We offer daily 2 tank guided dive trips in Kona...

[friscuba]

Just thought I'd put some blatant spam up and help familiarize you with what I do.

I own Wanna Dive in Kona. If you are interested in diving with a boat that doesn't take 12/15/20 or more divers out at a time, we may be right up your alley.

Here's a shot of the boat.

The boat is just under 25 feet in length and came off a complete rebuild in November... new engines, electrical, fuel tanks, rebuilt deck, underdecking, seating, hull extension, stereo, gps, etc, so it's basically brand new. It's faster, rides better, is quieter and roomier than before, we've been thrilled with the results so far. If shade is important to you, we've got plenty of it. We carry all the standard safety equipment and the boat is registered with the state as a commercial passenger vessel. Sorry.. there is no head on board, just a nice ladder that some people like to visit between dives.

We offer daily morning trips, will go with just two passengers, and carry a maximum of 6 passengers. On a typical day, we meet up at 9am (Kona doesn't have the afternoon tradewind issues some Hawaiian dive areas do) and return between 2pm and 3pm. Dive profiles are computer driven multi-level dives and we bring divers back under the boat as they reach 500-600psi to do their safety stops, while we continue on with divers who have more air left... this can make for some long dives, 70-80 minute dives are not unusual for those who are good on air, and we've had longer on plenty of occasions. We dive two dive sites each trip, with sandwiches, snacks, water and sport drinks available on the surface interval. Dives sites vary day to day depending on water condions and what the customers want to see or have seen... we try to not repeat dive sites, and with lots of good dive sites here there's much to see.

About the crew... I've been leading dives and instruction in Kona since '99 and am pushing 2000 dives... I'm the least experienced member of our current crew. Bob started in '95 or so, working for a number of years on Oahu with a big dive company before moving to Kona in '01, he's logged over 4000 working dives. Cathy picked up her DM in Kona in '83 or so and has been leading dives here off and on ever since, and has more dives than I'll ever get to. We all enjoy meeting people, and we're pretty well versed on the local fish life. In addition to being Instructors, we all hold US Coast Guard Captain's licenses, and one of us remains on board at all times while the other/others are leading dives.

We also offer the manta night dive for divers and snorkelers, but I do try to keep it to at least a minimum of 3 passengers on that one. Intro dives for non-certified divers are available on the morning trips, certification instruction is available as well.

For more information, feel free to check out the links in my signature where you'll find plenty of info and my contact information.

Aloha,

 

[justleesa]

Aloha Steve! Say Hi to Bob from Roger, would you?

If we ever make it over there we'd love to go out with you for a few dives...

 

[kidspot]

I liked that "Spam" Steve - Thanks for sharing what you do and the info about your boat. When a valued contributor to SB posts something like this it comes across as sharing a portion of their life story ... not an advertisement

Aloha, Tim

 

[friscuba]

Thanks guys. Leesa, I told Bob that Roger says hi, Bob said to tell him "Dang me".

 

[Universal Diver]

This is just a shameless plug for an incredible dive operation! Steve, I still remember diving with you and tell people about WannaDive all the time. It's nice to be able to offer a small more personalized dive trip for people.

The boat looks great!

Chris

 

[friscuba]

Hi Chris,

Thanks. Give me a holler if you're ever coming over this way again.

 

[Rick Inman]

I've dived with several Kona dive opps, including the cattle boat nightmare of Jacks.

Friscuba is the best recreational operation in kona!!

Why?? Because Steve still loves to dive!

When I was lucky enough to dive with Steve, it felt more like a local friend showing us what he was excited about, rather than some bored DM doing the same ol' dive for the thousandth time. I'm not sure who had more fun, Steve or the customers.

Steve doesn't run a cattle boat. He runs a dive boat. He knows his marine-stuff, and nobody leaves his boat not knowing more about Kona aqua-ecology that when they boarded.

I think we got a sandwich or something - I can't remember. I just remember the diving.

Use Friscscuba.

 

[friscuba]

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the compliments.

Take care,

 

[almitywife]

thanks for the intro... i was only talking hawaii a few mins ago

so where exactly is Kona? as there are so many islands do we have to catch another flight once we land in hawaii or is it a roadtrip??

i know i could google but gives OP to talk up Kona a bit

 

[friscuba]

Kona is essentially the Hawaiian word for "leeward" side, which in Hawaii is the western side as the tradewinds come from the east, and when people refer to Kona, they're generally talking the west side of the Big Island of Hawaii.

The majority of the international flights go into Honolulu on Oahu, the Big Island is the easternmost island in the chain and will be a commuter flight from Oahu if coming from your part of the world. The Kona airport does have direct flights from a few US mainland cities and Japan. It's particularly interesting diving in that being the youngest of the islands and has little sand or runoff so the water is usually quite clear and being the leeward side it is protected from the tradewinds and it's location below Oahu and Maui also tends to block some of the northwest surf and weather conditons.