Tomorrow night, thursday, Im taking the boat out for a bug hunting dive. We will be starting just before dark. If you haven't done a night dive now would be a great time to do it. Roy my dive buddy is an instructor and Im a DM so you should be in safe hands if this is your first time. Y'all are more than welcome to go out with us. Diving Puako BTW. Bout 20 minutes north of Kona. ALoha!
Where to get nitrox cert on Big Island? AOW dive options?
- Thread starter capybara
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OP
capybara
Contributor
Hi Wildcard and others,Wildcard:
Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. It's been really busy, long hours at work and this is my first day off since we got back. We had a great time in Kona! We did our AOW with Kona Honu and our Nitrox cert with Scuba Shack Too.
We stayed at Outrigger Keauhou just south of Kailua-Kona and right next to Kahaluu Beach Park. We stayed there last year when it was an Ohana, and thought it was just perfect. You can look outside your window and see turtles swimming right below you. Since then they renamed it an Outrigger, although the rooms haven't changed at all (doesn't seem as fancy as other Outriggers) but is just more crowded and expensive than before. Really tough to find parking now. Oh well, it's still a nice hotel.
We went diving as soon as we arrived, and that dive was probably the highlight of the trip. We went on the afternoon/night manta dive with Kona Honu. They have a nice big 46' Newton, and there were never more than 6 divers plus a few snorkelers, so we had plenty of space. They serve fresh pineapple after the dive. Our instructor/DM was John and he was nice.
On the way there, we saw lots of whales spouting and then a pod of dolphins swam with us under the bow.
We did our navigation dive at Garden Eel Cove and stayed there for the manta dive. During the dives we could hear whales singing. Water temps were 77-79 and vis usually 60 ft or more. I wore a 3 mm fullsuit and sometimes layered a core warmer on top. I also wore my cat-ear squid lid from Otter Bay Wetsuits. :kitty:
Slingshot captured a shot of his favorite fish ever, the frogfish.
The manta night dive was awesome, our best dive ever. It was our first night dive and it was really exciting. Swimming in the darkness and seeing all the other lights, I felt like I was in outer space.
Then the mantas started showing up (there were at least five that night), buzzing our heads and doing slow graceful loop-de-loops. It was amazing, I've never seen anything so cool. :jawsdown:
My pictures didn't come out (they're not blurry, they're artistic) but I got some video clips on my camera. This was my first time using my new Canon S70 and I'm still getting used to the settings (any tips for night shots?) The DM John also videotaped the dive and sold a DVD for $60, we just got it and it's pretty good.
OP
capybara
Contributor
The next morning we went back to the Kona Honu. They had told us we could leave our BC's and regs with them the night before, but then they forgot to bring my BC and so they went back to the shop to get it. But then they brought the wrong one (a Knighthawk instead of a Ladyhawk) and were trying to get me to use that one even though it was too big. I made them go back to get mine. Last time I leave my gear on a boat. 
lain:
We did our Deep and Buoyancy dives at Preacher's Arch (I can't find this on Franko's map-is there another name?) and Lone Tree. We had to do math problems at 88 ft. ("It is my understanding there would be no math involved.") After my buoyancy dive I was able to shed 4 lbs, so on my last dives I was only wearing 4 lbs of weight! (After diving in Monterey with 22 lbs, that seems unreal to me!)
The next day we did our nitrox dives with Scuba Shack Too. We met him at Two Step near Place of Refuge. Jay didn't dive with us because he said he had other "students" doing a rescue class (turned out it was his daughter and her friend) but sent us out with his son instead. I guess it didn't matter too much, but that was a little weird, since we were the paying customers. He also didn't bring an oxygen analyzer, so we didn't get to learn how to check our tanks. (He told us we could stop by the shop later to learn, but we didn't have time). His son was really friendly and we had fun diving with him; we tried to tip him but he refused.
There's an "Aloha" sign made out of cement bricks there.
I saw a cool orangemouth lizardfish there while we were doing our safety stop.
The second dive on the south (left) side was much more interesting than the north side, with lots of rock formations and lots of honu encounters. Two Step is a great place to shore dive.
lain:We did our Deep and Buoyancy dives at Preacher's Arch (I can't find this on Franko's map-is there another name?) and Lone Tree. We had to do math problems at 88 ft. ("It is my understanding there would be no math involved.") After my buoyancy dive I was able to shed 4 lbs, so on my last dives I was only wearing 4 lbs of weight! (After diving in Monterey with 22 lbs, that seems unreal to me!)
The next day we did our nitrox dives with Scuba Shack Too. We met him at Two Step near Place of Refuge. Jay didn't dive with us because he said he had other "students" doing a rescue class (turned out it was his daughter and her friend) but sent us out with his son instead. I guess it didn't matter too much, but that was a little weird, since we were the paying customers. He also didn't bring an oxygen analyzer, so we didn't get to learn how to check our tanks. (He told us we could stop by the shop later to learn, but we didn't have time). His son was really friendly and we had fun diving with him; we tried to tip him but he refused.
There's an "Aloha" sign made out of cement bricks there.
I saw a cool orangemouth lizardfish there while we were doing our safety stop.
