Big island diving

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pdxgal

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Hi all,

My husband and I are going to Hawaii. We will be in Maui most of the time but in Kona for 4 days. We want to get 2 - 3 dives in and one of them we want to be a manta night dive.

I contacted Big Island Divers and one suggestion was this....

"Our Twilight / Manta Ray Night Charter meets at the shop anytime before 2:30pm and is the trip of choice for Scuba Divers. On this charter your first snorkel or SCUBA dive is on the beautiful Kona reef before the sun sets and the second snorkel or SCUBA is with the Mantas after dark."

Now given that I know that Hawaii isn't supposed to be the most spectacular diving in the world, especially since I'll be in Cozumel a couple weeks before, but for what it's worth....does this seem like a good idea? It feels like that afternoon dive may be a little reduced visibility because of the sun, or no? I have no idea if this is true or not.

We aren't doing much diving this trip for many reasons so I was hoping to get the most out of it! We've both snorkeled in Hawaii many times but never done any diving there.

PS Also, can anyone shed any light on the implications of diving and going up Mauna Kea?
 
I would also contact Kona ocean adventures. Its a small family run center but Danny and Laure are excellent at what they do. They are fun and will show you all their is to see. They have a fast boat to get you to where you need to go and can make a plan around what you want to get out of the day. I know these guys as they also came to my center in Thailand Phuket Scuba Diving | Similan Islands | Thailand Divers and I can not speak highly enough of them.
 
Hi all,

My husband and I are going to Hawaii. We will be in Maui most of the time but in Kona for 4 days. We want to get 2 - 3 dives in and one of them we want to be a manta night dive.

I contacted Big Island Divers and one suggestion was this....

"Our Twilight / Manta Ray Night Charter meets at the shop anytime before 2:30pm and is the trip of choice for Scuba Divers. On this charter your first snorkel or SCUBA dive is on the beautiful Kona reef before the sun sets and the second snorkel or SCUBA is with the Mantas after dark."

Now given that I know that Hawaii isn't supposed to be the most spectacular diving in the world, especially since I'll be in Cozumel a couple weeks before, but for what it's worth....does this seem like a good idea? It feels like that afternoon dive may be a little reduced visibility because of the sun, or no? I have no idea if this is true or not.

We aren't doing much diving this trip for many reasons so I was hoping to get the most out of it! We've both snorkeled in Hawaii many times but never done any diving there.
That's pretty much how they all do it, a later afternoon/dusk dive followed by the Manta Night Dive. And expect there to be a lot of boats/divers/snorkelers at the night dive - it's pretty popular - google it for videos.

Although they're all on it, pick an operator from: The Green List of Manta Ray Activity Providers - Manta Ray Green List, Kona Hawaii

If you want to see about the best of Kona diving see if Big Island (or anyone else) is running a long range trip down to the Red Hill area the day(s) you're there. Wreck Deep dives off Kona Hawaii. Aggressor doesn't go there because the diving is bad...lol.
PS Also, can anyone shed any light on the implications of diving and going up Mauna Kea?
Aftewards? You don't. At least not within 24 hrs. There's a DCS risk involved.

Even the observatory itself warns about it. It's as bad or worse flying after diving since the visitor center is at 9200' and the Summit at 13,000'+. Commercial jets are pressurized to 8,000' and I'm sure you've seen the no-fly after diving rules - same thing applies.

Visiting the Summit
If you are planning to visit the summit, we highly recommend that you stop at the Visitor Information Station (VIS) at 9,200 ft to receive a current weather update, safety information, and to adjust to the change in altitude. Maunakea is one of the only places in the world where you can drive from sea level to 14,000 feet in about 2 hours, so altitude sickness is a high possibility. At 14,000 feet, there is 40% less oxygen than at sea level, so visitors should acclimatize to the altitude before proceeding further up the mountain. Anyone in poor health should consult their physician before planning a visit to Maunakea. We do not recommend anyone who is pregnant to go further than the VIS. People under the age of 16 should not go any further because their bodies are still developing and they are affected more rapidly when going to a high altitude. If you plan to scuba dive, do not plan to go up to the summit within 24 hours after your dive.

Another thing to consider is that even the Saddle Road over to the east side (Hilo) is at elevation (6000'?) - as is Volcanoes National Park which I believe is something over 4000' also so that's not recommended either after diving. As long as you stay along the coast you're generally fine.
 
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The idea of late-afternoon/dusk diving is that it's a transition time. Depending on conditions, some of the critters that are more active at night may start moving around during the late-afternoon/dusk time.

