Torontonian
Contributor
This is an update from my earlier post inquiring about shore dive in Kona. On Wed. Aug. 29, my wife and I came to Kona as a cruise (NCL Pride of America) port stop. In the morning, we went to a Body Glove snorkel trip to Red Hill. That was really for my wife, who is a non-swimmer. That snorkel cruise on a big cat, then nice calm water at Red Hill, was really good for her. For the afternoon, I searched, and eventually booked with Jack's Diving Locker. At first I was the only one who booked, at the good rate of $55 including gear. They came to pick us up, at the entrace of the pier. The big banyan tree in front of the King Kam hotel, and by the pier, is a good meeting place for many people. On that day, it turned out there were 9 divers. A family of 5 that were intro divers. Then there was another family of 3, a couple with a 15-yr daughter. The couple were certified and their daughter also doing intro. I was in the group with those 3, led by Sharp. Two others, Chris and Peter, led the other group.
We went in 2 vehicles, a van for us divers and another truck hauling all the gears. Jack's has license to park at the pier, which made things easy. The gears were taken off the truck, and set up right at the edge of the small beach. So it was easy for all of us to put on. We waded in the water to about waist deep, then put the fins on, and began to swim out.
We were to swim just to the right of the float line, to the end, then to the right where the reef begins. I found it a tough swim. I'm not a good swimmer, and I know most divers are good swimmers. But I guess I'm also unfit, and was running out of breath, with a sinking feeling when we got to the end of the float line. That's when I think Peter pointed out that I didn't inflate my BC fully. I inflated it fully, and that made a big difference. Well, I haven't done a shore dive in a very long time. Usually I go in a boat, inflate the BC a little to stay afloat, then we go down almost right away. So I didn't think of that, and not having BC fully inflated would've kept me having to kick a lot while swimming and staying afloat. My bad. An important lesson to learn for me.
After catching my breath, Sharp asked me if I need more time. I said I was fine, and we went down. The intro divers went down the bouy line, while the rest of us just went down. It was quite shallow, at 10' when we were at the reef. There was a small sand patch, which would've been good for anyone that might hit the reef otherwise. It was kind of shallow for a while, then began to go deeper, till 30-40'.
The coral growth was a lot denser here than at Red Hill, in our morning snorkel. I saw several trumpet fish, then saw a yellow one. Wasn't sure if it really was a trumpet fish -- but confirmed with Sharp later that indeed there are yellow trumpet fish around. Also saw a small eel and an octopus hiding. I was so glad that after my earlier struggle, after going down, it was a good dive. Near the end of the half way point, the edge of the reef (where sand begins) was around 40-50'. We then turned around. There weren't as many sea urchins as at the Red Hill. A lot of elkhorn type corals. In Hawaii, there aren't much soft corals, as the water temp isn't as warm as in the Caribbeans (or Taiwan) where I had most of my other dives.
We started out with Sharp leading, holding the gound float flag. On the way back, Sharp was at the end with the float mark. I was wondering if the float mark should be at the beginning, or the end of the group.
Going back, seems to be a lot faster. Probably because everyone was swimming better and the intro divers got more used to being underwater. We all went back to top by the bouy mark, then swam ashore. This time I inflated fully, and it was such an easy swim. We used small tanks, and I had 1000psi left.
It was good there was a rinse stall also right by the edge of the beach, where we took turns rinsing off. It was so convenient. The Jack's truck and van were also right there. While rinsing I got talking with the couple and found out the father was an instructor, and the wife met him while taking dive lessons. That's why she always felt safe diving with him. No wonder he did look like a very good diver, and at times helped the daughter. I guess they told Jack's beforehand that they'd take care of the daughter, and that's why we were referred as the certified group. We were all taken back to the shop. I was able to meet Angela (who I booked with) and said hi to her, and let her know it was a good dive. This is also an option I can recommend to other cruisers, for their port stop in Kona.
We went in 2 vehicles, a van for us divers and another truck hauling all the gears. Jack's has license to park at the pier, which made things easy. The gears were taken off the truck, and set up right at the edge of the small beach. So it was easy for all of us to put on. We waded in the water to about waist deep, then put the fins on, and began to swim out.
We were to swim just to the right of the float line, to the end, then to the right where the reef begins. I found it a tough swim. I'm not a good swimmer, and I know most divers are good swimmers. But I guess I'm also unfit, and was running out of breath, with a sinking feeling when we got to the end of the float line. That's when I think Peter pointed out that I didn't inflate my BC fully. I inflated it fully, and that made a big difference. Well, I haven't done a shore dive in a very long time. Usually I go in a boat, inflate the BC a little to stay afloat, then we go down almost right away. So I didn't think of that, and not having BC fully inflated would've kept me having to kick a lot while swimming and staying afloat. My bad. An important lesson to learn for me.
After catching my breath, Sharp asked me if I need more time. I said I was fine, and we went down. The intro divers went down the bouy line, while the rest of us just went down. It was quite shallow, at 10' when we were at the reef. There was a small sand patch, which would've been good for anyone that might hit the reef otherwise. It was kind of shallow for a while, then began to go deeper, till 30-40'.
The coral growth was a lot denser here than at Red Hill, in our morning snorkel. I saw several trumpet fish, then saw a yellow one. Wasn't sure if it really was a trumpet fish -- but confirmed with Sharp later that indeed there are yellow trumpet fish around. Also saw a small eel and an octopus hiding. I was so glad that after my earlier struggle, after going down, it was a good dive. Near the end of the half way point, the edge of the reef (where sand begins) was around 40-50'. We then turned around. There weren't as many sea urchins as at the Red Hill. A lot of elkhorn type corals. In Hawaii, there aren't much soft corals, as the water temp isn't as warm as in the Caribbeans (or Taiwan) where I had most of my other dives.
We started out with Sharp leading, holding the gound float flag. On the way back, Sharp was at the end with the float mark. I was wondering if the float mark should be at the beginning, or the end of the group.
Going back, seems to be a lot faster. Probably because everyone was swimming better and the intro divers got more used to being underwater. We all went back to top by the bouy mark, then swam ashore. This time I inflated fully, and it was such an easy swim. We used small tanks, and I had 1000psi left.
It was good there was a rinse stall also right by the edge of the beach, where we took turns rinsing off. It was so convenient. The Jack's truck and van were also right there. While rinsing I got talking with the couple and found out the father was an instructor, and the wife met him while taking dive lessons. That's why she always felt safe diving with him. No wonder he did look like a very good diver, and at times helped the daughter. I guess they told Jack's beforehand that they'd take care of the daughter, and that's why we were referred as the certified group. We were all taken back to the shop. I was able to meet Angela (who I booked with) and said hi to her, and let her know it was a good dive. This is also an option I can recommend to other cruisers, for their port stop in Kona.