The second dive on the south (left) side was much more interesting than the north side, with lots of rock formations and lots of honu encounters. Two Step is a great place to shore dive.
OP
capybara
Contributor
The next day was with Kona Honu again at Kaiwi Bay and Old Airport for our Underwater Photography dive. There are lots of cool lava arches and interesting fish. :fish::goldfish:
This devil scorpionfish was hanging vertically off a rock.
These pics of a peacock flounder, peacock grouper, and whitemouth moray were taken by slingshot, who has a strobe. I am jealous.
So now we had finished our AOW and nitrox certs. I don't feel like an "advanced diver" yet, although I can tell I've improved just from having more dives under my belt. AOW is like a "pupu platter", it just leaves you wanting more. I think both ops we went with were friendly and were well worth the amount we paid (they were both much cheaper than others on the island), although I expected much more rigorous instruction than we got. The only nitrox instruction we got was what we read in the book. Another minor rant, both dive guides we went with seemed to like chasing and grabbing octopi and pufferfish, which didn't seem right to us. :no
Overall though, we had a great time and really enjoyed our diving with both outfits. (Tip: Kona Honu has 10% off coupons for regular boat dives in all the "This Week"-type publications you get at the airport, and has a coupon for 10% off classes in the PADI membership guide).
We had rented an extra tank from Scuba Shack, and even though we were tired from the nonstop diving and lack of sleep, we didn't want to return it unused, so that afternoon we did a dive at Kahaluu next to our hotel. That was the funniest dive because we never got below 10 feet and yet there was a ripping current (at one point I was just hanging onto slingshot's fin trying not to get swept away). We did get a good look at some more honu, though.
This devil scorpionfish was hanging vertically off a rock.
These pics of a peacock flounder, peacock grouper, and whitemouth moray were taken by slingshot, who has a strobe. I am jealous.
So now we had finished our AOW and nitrox certs. I don't feel like an "advanced diver" yet, although I can tell I've improved just from having more dives under my belt. AOW is like a "pupu platter", it just leaves you wanting more. I think both ops we went with were friendly and were well worth the amount we paid (they were both much cheaper than others on the island), although I expected much more rigorous instruction than we got. The only nitrox instruction we got was what we read in the book. Another minor rant, both dive guides we went with seemed to like chasing and grabbing octopi and pufferfish, which didn't seem right to us. :no
Overall though, we had a great time and really enjoyed our diving with both outfits. (Tip: Kona Honu has 10% off coupons for regular boat dives in all the "This Week"-type publications you get at the airport, and has a coupon for 10% off classes in the PADI membership guide).
We had rented an extra tank from Scuba Shack, and even though we were tired from the nonstop diving and lack of sleep, we didn't want to return it unused, so that afternoon we did a dive at Kahaluu next to our hotel. That was the funniest dive because we never got below 10 feet and yet there was a ripping current (at one point I was just hanging onto slingshot's fin trying not to get swept away). We did get a good look at some more honu, though.
OP
capybara
Contributor
The next day was a whirlwind tour of the island. First we drove to Punaluu Black Sand Beach.
Love the highway signs.
Then to Volcanoes National Park to see Halemaumau crater. It was smoking in several spots!
Then to Hilo for a helicopter tour with Tropical Helicopters. This was an amazing experience. We had the doors-off "Feel the Heat" tour and you really could feel the warmth when we flew over the lava fields. We could also see lava flowing in to the ocean (you can see the people who hiked there in the photo).
We also flew over Rainbow Falls.
Then we drove to Waikoloa for a luau at the Marriott. Good food and a decent show, and I had used a AAA travel voucher so it was basically two-for-one.
By the time we got back home, we had driven about 250 miles that day, but it was well worth it.
So as you can tell, we had a blast and were able to do a lot even though our vacation was so short. Can't wait to come back again. Thanks everyone for all your tips! And if anyone reading this is considering diving in Kona, DO IT!
Love the highway signs.
Then to Volcanoes National Park to see Halemaumau crater. It was smoking in several spots!
Then to Hilo for a helicopter tour with Tropical Helicopters. This was an amazing experience. We had the doors-off "Feel the Heat" tour and you really could feel the warmth when we flew over the lava fields. We could also see lava flowing in to the ocean (you can see the people who hiked there in the photo).
We also flew over Rainbow Falls.
Then we drove to Waikoloa for a luau at the Marriott. Good food and a decent show, and I had used a AAA travel voucher so it was basically two-for-one.
By the time we got back home, we had driven about 250 miles that day, but it was well worth it.
So as you can tell, we had a blast and were able to do a lot even though our vacation was so short. Can't wait to come back again. Thanks everyone for all your tips! And if anyone reading this is considering diving in Kona, DO IT!
OP
capybara
Contributor
I don't know why the pictures are not showing up in my previous posts. Does anybody have any suggestions on how to fix it?
OP
capybara
Contributor
I fixed the pictures--have a look.
OP
capybara
Contributor
Wildcard:
Wildcard, Thanks for the dive invite and your tips about Kona. Too bad we didn't get a chance to meet up with you. Maybe next time we're out there. We had a lot of fun diving and can't wait to come back someday.
capybara
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