Heading to Kona Hawaii October 7-14th.. Any suggestions on great dive trips?

[Bulldoglover]

My wife and I heading to the Big Island in Kona Hawaii area and looking for suggestions on Natural Reef dive trips. I have been told of the Night Manta trip. (She won't dive at night) so We would appreciate any (Natural spots, reefs, sealife etc) Both shore and boat excursions.. Thanks

[Doubler]

You just can't go to kona and miss the Manta night dive. It is not like normal night dives. There are so many lights, it is like diving in daylight. She'll be so enthralled with the Mantas swooping over her head she'll forget it is happening at night.

[DiveMaven]

Plus it isn't like you're moving around much...you drop in and sit on the bottom watching the Mantas feed above you.

[Pliny]

Most of this information has been posted here before, but I will summarize a little:

* Do the manta dive if at all possible
* Most ops leave from Honokohou harbor. If you want to dive up north try either Kohala Divers (I like them) in Kawaihae or Blue Wilderness (in Waikoloa). Blue Wilderness has a smaller boat that they launch from the Puako ramp.
* Hawaii diving is more about the endemic fish and inverts, and the underwater topography. There isn't a classic soft coral reef.
* The area around Honokohou is (wildly generalizing) more rubbly on the bottom. Up north the bottom is more completely covered with coral. That said, it's the rocky overhangs and caves that tend to have the nudibranchs, pipefish, sleeping turtles, etc.
* Most (all?) Big Island sites are within a reasonable swim from shore. Not all of them have accessible entries.

If I had only one day to dive the Big Island, I would dive Puako.