cleung
Contributor
Hoping to dive in Kona, big island Hawaii but I know it's a pricey area. Just wondering if there are any recommendations on low to mid end accommodations close to the dive operators.
Low To Mid End Accommodations In Kona?
- Thread starter cleung
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
- Messages
- 26,281
- Reaction score
- 5,874
- # of dives
- I'm a Fish!
Look at the area on Google Maps.
See the airport north of town? A few miles south of it is Honokohau harbor - most of the dive boats are kept there. Zoom in and you can see there's nothing nearby. Many of the dive operators have their shops in town. Several are in an industrial park - Jack's Diving Locker is on Alii Drive just south of town. There's a few, mostly older condo complexes in town. If it's of interest, the King Kamehameha resort right downtown is a Courtyard by Marriott property.
Follow Alii drive south of town - it runs right along the waterfront. There must be 50 condo complexes mixed in with hotels and private houses all on Alii for about five miles to Keahou. The closest ones are walking distance to town on Alii Dr. Just south of town it's all lava to the waterline so the nearest beach is about 2 miles south.
A quick way to find the condo names is use Google Maps - type in condos Kailua-Kona and if you zoom to the 1000' level you'll see quite a few of them - it's all the small red dots - not just the ones with names. We were able to find a lot of options in the $100/nt range for 2 bedrooms. Some older, most oceanview or waterfront but not beachfront.
4 miles south of Kona is an area we stayed in. It's called Magic Sands Beach. White Sands Village is a large 2-3br. condo complex across the street. The back buildings don't have much of a view so they're cheaper. I've seen 2BR's in there for $89-99 nt. Across the street waterfront is Kona Magic Sands. It looks to be 30-40 years old and is mostly studios or one bedrooms but they all have windows facing the ocean. They're even cheaper. There is no food in that area at all though - the closest is probably one of the resorts a mile or so north. There's also a resort tax but some properties waive it.
At the south end of MSBeach parking lot is Mile Marker #4 - a shore dive site. There's one more nearby but I don't recall exactly where. The Kailua/Kona pier in town is one also. #'s 8,9,10 here: http://shorediving.com/Earth/Hawaii/TBI/index.htm
We once found a really nice condo just a mile from Kona. No beach but it had a private pool. Recently renovated and $700 for the week. I don't recall the name but I found it - and all the others - on vrbo.com. If you don't mind a climb, look for upstairs units - many of the 2-4 level complexes don't have elevators so they're slightly cheaper. Some like White Sands Village are across the street from the beach also. I also found a few properties on the golf course near Keahou that seemed reasonable - no water view.
After Keahou it gets pretty remote all the way down to Captain Cook. And there's nothing north of the airport for 15-20 miles till you get to Kohala/Waikoloa.
hth, Alii Drive is on Google Earth so if you use street view you can see what's nearby. I used it to read the name of a condo complex.
See the airport north of town? A few miles south of it is Honokohau harbor - most of the dive boats are kept there. Zoom in and you can see there's nothing nearby. Many of the dive operators have their shops in town. Several are in an industrial park - Jack's Diving Locker is on Alii Drive just south of town. There's a few, mostly older condo complexes in town. If it's of interest, the King Kamehameha resort right downtown is a Courtyard by Marriott property.
Follow Alii drive south of town - it runs right along the waterfront. There must be 50 condo complexes mixed in with hotels and private houses all on Alii for about five miles to Keahou. The closest ones are walking distance to town on Alii Dr. Just south of town it's all lava to the waterline so the nearest beach is about 2 miles south.
A quick way to find the condo names is use Google Maps - type in condos Kailua-Kona and if you zoom to the 1000' level you'll see quite a few of them - it's all the small red dots - not just the ones with names. We were able to find a lot of options in the $100/nt range for 2 bedrooms. Some older, most oceanview or waterfront but not beachfront.
4 miles south of Kona is an area we stayed in. It's called Magic Sands Beach. White Sands Village is a large 2-3br. condo complex across the street. The back buildings don't have much of a view so they're cheaper. I've seen 2BR's in there for $89-99 nt. Across the street waterfront is Kona Magic Sands. It looks to be 30-40 years old and is mostly studios or one bedrooms but they all have windows facing the ocean. They're even cheaper. There is no food in that area at all though - the closest is probably one of the resorts a mile or so north. There's also a resort tax but some properties waive it.
