DukeAMO
Contributor
Hi all,
We're taking a trip to Hawaii in May, and we would appreciate a little advice to help us plan our dive sites. I've read quite a few of the threads on this forum, but I'm still a little lost.
This is an 8-night trip where we're trying to make sure everyone in the family does a few things that make them happy. That means we won't be diving all of the time; one or two diving days on the Big Island (Kona) and two days on Oahu (Ko' Olina). Grandma and Grandpa will watch our kids for us so we can get some diving in.
DH and I have 25-30 dives and AOW; DH has Rescue too. We've enjoyed many types of dives: deep rec, drift, boat, shore, wreck, night, among other things. We're hoping for sites that are distinctively Hawaiian. Big waves/swells (3+ ft) are one thing I would rather avoid, because of seasickness on the surface interval and difficult entries/exits. I'll put up with some of that for a great dive under the water, because DH loves wrecks, and I love big ocean creatures.
With four nights on the Big Island, we can dive any time on day 2, and on the morning of day 3 (with a late afternoon flight on day 4). If you had one day to dive out of Kona in May, what would you do? What if you had a day and a half? Should we focus on boat diving, shore diving, or a bit of each? What are the can't-miss dives in that area? (We plan to fit in the Manta Ray night dive for sure.)
We have four nights on Oahu as well, and we plan to dive on two days. We could do some dives out of Waikiki, since we plan to spend a day or two in that area anyway. We probably don't want to haul our whole family out of bed at 5 AM to make it to Waikiki for a 7 AM departure, though, so it would have to be later in the day. We're also wondering if the diving near Ko' Olina is nice? It would be convenient to have our dive trip start at our resort on at least one of the two days. We're not sure if most of the diving is done out of Waikiki because the diving is better there, or if Ko' Olina just has fewer dive operations because it's smaller.
So... if you were me, where would you try to dive?
We're taking a trip to Hawaii in May, and we would appreciate a little advice to help us plan our dive sites. I've read quite a few of the threads on this forum, but I'm still a little lost.
This is an 8-night trip where we're trying to make sure everyone in the family does a few things that make them happy. That means we won't be diving all of the time; one or two diving days on the Big Island (Kona) and two days on Oahu (Ko' Olina). Grandma and Grandpa will watch our kids for us so we can get some diving in.
DH and I have 25-30 dives and AOW; DH has Rescue too. We've enjoyed many types of dives: deep rec, drift, boat, shore, wreck, night, among other things. We're hoping for sites that are distinctively Hawaiian. Big waves/swells (3+ ft) are one thing I would rather avoid, because of seasickness on the surface interval and difficult entries/exits. I'll put up with some of that for a great dive under the water, because DH loves wrecks, and I love big ocean creatures.
With four nights on the Big Island, we can dive any time on day 2, and on the morning of day 3 (with a late afternoon flight on day 4). If you had one day to dive out of Kona in May, what would you do? What if you had a day and a half? Should we focus on boat diving, shore diving, or a bit of each? What are the can't-miss dives in that area? (We plan to fit in the Manta Ray night dive for sure.)
We have four nights on Oahu as well, and we plan to dive on two days. We could do some dives out of Waikiki, since we plan to spend a day or two in that area anyway. We probably don't want to haul our whole family out of bed at 5 AM to make it to Waikiki for a 7 AM departure, though, so it would have to be later in the day. We're also wondering if the diving near Ko' Olina is nice? It would be convenient to have our dive trip start at our resort on at least one of the two days. We're not sure if most of the diving is done out of Waikiki because the diving is better there, or if Ko' Olina just has fewer dive operations because it's smaller.
So... if you were me, where would you try to dive?