Suggestions for Kona next week, please?

[NeesiePie]

Heading to Kona for my first time next week and would like to do 1 day of boat diving while I'm there. I'm a DM but my BF is a (very competent) newly-certified OWD. Mostly I'm looking for a rec on who's going to take us to the best sites - from reading the posts here it sounds like all the shops go to the same sites and they're all dived-out and ugly. I'd also like to avoid a boatload of students if possible. Personally, I love reefs and fishies, especially big schools - the more the better, but it would be nice to see larger things too. Any thoughts on one dive operator that might go to better sites than another? Is it worth making the trek up the coast to dive with Kohala?

Also, JDL's Manta Report lists only a handful of mantas per night in the past couple of weeks, as opposed to 20+. Are mantas "seasonal"? Should we bother with booking a manta dive?

Thanks in advance for what might seem like dumb questions. I just want my BF to have the best "Wow!!" experience possible in the limited time that we have, and I have no experience with Hawaii diving.

 

[DivingLane]

Blue Wilderness: Small boat, great crew up the Kohala coast. Worth the drive to avoid crowds.

I just dove with them last week for morning dives, and then a night Manta dive. We had 2 mantas with us, gave us plenty of action. I suppose I would love to see 20, but not sure how that works. Do they line up and keep circling you? With the Manta dive, you're just dropping to the bottom next to their lights and letting them cruise by you.

Blue Wilderness Dive Adventures | Big Island Scuba Diving

Experience the beauty and excitement of Hawaii's underwater ecosystem! Choose a diving tour for your experience level and make memories that will last forever.

bluewildernessdivers.com

 

[Boarderguy]

Check with the ops to ensure that your OWD BF will be allowed on the boats. Some are moving towards having an AOW cert requirement.

 

[JohnN]

Heading to Kona for my first time next week and would like to do 1 day of boat diving while I'm there. I'm a DM but my BF is a (very competent) newly-certified OWD. Mostly I'm looking for a rec on who's going to take us to the best sites - from reading the posts here it sounds like all the shops go to the same sites and they're all dived-out and ugly. I'd also like to avoid a boatload of students if possible. Personally, I love reefs and fishies, especially big schools - the more the better, but it would be nice to see larger things too. Any thoughts on one dive operator that might go to better sites than another? Is it worth making the trek up the coast to dive with Kohala?

Also, JDL's Manta Report lists only a handful of mantas per night in the past couple of weeks, as opposed to 20+. Are mantas "seasonal"? Should we bother with booking a manta dive?

Thanks in advance for what might seem like dumb questions. I just want my BF to have the best "Wow!!" experience possible in the limited time that we have, and I have no experience with Hawaii diving.ed

Im a fan of Jack’s Diving Locket.

A big yes to the Manta dive, if you hit a time with many, it is epic. BUT no one can predict

Don’t discount Phalagic Magic A bit like watching a meteor shower, compared to a maxi manta event, but very cool

 

[FreqFlier]

Are mantas "seasonal"?

Their presence is more dependent on a moon phase. Full moon means a lot of light everywhere.

 

[NeesiePie]

Their presence is more dependent on a moon phase. Full moon means a lot of light everywhere.

So, does that mean you want a full moon, or no?

 

[Boarderguy]

So, does that mean you want a full moon, or no?

Not a full moon. They use lights to attract the mantras.

 

[FreqFlier]

So, does that mean you want a full moon, or no?

Operators use bright lights to attract plankton, not mantas. Mantas feed on plankton which is attracted to the light so this is done as a night time activity. You want a new moon, minimal amount of natural light.

 

[Boarderguy]

Operators use bright lights to attract plankton, not mantas. Mantas feed on plankton which is attracted to the light so this is done as a night time activity. You want a new moon, minimal amount of natural light.

So, in affect, they use lights to attract the mantas which have been conditioned through repetition and instincts to seek food at light sources. The brighter the light, the more concentrated the plankton...

 

[RVBldr]

First, the Hawaiian reefs are not the colorful tropical reefs you're thinking about. If you consider that ulgy, well, you'll be out of luck. They have had some bleaching in the past, and sometimes get some storm-blow-down that flattens things out, but the water temp (78-79f) just doesn't support the big colorful growth in hard and soft corals. Most sites do have some interesting lava shelves with some tunnels, swim-throughs. For some first diving there in Kailua-Kona, yea, Jacks is good, as is Kona Honu, Big Island Divers, etc. Most run good boats if they are in business, and in all the years diving there, it's rare to have a "boat load" of students. Maybe 2-3 or so on a given boat. And for a new-ish OWD, even the sites outside the harbor are decent, not too deep, but chance of seeing dolphins, Tiger, Greys, or White Tip sharks, all sorts of different eels, some nudibranchs, turtles, frog fish and other schools. Jack's does run day-long excursions to further-out locations, but you need Advanced for those trips.