ScubaERDoc
Contributor
- Messages
- 194
- Reaction score
- 89
- # of dives
- 100 - 199
Kona Dive Company has a special place in the hearts of me and my fiancee. We first visited the Big Island two and a half years ago where we went on our first dive trip together and KDC patiently helped my nervous girlfriend get her OW cert. 90-some dives and multiple various dive trips later we went back to Kona last week to look at wedding venues and of course had to dive again where it all started for us!
Pretty much KDC is the same amazing family that we remembered from before. We were greeted with smiles and hugs from familiar faces and our diving schedule was quickly arranged for the week. (It was strange to not be diving everyday on a trip but we had various wedding related meetings). Of course they kept and arranged and rinsed all our gear for us there from the start and recommended that we rent 5mm full wetsuits. Honestly I haven't worn a wetsuit in a very long time as I have been fortunate to do some extremely warm water diving but I really appreciated being completely warm. Water was around 79 degrees anyways.
We scattered 3 days of diving through the week: a two tank night manta dive and then two separate two tank morning dives. Everyone was on time and ready to go immediately when we got there. This is likely the most complete full service dive op I have ever experienced, immediately helping us with our boat bags. Gear was all good to go from the start and refreshments ready. I don't know what it is but goldfish crackers, brownies and wraps never quite taste as good as they do on the Hale Kai, the KDC boat.
So we made a bone-head mistake and forgot the meclizine for my fiancee's motion sickness in the hotel room. Uh oh. Luke from KDC was extremely helpful, positioning my fiancee where she could get fresh air, acupressure bracelets and kept her in the water as long as possible, mitigating her symptoms like a pro.
The manta night dive was even more amazing than I remembered. Dozens of them all around! We were very un-rushed and settled down comfortably for the experience. Multiple times during the dive I thought: "this is the Greatest Show on Earth!"
Our second day of diving featured a snorkel with a large pod of dolphins on our surface interval, mantas, garden eels, nudibranchs and a bunch of juvies that I've never seen before.
For the third and final day of diving we were in for a real treat: multiple visits from huge pods of 300+ dolphins swimming all around us!! It's been a lifelong dream for us to actually be diving in the proximity of these beautiful animals and we were in complete heaven from the beginning to the end. Their musical chattering will be in my memory forever. Truly one of the most memorable experiences of my life!!
Overall KDC remains the best dive op I have ever had the pleasure of diving with. Amazingly friendly, talented and simply magical, they are like a big awesome family and I will definitely continue to come back again and again!
Here is the video of the trip. Enjoy the multitude of dolphins and mantas!
Full screen link:
https://vimeo.com/108158923
[video=vimeo;108158923]https://vimeo.com/108158923[/video]
Pretty much KDC is the same amazing family that we remembered from before. We were greeted with smiles and hugs from familiar faces and our diving schedule was quickly arranged for the week. (It was strange to not be diving everyday on a trip but we had various wedding related meetings). Of course they kept and arranged and rinsed all our gear for us there from the start and recommended that we rent 5mm full wetsuits. Honestly I haven't worn a wetsuit in a very long time as I have been fortunate to do some extremely warm water diving but I really appreciated being completely warm. Water was around 79 degrees anyways.
We scattered 3 days of diving through the week: a two tank night manta dive and then two separate two tank morning dives. Everyone was on time and ready to go immediately when we got there. This is likely the most complete full service dive op I have ever experienced, immediately helping us with our boat bags. Gear was all good to go from the start and refreshments ready. I don't know what it is but goldfish crackers, brownies and wraps never quite taste as good as they do on the Hale Kai, the KDC boat.
So we made a bone-head mistake and forgot the meclizine for my fiancee's motion sickness in the hotel room. Uh oh. Luke from KDC was extremely helpful, positioning my fiancee where she could get fresh air, acupressure bracelets and kept her in the water as long as possible, mitigating her symptoms like a pro.
The manta night dive was even more amazing than I remembered. Dozens of them all around! We were very un-rushed and settled down comfortably for the experience. Multiple times during the dive I thought: "this is the Greatest Show on Earth!"
Our second day of diving featured a snorkel with a large pod of dolphins on our surface interval, mantas, garden eels, nudibranchs and a bunch of juvies that I've never seen before.
For the third and final day of diving we were in for a real treat: multiple visits from huge pods of 300+ dolphins swimming all around us!! It's been a lifelong dream for us to actually be diving in the proximity of these beautiful animals and we were in complete heaven from the beginning to the end. Their musical chattering will be in my memory forever. Truly one of the most memorable experiences of my life!!
Overall KDC remains the best dive op I have ever had the pleasure of diving with. Amazingly friendly, talented and simply magical, they are like a big awesome family and I will definitely continue to come back again and again!
Here is the video of the trip. Enjoy the multitude of dolphins and mantas!
Full screen link:
https://vimeo.com/108158923
[video=vimeo;108158923]https://vimeo.com/108158923[/video]
