mccabejc
Contributor
Got back early this morning from my Kona dive vacation. I think Rouky got back yesterday.
It was just incredible. We were dive bombed by a 10 ft. wingspan manta ray for about 20 minutes. I had a whitemouth moray eel slither between my legs. We were gliding behind a spotted eagle ray. Saw a school of about 50 yellow tangs right next to me in about 2 ft. of water. Swam with sea turtles, and stepped through a group of 4 of them on my way into the water. Saw many surgeonfish, dozens of types of butterflyfish, an orangespine unicornfish, triggerfish, moorish idols, spotted boxfish, cornet fish, and many, many more. Glided along a reef wall that angled down to deep blue oblivion. Water was warm, visibility was forever, and the marine life was jaw dropping.
On Thursday and Friday the weather was spectacular, and we did shore dives at Two Step (Place of Refuge), Mile Marker 4, Old Kona Airport, and then did a manta ray night dive at Garden Eel Cove with wanna-dive-kona.com. Then on Saturday morning I drove down to Kahaluu Beach Park, which is a huge shallow (less than 10ft.) bay, protected by a reef breakwater. Less than 5 miles south of town. Great snorkeling site, so I put on my snorkel gear and scoped it out, then decided to do a solo scuba dive. :11: It was wonderful. Like swimming in a tropical fish tank. Sea turtles all over the place. Then I drove up to Puako Church (about a 30-45 minute drive north), which is one of the better shore dives on the island, and which many expected to be in bad shape due to the big surf. Although it was windy and choppy, the surf was only about 1-2 ft, and I was sorely tempted to don my gear and do a dive. And there was a sea turtle right next to me in about 6 inches of water beckoning me to join him, but I decided to save it for my next trip. Good choice, because about 15 minutes later on the way back to Kailua the skies opened up and downpoured for the rest of the day.
I decided that next time I go to Kona, I'm going to stay at the "King Kam" (King Kameahameha's Kona Beach Hotel), which is right at Kailua Pier. Out the back door of the hotel is a public sandy beach leading into the Kailua Bay, a nice dive site from what I've heard. Saw lots of snorkelers there yesterday. This time I stayed across the street from the King Kam at the Kona Seaside, which turned out to be much better than I expected. Anyway, at the King Kam you can gear up in your hotel room, take the elevator down to the lobby, walk out the back door and onto the beach, then ease into the water (zero surf). Can't ask for an easier dive. I saw a school of about 50 yellow tangs right at the water's edge. But you need to have a dive flag/float with you, since I also saw a big boat pass over the diving area yesterday.
The manta ray night dive was amazing. The word was that the dive operators had only seen a manta once in the last 10 night dives, so we weren't expecting much. We dropped down in about 35 feet of water, and saw way off in the distance what looked like a secret religious ceremony: probably 30 divers kneeling on the bottom, gathered in a circle, shining their dive light beams skyward. Waiting. Then we started swimming in that direction, and as I looked to my right I saw, about 10 feet away, a huge manta ray (maybe 10 ft. wingspan), swimming beside me, heading directly for all the lights. It was almost humorous. Kind of like Elvis running down the aisle of a theater towards the stage. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, here he is, the star of our show..." He got to the middle of light beams and started doing graceful back flips. Then for the next 20 minutes it seemed like he was attracted to Rouky and myself, and kept heading right for us, his huge mouth gaping open. He kept grazing my head, then coming at me from behind. Very cool.
