Scuba diving in Hawaii

[TINNERSTOOTH97]

Can anyone recommend a good dive operator, for any or all of these stops in Hawaii. Plus, wet suit yes or no? (Water temp?) Sailing 9-26-08 on the Radiance Of The Seas.

 

Nawiliwili (Kauai)

Honolulu (Oahu)

Lahaina (Maui)

Kailua Kona

Thank you, Kevin

[bruce-r]

I can't recommend a dive operator, but I can definitly recommend a wetsuit. You'll be lucky if water temps top 80 f.

[tootsiescurly]

I can't recommend a dive operator, but I can definitly recommend a wetsuit. You'll be lucky if water temps top 80 f.

 

Find that hard to believe as the average water temp in Feb & March is 75 degrees.

 

Try Kona Honu in Kailua Kona. They are outstanding!

[cruzegirl]

Well, when in Oahu/Honolulu, I recommend AAA Diving.... Alex is awesome. Love him...... And I wore a 3mm not being sure about if I needed a wetsuit or not. I could have done it with a dive skin and shorty. Did not need a 3 mm suit........

[TINNERSTOOTH97]

Thank you everyone for the input. I will check them out. Thanks again, Kevin

[bruce-r]

Find that hard to believe as the average water temp in Feb & March is 75 degrees.

 

Try Kona Honu in Kailua Kona. They are outstanding!

 

Believe what you want. I was in Kona in July and the water temps, according to my Aeris computer, were 78 +/- a degree. I was cold in a 3 mm full suit even with a hood.

[Snoopyto]

I highly recommend Ocean Concepts. Great Outfit. We dove with them in Ohau and they picked us up from Waikiki beach. They are all about your on vacation. They take you gear to boat and will even set up or switch it for you. Before you leave dock, they brief you location on the boat and buddy plan. They introduced us to pineapple and Chips and salsa between dives. That is something we always do now.

[quester1]

Can anyone recommend a good dive operator, for any or all of these stops in Hawaii. Plus, wet suit yes or no? (Water temp?) Sailing 9-26-08 on the Radiance Of The Seas.

 

Nawiliwili (Kauai)

Honolulu (Oahu)

Lahaina (Maui)

Kailua Kona

Thank you, Kevin

 

We dive with Lahaina Divers in Maui www.lahainadivers.com Met them through NCL Shore Excursion. We did a two tank dive of Molokini Island very beautiful coral, saw a Black Tip Reef Shark, turtles, Spotted Eagle Ray, eels, as well as lots of fish. We dove with shortie wet suits in April and were very comfortable. Zthere shop is in Lahaina about two blocks from the where their boats are docked. Very good equipment.

 

We dive with Kona Honu Divers in Kailua Kona. www.konahonudivers.com did a two tank Manta Ray Dive with them. The first dive was late in the afternoon say many fish and unique coral and an eel garden - hundreds of foot long eels with their tails in the enterance of their burrows and swaying in the currant like sea grass. The next dive was at night we submerged to about 45 feet down with powerful flashlights and sat in a large circle shining our lights upwards to attract plankton which the Manta Rays sooped in to feed on. We attracted about 15 Manta Rays ranging in size from 600 to 1500 pounds and from 6 to 15 feet across. These Manta Rays would swim so close that they some times brushed the top of our heads. We used full length wet suits on this dive provided by Kona Honu Divers and where very glad we did for these dives in May. The dive shop is just outside Kailua Kona in an industrial park.

 