Sure, there are lots of places that are considered to have more spectacular diving than Hawaii, but the diving there is really cool. My trip to Kona in December was my first in an area with an abundance of hard coral. I thought it was pretty spectacular, but then again, I'm pretty easy to please.

Just go with the mindset of having a good time. Have a great trip!

-AZTinman
 
If you really want to visit Mauna Kae, do the hike on your early arrival or wait 24hrs after your last dive, maybe your late departure date to the mainland. We used Jack's Diving Locker for the twilight /Manta dives. We went in 3 groups depending on your certification levels. The twilight was just a transition period, didn't see a lot of activities of sealife, but the sunset was beautiful during the SI waiting to get dark for the night dive. I had the best tuna sandwich for my SI. No homemade goods, but there's Oreo and Chip O'hoy to make Keller's cookie sandwich. We dove down to 38ft and sat in a semi circle and held our lights up. If you want the Manta to get close to you, hold your light close to your face pointing up toward the surface. After, 40mins watching the mantas dancing we were escorted to a nearby reef for 15mins ,if you're good on air or they will take you to the dive line to the. The long range dives,3tanks, is on a given day to get enough divers, mine got canceled. I also used Wiokoala Blue Adventure to dive the Kohala Coast. It's a zodiac dive boat, but small group w homemade cookies for SI. It was my husband favorite dives. We saw so much sealife, turtles,eels,sharks, hard corals,and went thru lots of lava tubes/swim thru. My longest dive 70mins and max depth 85ft. Next year, we hope to get to Maui! Have a great time in Hawaii,Aloha!
 
I love diving Kona: morning, afternoon and evening. If you're looking for "spectacle," you won't find it (except for the manta night dive) in Kona. Hawaiian diving is more subtle. There are unique lava formations and endemic species of corals and fish. In fact, almost a quarter of the fish species you see can only be seen there. The Kona coast even has some that are pretty much only found there.

Go with someone who's knowledgeable and can raise your appreciation for what is there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalko
 
Hi all,

does this seem like a good idea? It feels like that afternoon dive may be a little reduced visibility because of the sun, or no? I have no idea if this is true or not.

Others have covered the Mauna Kea question (wait 24 hours). Regarding the afternoon dive, there's a plenty of light. The bigger issue is the site. As far as I know, all the dive ops take you to the same place that you do the manta night dive. The site is, by design, a large barren area of sand and small boulders at 30 to 45 feet deep where divers can sit on the bottom without killing any coral. There's virtually nothing in this shallow area to see. From there there's a gently sloping wall of rocks and coral that goes down to the sand at 70 or 80 feet. It's not an especially pretty dive - not many fish or colorful corals - but there is some life to be found. We saw an octopus and several morays.

That's not to say that I recommend against a two-tank manta dive. I think almost any dive in Hawaii is a good one - just set your expectations lower for the first dive. The second dive will more than make up for it. Also, you have a chance of seeing a manta or two on the first dive, as sometimes they show up early. And you never know - you could get extremely lucky, as we did, and have a Hawaiian Monk Seal spend 20 minutes with you (extremely rare, only 800 to 1,100 left in the world).

We went with Kona Diving Company, who I highly recommend.

James
 
Others have covered the Mauna Kea question (wait 24 hours). Regarding the afternoon dive, there's a plenty of light. The bigger issue is the site. As far as I know, all the dive ops take you to the same place that you do the manta night dive. The site is, by design, a large barren area of sand and small boulders at 30 to 45 feet deep where divers can sit on the bottom without killing any coral. There's virtually nothing in this shallow area to see. From there there's a gently sloping wall of rocks and coral that goes down to the sand at 70 or 80 feet. It's not an especially pretty dive - not many fish or colorful corals - but there is some life to be found. We saw an octopus and several morays.

So this is kind of what I was wondering. I know from snorkeling in HI that the fish life can be spectacular, so I wonder if we would be better served doing two dives--manta and some other kind of dive at a different time and/or place?
 
Yes, definitely do the manta dives, twilight dive than followed by a night dive w mantas. It's a Kona specialty diving w mantas on a night dive. I didn't do the Pelgic Black Water dives cause it feel like you are bait, tethered from your BC. You are bobbing between 40-60ft underneath the boat. On another day, do a 2tank morning dives. It's usually at a different location than you would dive the twilight /mantas. You can dive in the Kona area or dive the Kohala Coast near Waikoala. The Big Island waters is very calm!
 
I didn't do the Pelgic Black Water dives cause it feel like you are bait, tethered from your BC.
Actually in a way - you are....:D

[video=youtube;O_4hZ4oq8UU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_4hZ4oq8UU[/video]

or Blues:

[video=youtube;YfHtUF8TPXU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfHtUF8TPXU[/video]
 
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