Kona (Big Island) Dive Operators
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Mr Carcharodon
Contributor
I've been out with Big Island Divers and they are good. Reasonable size boat and reasonable dive masters who largely stayed out of the way. Did both a manta and blackwater dive with them.
Dont forget that the shore diving in the area is great. Shorediving.com has a good list of potential sites. Puoko, and cove adjacent to Honokohau harbor, were favorites (just be aware of the boat traffic). Hawaiian Scuba Shack, near Home Depot, was a good place to rent tanks and weights.
Dont forget that the shore diving in the area is great. Shorediving.com has a good list of potential sites. Puoko, and cove adjacent to Honokohau harbor, were favorites (just be aware of the boat traffic). Hawaiian Scuba Shack, near Home Depot, was a good place to rent tanks and weights.
Jack's diving locker - advanced dives only. Talk to them first about how you want to dive and i'm sure they can accommodate you.
i've done a number with them (not GUE), on the smaller boats and they can usually get something together that can work for you.
Lots of interesting sites and they can give you profiles for planning purposes.
The shore diving is good too. The AKA "rip off reef" (Honokohau) to the left of the Kialua marina near the costco, actually provides some good diving and is easy to enter and exit for shore diving. They can let you know of other good places to go outside of the usual "place of refuge" in Kona (another popular site)
A-bay up north in kohala is entertaining as well (left/south side) there is a local dive boat operating out of there and will head out with 2 on board, you can do your own plan and be DM free or DM followed, with local knowledge. Again talk to them first, they are based on the beach directly in front of the Marriott at A-Bay in kohala. Sorry don't remember the name of the operation off hand (call the Marriott in Kohala and they can tell you). there are a lot of interesting sites north of the hilton complex.
call them 808 329-7585 - Jacks Diving locker.
the shop is staffed with the boat DM's
(manta PM dive is good, your on a bigger boat, which you want to be heading over west point in the afternoon, and keller is entertaining if a bit "practiced", we had 16 manta that night and large moray eel swim though my legs while on the bottom)
For the others - I've heard good things about Big island Divers, but have not dived with them. Jacks does a ton of tourists but is well equipped and willing to accommodate divers on the advanced trips or private charters.
I was there 5 weeks last year and all of a sudden we had Baby sitters from the shop which was great.
depending where your staying i can give you some good places to go top side as well (quinns by the sea is a great local hang out for steaks/fish at medium prices).
i've done a number with them (not GUE), on the smaller boats and they can usually get something together that can work for you.
Lots of interesting sites and they can give you profiles for planning purposes.
The shore diving is good too. The AKA "rip off reef" (Honokohau) to the left of the Kialua marina near the costco, actually provides some good diving and is easy to enter and exit for shore diving. They can let you know of other good places to go outside of the usual "place of refuge" in Kona (another popular site)
A-bay up north in kohala is entertaining as well (left/south side) there is a local dive boat operating out of there and will head out with 2 on board, you can do your own plan and be DM free or DM followed, with local knowledge. Again talk to them first, they are based on the beach directly in front of the Marriott at A-Bay in kohala. Sorry don't remember the name of the operation off hand (call the Marriott in Kohala and they can tell you). there are a lot of interesting sites north of the hilton complex.
call them 808 329-7585 - Jacks Diving locker.
the shop is staffed with the boat DM's
(manta PM dive is good, your on a bigger boat, which you want to be heading over west point in the afternoon, and keller is entertaining if a bit "practiced", we had 16 manta that night and large moray eel swim though my legs while on the bottom)
For the others - I've heard good things about Big island Divers, but have not dived with them. Jacks does a ton of tourists but is well equipped and willing to accommodate divers on the advanced trips or private charters.
I was there 5 weeks last year and all of a sudden we had Baby sitters from the shop which was great.
depending where your staying i can give you some good places to go top side as well (quinns by the sea is a great local hang out for steaks/fish at medium prices).
+1 on Jack's -- they are the rolls royce of Kona diving, and you'll pay for it 
Also look at Kona Diving Company, they're solid and they're a little cheaper
Whichever one you go with let us know how it went.
Also look at Kona Diving Company, they're solid and they're a little cheaper
Whichever one you go with let us know how it went.
I highly recommend Kona Honu Divers. They are located at 74-5583 Luhia Street, Kailua Kona. They have 2 boats that are so easy to get on and off of. They take beginners to experienced divers. They have great dives such as the Manta Ray dive (rated top 10 best dives in the world), and the Spinner Dolphin dive, as well as Whale watching and snorkeling. You can get a hold of them at 1-888-333-4668, or at Scuba Diving Hawaii | Manta Ray Night Dives | Scuba Diving Packages | Big Island Scuba Diving | Kona Honu Divers they do dive packages and also have packages including accomodations.
Have fun and hope this helps!!!!
Have fun and hope this helps!!!!
Just updating the post in case the info helps someone else out. We went with Jack's Diving Locker. Nice OW operation but without diving with the other ops on the island I can't really say if the price difference is worth it. The advanced dive trips we did weren't really worth it. I did a few shore dives that were actually better quality sites and everything gets deep fast on the big island anyway if that is something you care about. The reef/ fish life quality isn't that good compared to say Cozumel or the Coral Sea. The Manta Ray night dive is a pretty cool novelty dive.
You can also try asking this question in that regional forum...most of us locals have that page bookmarked and that's where we start of SB so you might get more local responses. I'm on Oahu though so I can't help you there...
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