OP
Pillpusher
Contributor
Gee, that just sounds terrible.. I hope you demanded your money back...lol...j/k.
Kona dive op
- Thread starter Pillpusher
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Gee, that just sounds terrible.. I hope you demanded your money back...lol...j/k.
I'm going to plug for Big Island Divers. Here is my review for them based on a trip we just took from Oahu to the Big Island in October. Best dive company I've used since I started diving. Wish I could retire from the Army and go DM for them.
This was before we became Dive Masters but it's irrelevant, they are still top notch. Bottom line - they take care of you, they are friendly and professional, and if you are staying in a hotel like we were, they wash/dry/store all of your gear for you on the trip. We were there for four days. Flew in at 525am, in the water by about 9am, they held onto the gear for two days and had it on the boat for our night dive, then after the night dive took it back and washed/dried it and we picked it up on the way to the airport.
***
What an amazing time!
My wife and I have about 20 dives or so from boats from quite a few different companies. We live on Oahu but came to the big island specifically to dive with Big Island Divers.
Our crew was by far the best crew we've had diving. We had captain Andrew, and our dive master was Malia and Laurie was helping another group doing a refresher.
The great thing about this dive is we moved at a leisurely pace which enabled us to see a lot of stuff and not burn through O2. Many dive shops will make the entire group surface with the lowest air person but in this case if you were low on air Malia directed you to the boat while keeping eyes on the rest of the group allowing those who are more conservative on air to stay down. We spent over an hour down on each dive which compared to other dive shops is maybe twice the time.
In addition the experience on the boat was just as great. Even for certified divers this crew sets up your gear, swaps your tanks, you name it. I don't expect royal treatment when I dive. I'm advanced open water certified as is my wife and we are about to start our instructor course. So I'm perfectly understanding to switch my gear etc but they do it for you! Some dive shops I end up taking my own tanks etc. And they were on time whereas other shops I wait and wait.
On the boat they had snacks. Fruit, water, flavored drinks, little sandwich wraps, and pretzels.
The crew was friendly and chatty.
The dive sites were gorgeous. The coral formations, rock formations, eels, turtles, and Rays were great. Water was very clear. I can go on and on about the sites of the dive but honestly no matter who you go with the sites are going to be nice. After all, it's Hawaii. What sets you apart from other dive companies is your experience with the crew which is why I focused on that aspect.
It was truly an amazing experience and We will be returning in two days for the night ray dive.
Have a great time!
***UPDATE:
Wife and I returned for the manta ray dive. Unfortunately we only got a few passovers and not a feeding frenzy like usual. I'm going to blame this on nature not the company of course. There was a pretty hefty surge which I think pushed away the plankton, which is what attracts the Rays.
Anyhow.
Another fantastic crew. Tonight consisted of Sarah (snorkel master for the non divers), Jonathan (captain), Zane and Sam (dive masters with Sam being "ours").
This company is top notch. If you've ever dove with another company anywhere I'll bet you they aren't this good. They're friendly, fun, take care of you and your gear - I can't say enough. We are visiting from O'ahu and so they even took our gear back to their shop to clean and hang dry for us to pick up before our flight.
Sam was super knowledgable about all the fish in the water and would write on her dive slate as we were diving to point out types of fish.
We finished the night with the captain pouring everyone some hot cocoa to go along with the other snacks.
Great group. I hope you found this review helpful.
This was before we became Dive Masters but it's irrelevant, they are still top notch. Bottom line - they take care of you, they are friendly and professional, and if you are staying in a hotel like we were, they wash/dry/store all of your gear for you on the trip. We were there for four days. Flew in at 525am, in the water by about 9am, they held onto the gear for two days and had it on the boat for our night dive, then after the night dive took it back and washed/dried it and we picked it up on the way to the airport.
***
What an amazing time!
My wife and I have about 20 dives or so from boats from quite a few different companies. We live on Oahu but came to the big island specifically to dive with Big Island Divers.
Our crew was by far the best crew we've had diving. We had captain Andrew, and our dive master was Malia and Laurie was helping another group doing a refresher.