In spite of the big surf this week, we found some great diving spots. Thanks to Rouky and his wife for being wonderful dive buddies, and for their great hospitality (including a wonderful BBQ overlooking the water). Also thanks to gkndivebum for meeting us at Two Step and diving with myself and Rouky's wife, and giving us some great info about Kona diving. And thanks to wanna-dive-kona.com (Steve and Mike) for a very personalized and exciting night dive. And also thanks to the folks who suggested I drop 10 lbs when going from a 7mm to a 3mm wetsuit. Tried it on my 1st dive and it was absolutely perfect
It was just incredible. We were dive bombed by a 10 ft. wingspan manta ray for about 20 minutes. I had a whitemouth moray eel slither between my legs. We were gliding behind a spotted eagle ray. Saw a school of about 50 yellow tangs right next to me in about 2 ft. of water. Swam with sea turtles, and stepped through a group of 4 of them on my way into the water. Saw many surgeonfish, dozens of types of butterflyfish, an orangespine unicornfish, triggerfish, moorish idols, spotted boxfish, cornet fish, and many, many more. Glided along a reef wall that angled down to deep blue oblivion. Water was warm, visibility was forever, and the marine life was jaw dropping.
On Thursday and Friday the weather was spectacular, and we did shore dives at Two Step (Place of Refuge), Mile Marker 4, Old Kona Airport, and then did a manta ray night dive at Garden Eel Cove with wanna-dive-kona.com. Then on Saturday morning I drove down to Kahaluu Beach Park, which is a huge shallow (less than 10ft.) bay, protected by a reef breakwater. Less than 5 miles south of town. Great snorkeling site, so I put on my snorkel gear and scoped it out, then decided to do a solo scuba dive. :11: It was wonderful. Like swimming in a tropical fish tank. Sea turtles all over the place. Then I drove up to Puako Church (about a 30-45 minute drive north), which is one of the better shore dives on the island, and which many expected to be in bad shape due to the big surf. Although it was windy and choppy, the surf was only about 1-2 ft, and I was sorely tempted to don my gear and do a dive. And there was a sea turtle right next to me in about 6 inches of water beckoning me to join him, but I decided to save it for my next trip. Good choice, because about 15 minutes later on the way back to Kailua the skies opened up and downpoured for the rest of the day.
I decided that next time I go to Kona, I'm going to stay at the "King Kam" (King Kameahameha's Kona Beach Hotel), which is right at Kailua Pier. Out the back door of the hotel is a public sandy beach leading into the Kailua Bay, a nice dive site from what I've heard. Saw lots of snorkelers there yesterday. This time I stayed across the street from the King Kam at the Kona Seaside, which turned out to be much better than I expected. Anyway, at the King Kam you can gear up in your hotel room, take the elevator down to the lobby, walk out the back door and onto the beach, then ease into the water (zero surf). Can't ask for an easier dive. I saw a school of about 50 yellow tangs right at the water's edge. But you need to have a dive flag/float with you, since I also saw a big boat pass over the diving area yesterday.
The manta ray night dive was amazing. The word was that the dive operators had only seen a manta once in the last 10 night dives, so we weren't expecting much. We dropped down in about 35 feet of water, and saw way off in the distance what looked like a secret religious ceremony: probably 30 divers kneeling on the bottom, gathered in a circle, shining their dive light beams skyward. Waiting. Then we started swimming in that direction, and as I looked to my right I saw, about 10 feet away, a huge manta ray (maybe 10 ft. wingspan), swimming beside me, heading directly for all the lights. It was almost humorous. Kind of like Elvis running down the aisle of a theater towards the stage. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, here he is, the star of our show..." He got to the middle of light beams and started doing graceful back flips. Then for the next 20 minutes it seemed like he was attracted to Rouky and myself, and kept heading right for us, his huge mouth gaping open. He kept grazing my head, then coming at me from behind. Very cool.
In spite of the big surf this week, we found some great diving spots. Thanks to Rouky and his wife for being wonderful dive buddies, and for their great hospitality (including a wonderful BBQ overlooking the water). Also thanks to gkndivebum for meeting us at Two Step and diving with myself and Rouky's wife, and giving us some great info about Kona diving. And thanks to wanna-dive-kona.com (Steve and Mike) for a very personalized and exciting night dive. And also thanks to the folks who suggested I drop 10 lbs when going from a 7mm to a 3mm wetsuit. Tried it on my 1st dive and it was absolutely perfect
