Dive Hawaii trip- have no idea where to start.

[grantwiscour]

Not only do I lurk....... I also post!

Looking like you will split time between Kona and Oahu and there have been several great posts thus far. True, we do have an excellent assortment of wrecks (Corsair, YO-257/San Pedro, Sea Tiger and Mahi) to name a few and can certainly arranged to do an AM 2 tanker followed by a PM 2 tanker. Kona ops are flexible as Someone mentioned earlier. Wanna Dive will do 3 tankers as will the staff and crew at Kona Diving Company...... give em a shout!

Aloha!

G

I knew you couldn't be too far away...lurking or posting. npatrol: You are always a great resource here Gabe. Next time I get away to "Paradise" I'll definitely look you up to do some diving.

 

[friscuba]

In Kona, at full speed most boats could reach the nearest dive sites to the harbor in say 9-13 seconds, but the bulk of the diving seems to be about 10-20 minutes away for the most part. Long range charters are not the norm here, used to be more common when fuel was about half the price and labor was a bit lower, but some of the companies, generally the multi-boat guys from what I've seen, can get enough divers together to make a long range trip on occasion.

Long range trips typically make for a long day. I've been offering that third local dive for a couple years, lots of people ask for it ahead of time, then after a couple 60-80 minute dives way more often than not decide to pass on the third dive. I think I did it all of 3-4 times last year.

 

[Tunaman68]

In Kona, at full speed most boats could reach the nearest dive sites to the harbor in say 9-13 seconds, but the bulk of the diving seems to be about 10-20 minutes away for the most part. Long range charters are not the norm here, used to be more common when fuel was about half the price and labor was a bit lower, but some of the companies, generally the multi-boat guys from what I've seen, can get enough divers together to make a long range trip on occasion.

Long range trips typically make for a long day. I've been offering that third local dive for a couple years, lots of people ask for it ahead of time, then after a couple 60-80 minute dives way more often than not decide to pass on the third dive. I think I did it all of 3-4 times last year.

We fell into this trap with Steve last year. He tried to warn me that it's not like Cozumel where the resort is right next to the boat (we always do 4 tanks at least 3-4 times on a week long trip) in Kona 3-4 tanks a day is a lot. Part of the problem is the sheer size of the island. We were staying at a resort that was a 40 minute drive away from the harbor so the lunch/nap between trips was not possible. After one day of a day/night combo with one seasick diver, it actually forced us to cancel the next morning.

Steve was very cool in accommodating our ambitions, but really unless you're staying really close to the harbor, it does make for a very long day.

The diving on the big island was amazing and Steve is wonderful!! I hope to go back and tweak where we stayed and what we expected to try and do. It is a world class diving destination!

As a family that is only 1/2 divers, we like Maui for the combo of beach, tourist, snorkel, food, and diving. Just keep in mind that Hawaii is just not the same as a caribbean diving resort location like Coz, Cayman or Bonaire. It is however where I want to grow old enjoying the sunsets!!

 

[devinesigns]

Wow thank you all so much! I'm making notes of everything. I'm happy to hear about how flexible the dive shops are with the 3rd tank- since my husband and I always dive together, we can always guarantee at least 2!

Does anyone know of any condo rentals that are in walking distance to a dive shop (Jacks, Wanna Dive, etc) on Kona? Big plus if they're also in walking distance to a beach. We prefer a condo over a hotel and walking to driving if we can avoid it (I like avoiding the Wet Butt Factor of sitting in a car just after a dive).

And on Oahu as well- any condo complex that's in walking distance to a dive shop and beach? I noticed a lot of the Oahu dive shops seem to be based in Honolulu....is that as urban as I'm imagining?

 

[devinesigns]

I just realized that 3rd afternoon dive really won't be necessary because we are accustomed to doing that on one week dive trips. Since we'll be on this trip almost 2 weeks, we can do the same # of dives we're accustomed to by spreading them out over more time.

 

[ickebins]

I'm taking notes too as I will arrive in Kona on March 29th... YAY! My schedule is pretty packed including a 3 tank as well. I dove with Gabe (Kaimana Divers) last September and it was a great experience.

I apologize for my written English but I am German :blush:

 

[scottitheduck]

Any condo in Waikiki is fine...... "Beach" is a relative term. Kona coast is very rocky in general but small beaches can be found. Kona town is quite small and if you are heading to both islands I recommend renting a car as it broadens your options for getting out of "town" quite a bit. Also, Oahu operators are happy to do pick up and drop off if you arrange it ahead of time.

