30th Anniversary trip - Hawaii

Amazon · Dec 15, 2014

My hubby and I are in the beginning stages of planning a trip to Hawaii for our 30th wedding anniversary. Unless there's a reason to go at a different time of year (e.g. we won't see mantas!), we're looking at the end of June in to July (two weeks). Hey, Boston to Hawaii, gotta make it count!

Anyhow, my airfare is covered through United awards. So I can go to any of the Islands they go in to. I was thinking of going to the Big Island, and staying near Kona. We want an on land adventure as much as under water. So it's not strictly a dive (how many can we get in a day) vacation.

We've been to Bonaire twice, and loved it. Would love to go back again. But this time it's Hawaii. (We've also been to Aruba, Bahama's and Florida for diving)

Apart from the night dives with the manta rays - what else would you recommend?? My other "bucket list" item is to see a whale shark...but I think that's not something to get from Hawaii even though they're seen there. :depressed:

Thanks for any suggestions - both below and above water :blinking:

tursiops · Dec 15, 2014

Be care about the touristing part of Kona if you are going to mingle it with the diving. It is too easy to drive to an unacceptable altitude too soon after a dive.

Amazon · Dec 15, 2014

tursiops:
Be care about the touristing part of Kona if you are going to mingle it with the diving. It is too easy to drive to an unacceptable altitude too soon after a dive.

Thanks! I had recently read that some where - it's a good reminder. We will stay "local" the day after the diving. Will have to resist heading to the volcanos for a short while! Essentially, we'll treat it like an off gassing period, same as before we fly.

knotical · Dec 15, 2014

You might want to check out these somewhat similar threads in the Hawaiʻi forum:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/hawaii/494748-big-island-waikoloa.html
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/hawaii/471854-volcano-national-park.html
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/hawaii/481085-dive-trip-big-island-hawaii.html
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/hawaii/475246-driving-back-volcano-area-kona-after-diving.html

DeputyDan · Dec 16, 2014

Several years ago we went the first two weeks of July.

We rented a two bedroom condo - but did not know that very few have air conditioning. It was very hot and quite honestly not pleasant.
I would recommend that if you are not staying at a resort to make sure about A/C and any other items that you would normally take for granted.

The Manta ray night dive is well worth it.

diversteve · Dec 16, 2014

To add to what others already posted, if you look at condos on vrbo.com the ones that do have A/C usually list it. I've even noticed a few with a note that they "feature" it. Some of the older properties it's a room a/c in the bedrooms only also.

From the Kona area it's not a good idea to drive inland the same day after diving. Most of the coastal roads are fine. Volcanoes Natl' Park is at 4000' the saddle road to Hilo (state 200) crests at over 6000' and obviously the drive up Mauna Kea is about double that.

Besides the Manta Dive, Jack's Diving Locker offers a Blackwater Dive - others do also afaik. If you have bright lights bring them, the Manta's will like you better than the others (attracts the plankton...) - although there's a lot of light in the water also. In addition Big Island Divers (and others) do an extended trip south to Red Hill, one of the better dives. We also like Kona Diving Co. - they took my buddy to a site to the south where they dove with 500 spinner dolphins - last week of July.

One thing to be aware of is just about every dive operator keeps their boats at Honokahau(sp) harbor which is a few miles north of Kona - you'll pass it on the drive down from the airport. There's nothing nearby so just pick somewhere you like in south Kona and plan to drive up. At most of the shops the plan is check-in once then meet them at the harbor the rest of the week. Jack's is on Alii Drive ("condo road") in town, other shops are in a business/commercial park nearby.

Swimming with the turtles at Kahaluu Beach Park could be fun. Don't bring the gear, it's only 7-8' deep. Place of Refuge/2 Step is also a good shore dive. Kona is like Bonaire - once you're a little north/south of town it's pretty remote so don't expect any facilities - except MM4 which is in south Kona - or the Kailua/Kona pier dive downtown. Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: The Big Island, Hawaiian Islands

The other touristy thing we did on Kona was drive to Hilo one day with a side trip to Akaka Falls. Pretty much an all day trek, since we continued north and back thru Waimea - leaving early we returned at nightfall. We were in Waimea (Parker Ranch) for dinner time. Drive up the coast to Waikoloa once, there's dolphins at the Hilton and Roys Hawaii is also excellent. Volcanoes NP is another trek since it's farther SE. Combine that with the black sand beach at Punaluu since you'll go right past it on the south road.

