If you had 2 weeks...

[me_diver]

Okay, so trying to plan a trip for the hubby and I, 25th anniversary. Last 2 weeks of Dec, 2015.

Some dive background-
-novice PADI open water divers with ~50 dives. certified in Virgin Islands, 3 trips to Bonaire, 1 to Cocoview/Roatan, mostly boat divers
- like to stay shallow (60' or less), go slow and take pics... enjoy good vis
-not fans of sharks. (nothing against them, swam in the Disney tank with them, but...would never go on a shark dive)
-love turtles however

Been to Big Island and Maui before - over 10 years ago - before certified so snorkeled both. Don't want to make this a Dive/Dive/Dive trip but dive maybe half the days and sightsee the rest. Not particularly big beach people. (I burn too easy even with spf 50 and have had melanoma).

Ruled Oahu off our list. Want a low-key relaxing vacation (not city and crowded beaches) Definitely want to go to the Big Island for one of the weeks. Probably Kona Diving Company from what I've heard so far, and want to do the night manta dive/snorkel.

So - for the second week -- Maui again? A different Island? Kauai? Lanai? Stay on the BI and relax and pace the diving out? (My husband prefers the last option-stay in one place and not cram too much in ...) But I'm wondering about getting bored or missing out on the opportunity to see other islands. We are from the east coast so it's more of a bigger deal to get to HI than from California...not sure when we'll make it back.

So.....What would you do? given the time of year, diving preferences...

 

[Rebreather MD]

Go to Kauai and spend the whole two weeks very laid back and mellow plenty to see and enjoy

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Go to Kauai and spend the whole two weeks very laid back and mellow plenty to see and enjoy

My take on Kauai after ten days was that unless you're going for a few Niihau trips or a long camp up on the Na'pali, Kauai will quickly bore you to tears despite its beauty. Dining options are limited outside Poipu (if you're up by Princeville, you will quickly discover that Bar Acuda is your go-to dinner option) and there's really not much to do re: diving that's different from Oahu (other than the lack of wrecks and Niihau).

IMO, the Big Island would be a better option for impressive diving combined with enough to do to cover two full weeks. If you want a largely non-diving side trip, go stay at the Four Seasons Lodge on Lanai for a few days - excellent food in their dining room there, full access to the beachside resort if that's your thing, and the sporting clays course is really fun.

 

[Scubanoobi]

Dove all the islands and spent lots of time topside, although Kauai was probably my least favourite for diving, it's good for a shorter (7 day) trip. Lots of big turtles out of Po'ipu, saw about 40 on one dive at Sheraton Caverns.

 

[me_diver]

I'm leaning towards 2 weeks on the Big Island...you are right...as I have done more research I don't think we will get bored. ..maybe a side trip to one of the islands for a day/two...

 

[MaxBottomtime]

One of my favorite trips was two weeks on the Big Island. We rented tanks and weights and made shore dives. The boats go to the same sites and moor near shore anyway. With the money we saved by not taking boats we went horesback riding in Waipio Valley, hiking on the north end of the island, walked through the Thurston lava tube, checked out waterfalls on the east side of the island and lava at South Point. We had a rental car or we would have also gone up to the observatory and played in the snow.

 

[BigJoeBob]

If you go back to the Big Island, make sure you hook up with a Manta Ray night dive. We did Big Island Divers (BID) and loved it. 5 years later, i still play my video and dream of flying away to the deep.

Damn, i need some bottom time....

 

[diversteve]

I have to agree with the Dr. I couldn't spend a lot of time on Kauai either. Plus in winter, Tunnels Beach - arguably the best shore dive there will mostly be shut down. As will all the boat trips to Ni'ihau until about mid-April. So you'd want to stay near Poipu anyway - there really is no north shore boat diving to speak of - I think Bubbles Below does a weekly trip but they wouldn't be in the winter either. So everything is around Poipu, Sheraton Caverns, the Koloa Landing shore dive and both other boat operators - Fathom Five and Seasport Divers. Seasport keeps a shop in Kapaa but you drive down for boat dives anyway.

I'd pick Maui over Kauai for diving anyway. Boat diving you can easily access both Lanai and Molokini Crater and the 2nd dives boats along the West Maui coastline are at a site Lahaina Divers generically calls "Turtle Town". There also were turtles living on the Carpathian wreck when my buddy was there - one came up to meet them.

I wouldn't stay on Lanai either for diving. There's one shore dive at Hulopoe Beach - which is the Four Seasons Manele Bay location and it's shallow. The rest of Lanai is too vertical above the water to reasonably carry gear down. Some areas would be really difficult to get out also. Trilogy is the only dive operator located there and they dive the West Lanai sites. Several on this list I've dove on a morning boat from Maui. http://scubalanai.com/sites.html - everybody from Lahaina dives the Cathedrals.

For Turtles on Kona snorkel at Kahuluu Beach Park. They're all over. Even sleeping on the rocks there. Not a shore dive - only about 7' deep. Besides the Manta Night Dive, there's frequently pods of Spinner dolphins that play with divers at some of the south shore boat dive locations. December the Humpbacks should be in the area also. See if Jack's Diving Locker's Blackwater dive is something you'd want to do. Probably not though because sometimes the lights bring in an Oceanic White Tip or two - the more aggressive of the White Tips.

Be aware that once you leave the coast road you climb quickly to elevations where you need to be concerned about following a "no-fly" schedule. The Saddle Road over the middle of the island exceeds 6,000' and up to Volcanoes is something like 4,000' at the lookout. Mauna Kea obviously is much higher - I think the visitor station is something over 9,000'. Akaka Falls is worth a look also - we did a trek one day to VNP, Akaka, Hilo and back thru Parker Ranch. Was way too much driving - didn't get back til dark.

 

[me_diver]

Thank you all so much! Yes, as reading more I see that we'll want to "front-load" our trip with diving, then do the drives to the crater, Hilo, etc after a day off. Heard the Manta night dive was awesome, on our list. As it will be over Xmas and New years I'm sure there will be all sorts of fun activities to do on the island. When we were there a long time ago, we just snorkeled (but that was great!) and I was at a conference so we didn't see much of the island - did a whirlwind tour one day but not as much as we'd like. Like we went to the crater but not the observatory. We loved the big island...we liked Maui as well - but the big island a little better for some reason.

 

[choiahoy]

me_diver,

I'm actually planning a two week trip to Hawaii with my wife as well--one week on the Big Island (mostly visiting my mother, some diving) and one on Maui (diving). So thanks to all the posters for the great info.

Without derailing the thread too badly, can anyone recommend a good shore diving guide on the Big Island in the Kona area?