Big Island in late May : buddies and charters

[MagicChicken]

My girlfriend decided that (in no particular order) I'm an awesome boyfriend and that she needs a vacation. End result : she just bought flight tickets to Kona :love3:

The catch is that this is not a diving trip, but she's nice and she allows me to dive as much as I want to for 2 days. I figure it might be good idea to buddy up with a local diver to see the less frequented sites...

Anyone interested in shore diving? I'm a "let's take our time and see lots" + "I like marine life" kind of diver.

We'll be arriving on May 15. I think it's best if I dive early (Monday and Tuesday?) so we can hike the volcanoes and whatnot later during the week.

I'm also eyeing a few charters : Wanna Dive, Sandwich Isle Divers and Konaquatica. I prefer smaller boats. Reading friscuba's posts give Wanna Dive a big edge. Is the 9:00 AM departure time an issue? From my experience, as far as marine life goes, diving is better early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Do I worry too much?

Cheers

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Morning is often better (but not always). On the Kona side, it does not usually need to be super-early however. The nice thing about diving on the Kona-side is that you can also have some great afternoon dives... on the Kohala coast (and especially on the windward side in Hilo!) the afternoons can get windy, so mornings are the safest bet for good conditions.

If your girlfriend snorkels, she may want to come along for the boat ride (but check with the charter 1st to see if this is a good idea based on the sites, and what the cost is).

Enjoy your trip!

 

[friscuba]

Here's my opinion on departure times... doesn't matter a heck of a lot in Kona in my opinion as far as the marinelife or diving in general goes. Kona doesn't have afternoon wind issues like some spots where the tradewinds pick up around noon time, volcanoes generally block the wind south of the Kona airport, so you don't find a lot of sunrise charters trying to get done early to avoid winds. The vast majority of the dive charters here hit the water between 8am and 9:30am (keep in mind, meeting times and launching times aren't necessarily the same thing, and while one company may launch roughly an hour after meeting, another may launch roughly 30 minutes after meeting) and return between 1pm and 2:30/3:00pm. The "late" boats generally are putting divers in about the same time the "early" boat's divers are just coming out of the water from their first dives, so there's not a huge discrepancy in the time frame for the actual dive from what I've seen. Kona also doesn't have operators that try to get 3 or more charters off with the same boat daily, so there's not the early/mid-day/late day schedules you see some places, just am and pm dives if theyr'e trying to do 2 charters a day.

In my opinion, morning and noontime light is better than light after 3-4pm or so for fish viewing, the late afternoon dives aren't as colorful as the morning dives... yet the dive that several companies are doing at 4:30 or so before the manta dive right now still thrills it's share of people.

What meeting times and departure times do effect is the day's schedule for many travelers. Some travelers may prefer to get back in at an earlier hour to do other things in the afternoon, or spend time with non-diving family in the afternoon. Some may prefer to have a lazy morning then go dive. Luckily Kona offers a decent mix of dive companies and launching times so you've got a choice, I'm thinking scheduling the day is more of a concern than what marine life you might see. Make sure to check on actual launch times and return times if it's a concern to you.

Aloha,

 

[vanisleboy]

Steve is correct, I don't think it really matters what time of day you go out. You will see something interesting. I've been here for 2 weeks and have dove with several charter operators as well as shore dived. From what I've seen, all the boats have divers with big similes on there faces and the shops I have stopped by have been helpful and friendly. They all seem like good operations to dive with.

I have dove with Wanna Dive several times and will, space permitting, dive with them again this week. Not only is Steve an entertaining read on SB, but he is a great guy to dive with! I've dove the Big Island before and Steve and his crew went out of their way to make sure they took me somewhere I hadn't seen, bottom times were determined by air so we had some nice long relaxed dives.

I don't think you can go wrong on the Big Island, as long as your here to have fun in paradise!

 

[bingediver]

I shore dive Puako (north of Kona) a couple mornings a week so shoot me a PM if you want to meet up for a dive. I can usually meet between 7-8 in the morning before work. Kohala Divers is 10 minutes north of Puako if you need to grab a tank. I too like to move slow and look for cool critters so I'd be happy to go diving with you.

 

[MagicChicken]

Thanks LeadTurn SD, Steve and vanisleboy.

Here's my opinion on departure times... doesn't matter a heck of a lot in Kona in my opinion as far as the marinelife or diving in general goes.

In my opinion, morning and noontime light is better than light after 3-4pm or so for fish viewing, the late afternoon dives aren't as colorful as the morning dives...

My priority is the marine life and not trivialities like my day's schedule. In many places I dove, there's this phenomenon I call the "shift rotation" that occurs around 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM. Fish and animals seem a lot more active...

However, you guys are the Hawai'i divers. You know what you're talking about. I appreciate your input :happy:

If your girlfriend snorkels, she may want to come along for the boat ride

This is definitely something she would love, especially on the manta ray dive!!

I don't think you can go wrong on the Big Island, as long as your here to have fun in paradise!

Enjoy your trip!

And have fun I will!!

 

[MagicChicken]

bingediver : pm sent!

 

[friscuba]

Thanks LeadTurn SD, Steve and vanisleboy.





My priority is the marine life and not trivialities like my day's schedule. In many places I dove, there's this phenomenon I call the "shift rotation" that occurs around 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM. Fish and animals seem a lot more active...

We get the shift rotation too, just nobody I'm aware of that actually dives at sun-up here. There's one operator that used to do it, and I still see them coming in at 9am from time to time, but it appears they've taken their website down and removed the logo from their boat and it's kind of tough to figure out just what they're doing these days. The shift rotation occurs to some extent at the dusk dive prior to the manta dive, just the lighting isn't quite as nice.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

The point Steve makes about lighting is a really good one.

My responce regarding preferring mornings comes from my "windward" bias (I mostly shore dive on coasts exposed to wind, and generally the calmest conditions are early morning, with the wind picking up late-morning). My answer was more related to dive conditions, not marine life.

The Kona dive sites are generally very well sheltered from the wind (the mountain creates a large wind-shadow).

Early morning and dusk can be great times to dive, but the downside is that lighting is often oblique and dim. Later in the morning and into early afternoon you have the sun over head, and the coral and colors of fish are more stunning.

Best wishes.

 

[MagicChicken]

It is indeed a very good point. One that I forgot to consider :dork:

Except Lake Ontario, my favorite dive spots usually include low vis and choppy waters. We bring our own lighting

I'm relieved that diving mid day does not mean less to see underwater. I can't say no to a few extra hours of sleep!

Thanks for your patience. +10 karma for you guys

Fred

Steve : sent you an email