-Step (3 solo, 2 with host)
2 dives at Miloli'i Rock with the host
4 dives at Miloli'i Boat Ramp with the host
4 dives at Pebbles with the host
1 dive solo at Ali'i Mile Marker 4
2 dives solo at Puako
I requested going back to Pebbles and Miloli'i boat ramp because I liked them so much. I will never forget the champagne bubble sound of the rocks being tumbled close to shore at Pebbles. I made the drive all the way up to Puako, because I had such fond memories of it from 6 years ago. But, Puako had a lot of what looked like bleaching and was a little disappointing. Highlights for me were spinner dolphins, eagle ray, turtles, nudibranchs, and the usual assortment of beautiful reef fish.
I kinda hope no one else finds out about this place, but I asked the host if he'd like promotion, and he said yes, so here you go. It was an incredible trip. Other places have more coral, more fish, or more variety, but nowhere else compares to shore diving on the Big Island for me. I just wish I could afford to live there.
Here's some sample pics. Full galleries are here: Land (https://flic.kr/s/aHsmJ4rjg3) and U/W (https://flic.kr/s/aHsmGEYt1m)
. The beach is one of only 4 green sand beaches in the world. If you stay at Sugar Cottage, it's quite close and definitely worth the trip. Stunning landscapes.
