First trip to Kona, Diving with Big Island Divers - Blackwater Dive Questions

[Guitarcrazy]

We are going to Kona to dive for the first time. We are planning 3 days of diving and 4 days of sightseeing. We are doing the night Manta Ray dive, and they recommended the blackwater dive. We have never done a blackwater dive, but I like to take photos so thought it might be a cool experience. It complicates our schedule however, and we may lose a day of sightseeing as we can't dive the next morning, and we can't go to the other side of the island because of the elevation change. Any thoughts on whether the blackwater dive is good enough to warrant losing a day of hiking or traveling to the other side of the island?

 

[FreqFlier]

Manta ray dives are relatively shallow, your SI will be about 6-8 hrs or so. You are fine as long as you are not driving the same night.
Ideally give dive shop a call and ask them.

 

[Guitarcrazy]

We are definitely doing the mantas, just wondering if the blackwater is worth losing a day of hiking and exploring the island. They only do it one day a week and that causes some schedule issues.

 

[RVBldr]

I'd say that it depends. The bulk of the critters you'll see are fairly small with exceptions of some potentially big salps. Photography of these little animals really takes practice and some decent equipment and practice. Basically, you'll be in several thousand feet of water hanging by a line off the boat and then watching the critters go by. Personally, I love these dives, but they are not for everyone. Might be a nice one-time dive for the experience though. Not sure why you wouldn't be able to dive next morning, other than an earlier morning.

 

[living4experiences]

Blackwater diving is special in Hawaii because you are truly hovering in 5000 feet of ocean. Not many other places in the world can offer that. Lots of places do blackwater diving hovering in 500-1000 feet of water. It's a little more intense than night diving on a reef because you have no reference to the bottom. That's unnerving for some folks. I've done it with Jack's Diving Locker and they offer it twice a week. I loved it! Most everything you see is small and six inches to a foot away from your mask, and you've got to be a really good photographer with a great camera to get pictures.

Here's a tutorial style video from Jack's. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnKW4sZ4_ZA

IMO, it's a unique experience and one not to be missed for a diver.

 

[xan]

Any thoughts on whether the blackwater dive is good enough to warrant losing a day of hiking or traveling to the other side of the island?

This is of course going to end up being a subjective opinion, since the valuation of diving and hiking might be different for you than for me(/others), but I think the uniqueness of the blackwater dive in Hawai'i overshadows the hiking opportunities. Depending how soon you expect to go back to HI, it would be worth the sacrifice. Of course, diving is more unpredictable than hiking in terms of rewards, but that's nothing new. FWIW I think the blackwater dive is much more likely to be "successful" than the Manta dive, since the Mantas sometimes don't show up (check out JDL's manta report closer yo your trip).

You may also consider if other dive outfits do their blackwater (or "pelagic" as JDL calls it) dives on different days, and if that might help with scheduling, as well.

 

[RVBldr]

As of recently, Jacks Diving Locker has been running Tuesday/Thursday evenings with 5:30 show-time at harbor, returning about 8:30 - 9:00 PM.

 

[Redfoot]

If you are traveling in the next 1-2 months, this is a very windy time of year. We were there in February 2022 and there was no diving the whole week we were on Kona (aside from sheltered shore dives) . I am glad we had other stuff planned- might have to keep flexible until the day/week of, unfortunately.

Have a malasada (or 10) for me! And DON'T dive or snorkel at Kehana beach...... some species you would probably rather never see.

 

[Guitarcrazy]

Thanks for the replies. We have reshuffled our dive activities to allow us to go to Volcanoes Nat'l Park and see Akaka Falls. Unfortunately it means we canceled the blackwater for this trip. We go to Cozumel twice a year so we will book one next time we are there. Appreciate the feedback.

 

[NorCalDM]

Volcanoes Nat'l Park and Akaka Falls are not that close to each other, depending on were you are staying they are usually a full days trip for each.