The great thing about this dive is we moved at a leisurely pace which enabled us to see a lot of stuff and not burn through O2. Many dive shops will make the entire group surface with the lowest air person but in this case if you were low on air Malia directed you to the boat while keeping eyes on the rest of the group allowing those who are more conservative on air to stay down. We spent over an hour down on each dive which compared to other dive shops is maybe twice the time.
In addition the experience on the boat was just as great. Even for certified divers this crew sets up your gear, swaps your tanks, you name it. I don't expect royal treatment when I dive. I'm advanced open water certified as is my wife and we are about to start our instructor course. So I'm perfectly understanding to switch my gear etc but they do it for you! Some dive shops I end up taking my own tanks etc. And they were on time whereas other shops I wait and wait.
On the boat they had snacks. Fruit, water, flavored drinks, little sandwich wraps, and pretzels.
The crew was friendly and chatty.
The dive sites were gorgeous. The coral formations, rock formations, eels, turtles, and Rays were great. Water was very clear. I can go on and on about the sites of the dive but honestly no matter who you go with the sites are going to be nice. After all, it's Hawaii. What sets you apart from other dive companies is your experience with the crew which is why I focused on that aspect.
It was truly an amazing experience and We will be returning in two days for the night ray dive.
Have a great time!
***UPDATE:
Wife and I returned for the manta ray dive. Unfortunately we only got a few passovers and not a feeding frenzy like usual. I'm going to blame this on nature not the company of course. There was a pretty hefty surge which I think pushed away the plankton, which is what attracts the Rays.
Anyhow.
Another fantastic crew. Tonight consisted of Sarah (snorkel master for the non divers), Jonathan (captain), Zane and Sam (dive masters with Sam being "ours").
This company is top notch. If you've ever dove with another company anywhere I'll bet you they aren't this good. They're friendly, fun, take care of you and your gear - I can't say enough. We are visiting from O'ahu and so they even took our gear back to their shop to clean and hang dry for us to pick up before our flight.
Sam was super knowledgable about all the fish in the water and would write on her dive slate as we were diving to point out types of fish.
We finished the night with the captain pouring everyone some hot cocoa to go along with the other snacks.
Great group. I hope you found this review helpful.
spoolin01
Contributor
Not sure I can generalize too much. It likely depends on the DM, though I can't recall ever being disappointed with the quality of the tour. I have been on many DM-lead trips like you describe, but not with BID. They showed me the only harlequin shrimp I've ever seen, and on another dive the DM found us a bunch of blue dragon nudibranchs. Those aren't the pinnacle sightings over all my Hawaii trips, just two things that stand out as unusual for my critter-spotting bucket list. Frankly, I've done most Hawaii dives on my own, and am usually busy trying to find stuff on my own, so I only half pay attention to a DM and often miss stuff they've pointed out.
With respect to the three tank dives, again it may be difficult to generalize. A common feature I find or suspect with most dive ops I've tried in Hawaii is the tendency to want to compress the outing into a half-day - probably because they often seem to be running both morning and afternoon trips. I've been on two of the three tank Big Island Divers trips and I don't recall being rushed - you usually get about and hour of bottom time - but on another outfit's 3-tank outing, it seemed like we got hustled a bit. However, if it's the only way to dive the south sites, and that's where you want to go, that's that. You will probably only do 2 of the 3 tanks at the south sites, based on my limited experience. I also don't see any reason to prefer the south sites, unless you're tired of the closer sites, both 'zones' have great sites, though not every site in either zone may strike you as equally good.
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I'll second no rush with BID. Our DM was constantly writing stuff down on her slate etc. Nice and slow. I loved it.
KevinNM
Contributor
I've been diving with Jack's. Similar experience. Thanks to the guides I've seen things like a few baby morays and a leaf scorpionfish. Saw whales and dolphins from the boat on most of the day trips. Only big stuff I've seen underwater was a pair of eagle rays that just barely drifted into visibility and some sort of very large fish circling the wreck of the naked lady that I didn't see until I was doing my safety stop. Assuming they don't again have to cancel the manta dive I hope to see some there.
