Top Dives on the Big Island

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evilclown

Contributor
Messages
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Location
Los Angeles
# of dives
50 - 99
Trying to make a list for my upcoming trip, also hope it will help others.
Please add, comment or correct.
So far from all the posts i've read here is what i've come up with.

- Mantas
- Black Water
- 2 Step
- Turtle Pinnacle
- Place of Refuge
 
Trying to make a list for my upcoming trip, also hope it will help others.
Please add, comment or correct.
So far from all the posts i've read here is what i've come up with.

- Mantas
- Black Water
- 2 Step
- Turtle Pinnacle
- Place of Refuge

2 Step and Place of Refuge refer to the same shore dive, in Honaunau. It's a big enough reef
that you'll need several dives there to see most of it.

Other commonly dove sites to consider would be:

Suck 'em Up
Golden Arches
Lone Tree Arch
Hoover's
Kaloko
Naia (aka Manta Ray Bay)
Driftwood
Long Lava Tube

All (with the exception of Naia) are boat dives. These sites are all close by to the harbor at
Honokohau. (well, Driftwood and Long Lava Tube are in the Red Hill area and are a bit
further afield). Several dive operators offer "long range" charters to more distant reefs both
north and south. I like diving way down south - less commonly visited, and some sites are
considerably deeper :D
 
Turtle pinnacle's actually seeing less dive traffic these days, in year's past there were two to three large operators that went there several times a week so it had a lot of word of mouth, and wouldn't make my top list but it's still a good dive though, been seeing fewer turtles the last year or so. Gerard's list is spot on, I'd add Pyramid Pinnacle/Pine Trees Pinnacle/Harlequin (probably another name or two for that site out there too). Kaiwi Point/Pawai Bay can be awesome to OK/good depending on the day. I frankly like sharkfin rock a lot too, as long as you're following a good guide. There's some great one way dives that can be done if conditions are right. Kona has very few if any mediocre dive sites, I can only think of two that I avoid and going through my GPS we'd been to over 50 moorings and anchor spots over the course of the spring and summer... the dive ops here are going to try to give you the best diving they can depending on the conditions of the day and who's on the boat so don't get too hung up on having to see specific sites.... it's all good.
 
....Kona has very few if any mediocre dive sites, I can only think of two that I avoid and going through my GPS we'd been to over 50 moorings and anchor spots over the course of the spring and summer... the dive ops here are going to try to give you the best diving they can depending on the conditions of the day and who's on the boat so don't get too hung up on having to see specific sites.... it's all good.

Just wanted to second what Friscuba said. You'll have fun in Kona. The dive ops will do their best to get you to a good site, depending on the conditions that day.

And if you plan on doing shore dives, be sure to ask the dive op for recommendations based on the conditions.

Have fun!
 
I like "C" beach at Honokohau harbor its always good for a nice dive!
and if your lucky mabe a "Cat fish" sighting
 
I'm scared of those kind of "cat fish" Grizz. Ever since I saw a full grown turtle with a bite out of it the size of half a manhole cover...
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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