Big Island in November

My wife and I will be staying at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island over the Thanksgiving holiday. I am interested in doing a couple of dives while we are there. My question is should I head down to Kona for a dive operator or go with one around the hotel. We were there last year and I went out with Red Sail Sports. Not bad, a small boat which I liked, but not too much pre/post dive info. Is there really any difference in the quality of the dive sites in the Kona area vs. the resort areas? Also, any suggestions for dive operators in either area would be very helpful.

Thanks.

MNDiverDan

Aloha! You are going to be right in the middle of the best diving ever. Who you go with realy dosen't matter as far as where you go. Go north and I would avoid Kohala divers but other than that, most are decent dive outfits. PM me and I'll give ya more.

Also avoid Big Island Divers, had a bad experience with them.

I've been told that Kona Coast Divers is good, but haven't tried it myself.


Eddy.

We are going to the Big Island in March and have done a lot of research. There is a book called Hawaii Revealed which is excellent for all info including diving. We are going to go with their recommendation and the recommendation from the people on the Scuba board. Pacific Rim Divers and Jacks Diving Locker were suggested to us. They can both be communicated with through email and have a web site.

If you don't mind my asking ... and if you can do so constructively ... would those of you who are suggesting the avoidance of certain charters tell us what you didn't like about them?

I would also ask if you voiced your concerns to the company in question? Sometimes things can go wrong despite the best of intentions and policies ... and any business should have the opportunity to address, and/or redress, a bad customer experience.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

NWGratefulDiver:

If you don't mind my asking ... and if you can do so constructively ... would those of you who are suggesting the avoidance of certain charters tell us what you didn't like about them?

I would also ask if you voiced your concerns to the company in question? Sometimes things can go wrong despite the best of intentions and policies ... and any business should have the opportunity to address, and/or redress, a bad customer experience.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

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I had a bad experience with Big Island Divers because of the lack of communication among their crew that made us (my buddy and I) miss the boat for a night dive. We were diving with BID all morning and afternoon that same day. And when we were leaving the boat they told us that the 7:00 night dive was "running late" and told us to take our time. So we arrived about 15 mins after the specified time and it turns out the crew has changed and they left us even though our equipment was still on the boat. They also had our cell-phone #, but made no effort whatsoever to track us down. It could've been a matter of five minutes.

When comfronted, they wouldn't give our money back or even credit, or even partial credit. There was no written policy that we were aware of. You could argue that being late makes you miss your spot, but I've heard of other dive operators that go out of their way to pamper their divers. For me, it's a matter of how much you value your customers and tolerance of 15-20 minutes is not outrageous.

I asked other dive operators and they said they would have given the customer something back, if not all. The $115 dollars is not worth the bad publicity/reputation, the other operator said. Well Big Island Divers, you are not going to get my recommendation.


Eddy.

We dove with Jack's Dive Locker and thought they were great. We are going back in January and would dive with them again if we had not decided to try our first live-aboard.

mjh:

We dove with Jack's Dive Locker and thought they were great. We are going back in January and would dive with them again if we had not decided to try our first live-aboard.

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I second the vote for Jack's. Great folks. Friendly, fun DM's who always seem excited to be diving with you. Never rushed. Very laid-back. Very knowledgable about the area, critters, etc.

They are the only ones I went out with. I was going to maybe try a couple of different operations, but after the first trip with Jack's, I was sticking with them.

And I gotta agree that I find your avatar disturbing Wildcard. To the point where I scroll right past your posts. To each his own, but there's no way I want to look at that image all the time. I saw enough of it on that horrible day to burn it into my mind forever. Peace.

Gregg