At the south end of MSBeach parking lot is Mile Marker #4 - a shore dive site. There's one more nearby but I don't recall exactly where. The Kailua/Kona pier in town is one also. #'s 8,9,10 here: http://shorediving.com/Earth/Hawaii/TBI/index.htm
We once found a really nice condo just a mile from Kona. No beach but it had a private pool. Recently renovated and $700 for the week. I don't recall the name but I found it - and all the others - on vrbo.com. If you don't mind a climb, look for upstairs units - many of the 2-4 level complexes don't have elevators so they're slightly cheaper. Some like White Sands Village are across the street from the beach also. I also found a few properties on the golf course near Keahou that seemed reasonable - no water view.
After Keahou it gets pretty remote all the way down to Captain Cook. And there's nothing north of the airport for 15-20 miles till you get to Kohala/Waikoloa.
hth, Alii Drive is on Google Earth so if you use street view you can see what's nearby. I used it to read the name of a condo complex.
Kona Islander Inn is probably the cheapest at about $100 per night. Another is Uncle Billy's. Both can be reviewed on line.
DivemasterDennis
DivemasterDennis
Midge907
Contributor
When I was there I rented a 2/bdrm, 2/bath condo for $99 night w/ cleaning fees waived due to staying for 8 days. I rented using VRBO, and if I were to go back I would do the same. You can check out the Kona Tiki Hotel also. If your serious about diving in Kona on a budget, the biggest thing would be to research the shore dives on the link Diver Steve shared, and look for a dive shop that is flexible on times for tank exchanges. We liked using Kona Dive Company, we were doing boat dives every other day, and they exchanged shore dive tanks for us at the boat. However next time I go back, I will probably only do shore diving if the weather makes it feasible, or else I will be on the Kona Aggressor 
OP
cleung
Contributor
Thanks very much folks for the info. All these places seem quite reasonable. Did you all rent cars to get back and forth from the accommodations to the dive shops and then the dive boats? Or did any of the scuba operators have a pick up service?
- Messages
- 26,281
- Reaction score
- 5,874
- # of dives
- I'm a Fish!
The airport is about 15 miles north of downtown Kona. We rented a car there.
If you check on Kayak for hotels, almost all of them show [-]"airport shuttle"[/-]. So apparently they don't do that on Kona.
No dive shop picks up that I know of. But I wasn't asking either since we had a car. Someone once mentioned diving with Jacks and getting a ride from their shop in town to the Alua Beach dive site - north of town near the boat harbor.
You probably want a car for any sort of shore diving - most of the shore dives are miles apart. Place of Refuge/2 Step (arguably the best) is a long drive south and the Puako sites up past Waikoloa are better than a 1/2 hr. drive north.
The Volcanoes NP is about an hour+ if you decide to see that on a non-dive day. Driving anywhere inland goes to elevation quickly - VNP is about 4,000' and the saddle road over to Hilo is higher IIRC. Don't take a helicopter flight after diving either...lol.
There is a local shuttle that runs daily between Keahou and Kona but too late in the morning to be useful for diving. Plus it wouldn't take you to the boat harbor anyway - just town. Honu Express Shuttle Schedule
Rent a car in advance - you will be shocked at how much more it is if you show up at the counter - like $200 more for the week. Glad we checked. I'm pretty sure we used Dollar or one of the lesser known brands.
If you check on Kayak for hotels, almost all of them show [-]"airport shuttle"[/-]. So apparently they don't do that on Kona.
No dive shop picks up that I know of. But I wasn't asking either since we had a car. Someone once mentioned diving with Jacks and getting a ride from their shop in town to the Alua Beach dive site - north of town near the boat harbor.
You probably want a car for any sort of shore diving - most of the shore dives are miles apart. Place of Refuge/2 Step (arguably the best) is a long drive south and the Puako sites up past Waikoloa are better than a 1/2 hr. drive north.
The Volcanoes NP is about an hour+ if you decide to see that on a non-dive day. Driving anywhere inland goes to elevation quickly - VNP is about 4,000' and the saddle road over to Hilo is higher IIRC. Don't take a helicopter flight after diving either...lol.
There is a local shuttle that runs daily between Keahou and Kona but too late in the morning to be useful for diving. Plus it wouldn't take you to the boat harbor anyway - just town. Honu Express Shuttle Schedule
Rent a car in advance - you will be shocked at how much more it is if you show up at the counter - like $200 more for the week. Glad we checked. I'm pretty sure we used Dollar or one of the lesser known brands.
Similar threads