bmorescuba · Dec 16, 2014

We went for our 20th anniversary two years ago. First time to Hawaii and we chose the Big Island. We were fortunate enough to be able to stay for 10 days in July. We split our time between the Kona side and the Hilo side. It was absolutely the best trip we've ever been on. On the Kona side, we stayed in Puako, which is a little north of Kona, but much smaller and more relaxed. Rented through VRBO and I hired a private DM (Home Page) for Puako shore dives. It cost less than boat dives and I like shore dives better. I did hire a boat for the Kona night manta dive - crowded, but not to be missed.

My wife doesn't dive, but we had so many land based adventures - snorkeling, volcanoes, hiking, helicopter (her), horses, on and on. The Big Island is so big you can really find what suits you best. Fancy dining or hiking all day - its up to you. Here are my memento photo galleries, which I look at almost weekly to keep my spirits up:

Land: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmorejojo/sets/72157635188874869/
Underwater: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmorejojo/sets/72157635783166054/

We loved it so much we saved and went back again - this time to Kauai. We both agree that while Kauai was awesome, the Big Island was more special. Look for good car rentals beforehand - if you really want to see all it has to offer, a car is needed.

ptn72 · Dec 19, 2014

I've been to Big Island twice and stayed at my friend's parents house in Kawaihae so my opinion is a little north-bias.

Besides manta ray night dive, you can venture north and dive with Kohala Diver, Kohala Divers.
My DM also spoke highly of blackwater dive so you may want to check it out
My most favorite beach it Mauna Kea beach. It's a beautiful beach with a lot of shades and not crowded. You'll have to be there early as the hotel only gives out 40 parking passes for non hotel guests. Once they run out of passes, you'll have to wait until someone leaves.
Since you'll be there for 2 weeks, you should spend time on Hilo side to see difference between Hilo and Kona. Hilo is rainy and humid vs. hot and dry in Kona. Prepare to listen to coqui frogs all night long. There are also many waterfalls around Hilo.
Vocano National Park is awesome.

Congratulation on your 30th Anniversary.

Matthew Jones · Dec 27, 2014

I'm not going to try to sway you from the Big Island, but living on Oahu and having visited the Big Island specifically for diving for four days, I'd rather come to Oahu. Hawaii is awesome to see the volcano and hike through it. But in four days, we did everything we wanted to see, and everything (driving back and forth from one end of the island to another) was a giant pain in the butt. We stayed on the Kona side, but a lot of the stuff is 1.5-2 hours driving if you want to see everything. In four days we saw giant waterfalls, green and black sand beaches, hiked through the volcano, and dive a few dives, plus some other sight seeing.

Honestly, I think Oahu is better. I feel like there is more stuff to do, and there are certainly more shore dives that are well documented, and more tourist things to do in the down time. It all depends on what you want to do. If you want to just sit on the beach in between dive days, or you are absolutely wanting to see a volcano (you can't get close enough right now to any volcano of consequence, although you might be able to get close enough to the lava flow), or whatever...might influence your decision. Just realize on the big island, there's a lot of driving involved. Oahu is more touristy, and you pay for it with traffic, but I have never taken as long to drive anywhere on Oahu even in rush hour traffic that I have on the big island. I think the big island has more outdoor stuff to do like hiking etc. For example, the green beach in the first picture below is a several mile hike. Hiking through the volcano is another couple miles. But then again, there are a lot of great hikes here on Oahu as well...it's just more built up.

Here are some pictures from our recent trip to the big island.

You definitely want to come out that time of year, the weather is less rainy. Also if you come to Oahu, during that time of year the swells in the north are small which means you can dive a lot of AMAZING dive sites from the shore. Turtles and sharks and all kinds of other crap out the wazoo.

I attached a crap ton of big island photos, including a bunch of panoramics. I took them all with my iphone, so they aren't pro. But you can get the picture.

I'm not an expert, but I do live and dive here, and I'm a dive master here. I can't say the same for the big island, but I did do a lot of stuff packed into four days while I was there.