Kona in July

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ToeFrog

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Hi Everyone,

My wife and I have booked a trip to The Big Island in July. We are planning on staying in Kona on the first part of the trip and then going to Hilo for the last couple of days. While we are in Kona we're planning on doing diving pretty much everyday. We are both PADI Open Water divers with about 20 dives each under our belts. We have recently invested in 3mil wetsuits since I've heard that the water temp around 70s - 80s and we are planning on doing the manta ray night dive. We have previously been diving in Cancun and Key Largo. Is there any other equipment that we will need or any other dives that we should make sure we do while we're there? Thanks in advance for the input.

-ToeFrog
 
Are you planning on boat or shore diving while there? We did mostly shore diving at our own pace when and where we wanted to. Saw the same things others could see from the boat, yet didn't have to pay and didn't have a bunch of people to follow around. Personally I hate DM lead fiasco's. In fact we dove a couple sites from shore, where the boats tie up too (One of the locals referred to one as "Rip Off Reef" LOL).

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Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: The Big Island, Hawaiian Islands

Visiting the manta rays is worth it. How you get there is another story. If they are by the Sheraton, I would just grab a bright light and go snorkeling, just be weary of the dive boats. If they are hanging out by the airport than a boat trip is in order, and I would recommend Big Island Divers as even the locals use them.

For air tanks we used Jack's Diving Locker since they were the closest to our villa. No CO in the tanks. Yippy!, and they helped us along as we shore dove with great maps and solid 3,000+ psi air fills. We took a tank each at a time and they exchange them as many times in a day as you want. My partner was more interested in touring than diving, so some days we only did one dive. There are many options for dive shops and boats on the Kona side.

Be aware of elevation changes if you plan to head to Hilo within 24 hours.

3mm would not be enough for us there. My partner was in a brand new 5mm and she did fine, but I was cold in my worn out 4/3mm even though it was a top of the line wetsuit that has a climb thru neck with zero water exchange. The water was 77 degrees, but I imagine it will come up at least a couple degrees before you get there.

Bring a light weight rain coat for Hilo. It was coldish when were there at under 73 degrees and into the 60's at times, and rained most of the time we were there.
 
Thanks @Peter_C.

We are currently planning on diving with Jack's Diving Locker. It is only 3 miles from where we are staying. We had a DM at the shop that we got certified at highly recommend them. We typically do boat diving. I've never done shore diving but i'm not opposed to it. We did talk about doing some snorkeling where the turtles normally are since I love sea turtles. We might have to try some shore diving since i've heard a lot of good stuff about it in Kona.

Thanks again.

-ToeFrog
 

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