G

 

[devinesigns]

Great! I was thinking we'd rent a car anyway just to have more post-dive options. If we're only doing one (2 tank trip) per day, distance to the dive dock is not so much an issue since we only have to make the roundtrip once. I'm conditioned to the diving in Bonaire and Roatan where you want to be close by since you're going out on two boat trips per day. Or Australia where we just slept on the dive boat!

Driving to the shop opens up lots more accomodations options...

 

[friscuba]

You'll definitely need a car. Most of the boats go out of a harbor a couple miles from town. Some offer rides from their shops in town. I've got an office across from the harbor for now, but I generally meet people at the boat, I don't do the volume to justify commercial passenger licensing and insurance for an automobile/van. You'll find a lot of places have their customers drive to and from the harbor.

There are lots of nice condos in Kailua on or near the ocean. Beaches are another thing though, they're spread out in Kona and most of the best ones will require a drive. Several of the resorts up in Kohala have nice onsite beaches, many will have condos as well. Check out VRBO.com for the area and you'll find lots of condos to choose from.

The third tank option thing is uncommon. Kona is not a dive place where you have boats going out every two hours or so all day long. We'll get a lot of divers who are used to Cozumel where they get 1500 divers a day doing charters day in and day out... I recall a sunny day in May of '08 (at the height of the tourism slowdown) that I saw only two other boats out, maybe a total of 18-20 charter divers on the water, even now a typical day might involve say 80-120 divers, or fewer, total on the day trips and a combo of 100 divers and snorkelers on the manta dive (excluding the two bg catamaran operators down by the Sheraton). Offering primarily two tank day trips and a one to two tank evening trip makes sense here.

Wow thank you all so much! I'm making notes of everything. I'm happy to hear about how flexible the dive shops are with the 3rd tank- since my husband and I always dive together, we can always guarantee at least 2!

Does anyone know of any condo rentals that are in walking distance to a dive shop (Jacks, Wanna Dive, etc) on Kona? Big plus if they're also in walking distance to a beach. We prefer a condo over a hotel and walking to driving if we can avoid it (I like avoiding the Wet Butt Factor of sitting in a car just after a dive).

And on Oahu as well- any condo complex that's in walking distance to a dive shop and beach? I noticed a lot of the Oahu dive shops seem to be based in Honolulu....is that as urban as I'm imagining?

 

[diversteve]

sort of a geography lesson:

At the very top of this image is the Marina where most of the diveboats leave from. For reference the airport is a few miles north of there. In case it's not clear there's pretty much nothing nearby. Kona Diving and Wannadive leave from there - I believe Jack's does also. So when you go to check in at the diveshop, you'll typically only do that once. Unless you're getting tanks for shore diving or ?..

Just a little south of downtown Kailua/Kona is Jack's shop. I also marked Kona Diving since we used them. Most of the coast line all the way from north of the Marina to White Sands Beach is mostly lava. In big chunks. There are a few tiny inlets at places but nothing like what you'd call a beach. Here's a link to White Sands Beach, Kahuluu Beach and most of the other beaches on Hawaii. Most of them (exceptions being around Waikoloa and on the Kohala coast afaik - but that's a lot longer drive) don't have any sort of condos on them - often times they're across the street. Or there's a big resort on them..lol. http://www.hawaiigaga.com/big-island-beaches.aspx Some of the beaches south are sacred sites so it's against the law to develop there. I think there's one where you're not even supposed to enter the water - or something like that.

We found a few condos in Kona but higher on a hill for the view. Not really close enough to walk to Jacks from there - except there might be one older building downtown that is. Most of the newer development is south of town though - all along the waterfront down to Keahou where there's also a lot of condos around the golf course. If you do Google Earth you can see it real clearly if you zoom in slightly - it lists the complexes and street view can even give you some idea of what you'll see. It's how we picked our first choice. Really vrbo.com lists most of your options.

For reference the straight yellow line in the ocean is 8miles long.


(view this image in a new browser window and zoom in for more detail - IDK why our s/w shrinks all the images now)
here's Jack's in Kona. As you can see there's no beach nearby.

Also it's really in south Kona so there's a lot of stores/shops etc. nearby. Not exactly the relaxing beachside place I'd want to stay.

hth,

edit: I see Steve covered a lot of it while I was composing this. oops.