Ltstanfo
Contributor
I am back from my week on "The Big Island" and I wanted to briefly share my experiences. In general they were positive (and fun).
I stayed on the west side of the island at the Hilton Waikaloa Resort. They use Red Sail as their SCUBA (and Snorkel) provider. I found Red Sail's boat crew, boat and dive sites to be outstanding. Price wise they were inline with the local (Kona) dive shops and offerred similar trips (including night dives, etc..).
I was not particularly impressed with their resort staff (who manned the office at the hotel) but as I only had to deal with them during pre-day/dive check-in I can overlook that inconvenience (be sure to keep their attention as they are easily sidetracked by multiple customers in the office).
A shuttle picked us up at the hotel and drove us to the beach where to boat was anchored. For those of us who brought our own gear, we had to carry it about a quarter mile from the shuttle to the meeting point and then carry it above water to the stern of the boat. The dive boat is moored just off the beach and you walk out to it (in thigh high water). Once on board the service and support was second to none. I'd readily use them again if staying at the same hotel. A quick note on dive trip planning. Red Sail (at the Waikaloa at least) requires a minimum of three paid divers to use the boat. One of my dives was cancelled as only two divers had paid. Also, depending on the time of year (mine was an example) Red Sail only does morning dives (they claim that they don't get enough paid divers to run afternoon - single tank dives).
Post dive we had to carry our gear from the boat back to the shuttle. A minor inconvenience (only for those of us who brought our gear... if you rented it was easy) but no big deal in the end.
Regards,
Ltstanfo
I stayed on the west side of the island at the Hilton Waikaloa Resort. They use Red Sail as their SCUBA (and Snorkel) provider. I found Red Sail's boat crew, boat and dive sites to be outstanding. Price wise they were inline with the local (Kona) dive shops and offerred similar trips (including night dives, etc..).
I was not particularly impressed with their resort staff (who manned the office at the hotel) but as I only had to deal with them during pre-day/dive check-in I can overlook that inconvenience (be sure to keep their attention as they are easily sidetracked by multiple customers in the office).
A shuttle picked us up at the hotel and drove us to the beach where to boat was anchored. For those of us who brought our own gear, we had to carry it about a quarter mile from the shuttle to the meeting point and then carry it above water to the stern of the boat. The dive boat is moored just off the beach and you walk out to it (in thigh high water). Once on board the service and support was second to none. I'd readily use them again if staying at the same hotel. A quick note on dive trip planning. Red Sail (at the Waikaloa at least) requires a minimum of three paid divers to use the boat. One of my dives was cancelled as only two divers had paid. Also, depending on the time of year (mine was an example) Red Sail only does morning dives (they claim that they don't get enough paid divers to run afternoon - single tank dives).
Post dive we had to carry our gear from the boat back to the shuttle. A minor inconvenience (only for those of us who brought our gear... if you rented it was easy) but no big deal in the end.
Regards,
Ltstanfo
