Just Renting a Boat?

[SolarStorm]

I need some advice from the locals.

We are headed to the Kona Coast for 10 days at Christmas. There are 6 of us diving, Advanced to two newly certified divers. I have looked at all of the dive ops, and there are some very good looking operations. But a thought occurred to me yesterday while we were out on our boat at the lake.

Is there any reason not to simply rent boat a boat and tanks, and dive when, where and how we want? My thoughts were to even hire someone local if interested to act as a guide (NOT DM) to some of the local sites.

My reasons include:

1. Hate the huge crowds. Much prefer the smaller operations that would only take the 6 of us.
2. Cost. With 6 of us diving, the cost starts to push cost to $600 - $700 per trip. Renting a boat looks to be 1/2 day $300 plus 12 Nitrox fills $120 for a total of ~$420. Since the bank of Dad is paying for all of this, his wallet is of great concern.
3. Dive when we want where we want. 4 of the 6 are in their early 20s and find the 8:00 AM starts painful. The two old farts seem to have trouble sleeping past 7.

Questions:

1. What are the reasons I should not do this?
2. Are there local divers that would be willing to act as guide?

I am comfortable acting as the DM for group, am told I am anal about planning stuff. (the kids got me a T-Shirt with "Safety Bob" on it) I am an Adv Certified, and currently enrolled to take the rescue diver course. I do have a basic first aid kit in my dive bag, as well as a whole whack of "Save a Dive" stuff. My wife and I both have our Day Skippers papers and are comfortable with boats up to 35' (I admit sail boats, not power boats. Our lake boat is a 20' jet boat)

Also I am extremely in diving near some of the volcanic activity, a place the dive ops tell me their ins. wont cover. Can anyone point me to information on the planning, techniques and risks of a dive near the volcanic activity?

Any feedback, positive or negative would be appreciated.

 

[knotical]

A so-called half-day is likely four hours. You might be hard pressed to do a two-tank dive in that time when you consider motoring time, surface interval, kitting up, etc. especially if you’re not already familiar with where you’re going.
Additional costs probably include fuel, and perhaps a guide. It could be close to a wash compared to going with one of the dive ops that runs six-packs.
On the other hand, if you do it for a day or two and work out the kinks, it might work.

Kona is a long way from current volcanic activity. I don’t know of anyone diving where the lava (sometimes) meets the ocean, simply because of the extreme danger. Certainly no one is taking tourists diving there, despite some misleading pictures on a few websites.

 

[Peter_C]

We choose Kona for the excellent shore diving, and the fact we could run our own schedule with no time constraints. The cost per day was tanks, and if I remember right around $7 for the weights for both of us. Since the diving there doesn't need to be done deeper we dove air as Nitrox is very expensive (FWIW I have my own compressor at home and bank Nitrox, plus I have my own dive boat so I do understand the differences of diving styles well). The further away shore dive sites are 45 minutes by car and probably hours by boat. Fuel cost must be factored in. Honestly I would find a close by dive shop, get some advice on shore dive sites, and go diving. I watched the local dive boats pull up to the same reef we were diving a couple of times One of the locals used the term "Rip Off Reef" to describe the dive site by the harbor.

 

[SolarStorm]

Good points, Thanks for the responses Peter and Knotical, since I posted been doing some reading on the shore diving, and may go that route, with a couple of dives from a local dive op. Definitely want the new divers to get comfortable to the Manta dive at night.

 

[DiveWestOahu]

Renting a boat sounds like a bad idea to me,,,,do you know the exact location of dive sites? Proper mooring sites and techniques? Hazards ie currents, surf ect? Will the boat be big enough and if you chip paint loading all those tanks and gear how much will that cost you? Not to be a downer but things to consider, hope your trip goes well

 

[acooper]

We both shore and boat dive routinely. I have been diving a lot with a friend who has a boat in Honokohau lately, it is fun. I help with the mooring routine, finding and jumping in for the mooring ball. I would not suggest it if you do not know what you are doing. Many of the moorings are close to the rocks without a lot of margin for error. Add some swell and you really need to know the routine.

Dive with a boat op at least one or twice to get the layout, particularly if you have never done Kona before.

For the sake of your Dad's wallet I would also highly recommend shore diving. So many of the good dive sites are easily reachable from shore. It is not unusual for us to be kitting up on a tailgate watching the divers roll out of the back of a Kona dive boat less than 100yards away. The reef is between us!

Mahukona, Puako End of Road, Holoholokai, Kaloko, Old Airport, the new county park at Kohanaiki. The last two are a literal stone's throw from the moorings that the Kona dive boats use. If you want specific directions for any site, just drop a line here.

Andrew

 

[Damselfish]

If the goal is to save money I think mixing in some shore diving is the way to go. While hiring a DM might help with with finding the dive sites and some other things, after fuel and all I'm wondering if renting will really save you money. Also, you really don't want to leave the boat unattended for many reasons, so are you going to take along another person to stay on the boat, someone who actually knows how to operate the boat and also what to do in case of emergency?

You might be able to find a 6 pack, and if you're taking the whole boat perhaps you can set your own departure time to a certain extent. The thing is, the winds there tend to kick up midday - there's a reason all the dive boats leave early, so they can get back before things get too exciting out there. And you'd even less want to be out there on a small boat then.

Another issue with a rental boat vs going with a dive op - how well will a rental be set up for diving? Places to put tanks and gear, ladders, etc.

 

[Barrod]

It would be a major pain while on vacation to also run and maintain a dive operation on a rented boat in a new to you location. Doesn't sound like a vacation to me. You go by the rental companys time frame for getting the boat back - the mooring balls are not easy to find all the time.

You have to haul 12 tanks of air from rental cars to rental boats and back to rental cars and back to the dive shop - hell with that.

Let the dive ops take care of all that noise - Big Island Divers did a great job of all of it, after that - do some shore diving.

---------- Post added July 7th, 2013 at 09:51 PM ----------

Also, you HAVE to do a black water dive, or pelagic magic, absolutely scary as hell awesome dive. I went with Flipper at Big Island Divers. You can do a twilight dive at garden eel cove - about a 80' floor - then back up the really nice coral wall. After that you do the manta dive, very shallow like 25' then you do the blackwater. They take you out 2-3 miles, all the lights from Kona are twinkling on the mountainside. Your in about 10,000 fsw. They tether you to the boat and with the tether you can max out around 45' but you really want to stay around 30' and watch all the amazing and beautiful animals swim by. I tell you what - your whole family will never ever forget that as long as they live!

 

[big island diver]

I am with acooper. Some really great shore dives that are good to great and there are more than that. Save the money for manta ray night dive and pelagic dive.

 

[SolarStorm]

Yeah the more research Im doing the more it might have been the Sat afternoon beer doing the thinking for me. Great feedback all! Thanks!