We usually go to the Big Island for New Years, but it didn't work out so now we're going in mid-February. At the beginning of 2014 we dove with Pacific Rim Divers and they were OK. Anyone here dive with Pacific Rim as well as Kona Diving Co and/or Big Island Divers and/or Jack's and can offer up a comparison? Pacific Rim did a good job, but they stayed relatively close to the harbor if there was much weather, whereas some of the other dive operators were able to go more places. I can't argue, because on the day with the crappiest weather, we dived with a 15 ft female tiger shark just outside the harbor. But the dive sites they went to were limited
Also, is the night time pelagic magic dive really as great as they say, and is there any other dive operator that does it better? We've done the night manta dive (one year on Halloween) and my wife, who isn't too keen on night dives, absolutely loved it
Also, is the night time pelagic magic dive really as great as they say, and is there any other dive operator that does it better? We've done the night manta dive (one year on Halloween) and my wife, who isn't too keen on night dives, absolutely loved it
My wife and I just got back from a week in Kona. After all the positive comments here at SB, I decided to go with Kona Diving Company. At the risk of sounding like a paid shill, I can honestly say they're the best op I've ever been out with. We had 3 different DMs on our 3 sets of dives, and interacted with several others. Every one of them was enthusiastic, personable, and helpful. Our DMs pointed out all sorts of things I never would have found, including several nudis, a harlequin shrimp, and our first ever frogfish. Very thorough briefings, including notes about the types of fish we could expect to see. And a nice 4 to 1 diver/guide ratio on our morning dive trips (6 to 1 on the manta dives).
There were a few things that separated KDC from other ops I've been with. Most importantly, the crew seemed genuinely happy to be out there, and that showed in their interactions with guests and each other. They also rinse your gear for you and store it at their shop until your next dive. And they provide really good food - wraps between dives, brownies after, and trail mix and gold fish whenever you want them. Plus water, fruit juice, and soda.
The crew at the shop deserves mention, too. We had a big swell come through mid-week which resulted in the cancellation of our manta dive and then our re-scheduled manta dive. The folks at the shop worked hard to get us re-scheduled on a night that was initially booked solid and kept in constant communication with us regarding whether or not the conditions would be appropriate for my brother and his wife, who were interested in doing the trip as a snorkel.
James
There were a few things that separated KDC from other ops I've been with. Most importantly, the crew seemed genuinely happy to be out there, and that showed in their interactions with guests and each other. They also rinse your gear for you and store it at their shop until your next dive. And they provide really good food - wraps between dives, brownies after, and trail mix and gold fish whenever you want them. Plus water, fruit juice, and soda.
The crew at the shop deserves mention, too. We had a big swell come through mid-week which resulted in the cancellation of our manta dive and then our re-scheduled manta dive. The folks at the shop worked hard to get us re-scheduled on a night that was initially booked solid and kept in constant communication with us regarding whether or not the conditions would be appropriate for my brother and his wife, who were interested in doing the trip as a snorkel.
James
OP
Pillpusher
Contributor
After getting no responses to my inquiry above, I booked with Big Island Divers for diving this week. We dived with them two days so far, with two more days and one night planned. The local two tank dives were OK, mostly due to conditions, but the extended range trip was great. Great crew for both days, very accommodating and well provisioned boats. So far, I highly recommend them. The only drawback is they generally require one night dive with them before you can do the black water dive, but because of timing we'd have to do the night time manta dive and black water back to back on the same evening, and I'm sure my wife will be frozen by the time the second dive rolls around. Our DM yesterday said we'd do fine, so we're just waiting on their management decision whether we can just do the black water dive. Jack's isn't as conservative for the black water dive, but their schedule doesn't work with our plans this week
OP
Pillpusher
Contributor
Yeah, Big Island Divers was the other one I was having a hard time deciding between. It seems that you'd be hard pressed to find many bad reviews on either op. Let me know if you're able to do the pelagic magic dive, and what you thought of it. I'm considering it, but not sure.
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