Also if you have a chance rent a car and drive 45 minutes to the Place of Refuge, Punhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park which is beside a beach call two-step beach because the lava formed two steps down into the about six feet of water which makes it very easy to enter the and leave the water. Instead of entering the Place of Refuge parking lot follow the raod arround to right. This will take you right up to the beach area. The coral here is spectacular, probally the best that I've seen in Hawaii from a shore dive - much better than the coral in Oahu's popular Hanauma Bay. THe bay has several times the amount of animal life that one finds now in Hanauma Bay. We saw lobster, crabs, seas urchins, sea cucumbers, sea feathers, larger fish, sea turtle both in the water and sunning them selves on the beach, dolphins and whales. The black sand beach area is small but there is plenty of room to sit on the smooth lava rock or at the picnic tables. Go as early in the morning as you can since the "vog" , fog formed from volcanic gases causes the beach area to cloud over by mid afternoon. On day a pod of 30 spinner dolphins came into the bay, stayed all day and swam with the snoklers and divers. We were observing the pod swimming about 30 feet below us when they decided to surface as close as two feet in front of us. The pod had two baby dolphins about two and half feet long. A Humpback whale swam in to the bay up to about 300 feet off shore. As well, two Humbback beached several times about 600 feet off shore. All in all it was the most diverse ocean wildlife I've seen in one area at one time that was so close. the beach does not attact a lot a tourist or locals because it is kind of out of the way. I counted about 80 people on the beach at any given time. If you go pack a lunch and plenty to drink. There are no stores or restaurants close by to the beach.

 

The Place of Refuge is also worth seeing.

[CelticEyes]

In Kona DH and I dove with Jacks Dive Locker. 6 dives and all were different. Hot water "showers" snacks and drinks between dives. They take care of your gear even switching tanks between dives. I never saw a dm with more than 5 or 6 divers. The night dive with Manta Rays is out of this world. Can't wait to get back for another Manta dive. We also did alot of shore diving at two step. Saw frog fish, and purple leaf scorpion fish. Beautiful coral unless you hit the dead zones.

[Canuck2008]

Can anyone recommend a good dive operator, for any or all of these stops in Hawaii. Plus, wet suit yes or no? (Water temp?) Sailing 9-26-08 on the Radiance Of The Seas.

 

Nawiliwili (Kauai)

Honolulu (Oahu)

Lahaina (Maui)

Kailua Kona

Thank you, Kevin

 

Hi Kevin,

 

I was in diving in Honolulu in March 2008 and would agree with Bruce-R about using a wetsuit and he is right about the water temperatures. I have always used a 3 mil shorty when I'm in Hawaii.

 

As for dive shops, in Honolulu I have always had good luck with Waikikidiving.com during the last couple of years. They have been in business for about 25 years. As well, they have always offered to picked me up and delivery me back to the hotel at no charge.

 

:) Canuck2008

[TINNERSTOOTH97]

Thank you all for the information and dive stories, I will defiantly where a wetsuit, now to decide what dive shop, but that all depends what my wife has planed for each stop.

[cccole]

I asked this same question earlier this year. If you can do a shore dive on the North Shore of Oahu, Sea N Surf is great. My son and daughter-in-law used Sea N Surf in Haleiwa and AAA in Waikiki. Their experience has always been good with Sea N Surf but their dive with AAA was not great.

 

There is another post that AAA is great but my family members said they would never even consider them again.

 

They enjoyed their shore dive on Oahu, and have been diving in several other locations in the islands. They surf without wetsuits in Hawaii but do not dive without wetsuits.

 

Cherie

[Middleager]

I dove with Capt. Bruce's in Oahu, and got my AOW and Nitrox cert with them. They were great.

 

While do research, I came across some people's contraversial experiences with AAA, so I stayed away from them.

[ardie42]

I am with you Bruce_r. We dove with Kona Honu and Jack's Dive Locker. We prefer Kona Honu. I wear a 3mil and it gets cold. But we have had good dives there. We were in Kona in February this year and there was a real bad surge. It made diving tough but we got a few in.

[MJWisconsin]

Check out Ed Robinsons Diving in Maui

I had an excellent dive with them.

[Scubagolf]

We just spent a week (May 20 -27, 2008) in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island. Dove all week with Jack's Dive Locker (see my recent post on ScubaBoard. http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/hawai-i-o-hana/236603-25-mantas-kona-night-dive-may-22nd.html

 

I have made several dive trips to Maui. There is a good dive op that has it's HQ just north of Lahaina and runs a fast boat out of a harbor on the north side of Lahaina, Extended Horizons. They do trips across to the south side of Lanai to dive Cathredrals I and II and other sites. Very good op.

 

The Hawaii page at Scubaboard will have tons of info for you. If you want to do some guided shore diving take a peek at the webpage for ShakaDivers.com. Doug does a great job. He certified my wife a couple of years ago.

 

We will be on the Paul Gauguin in French Polynesia departing August 27, 2008. Anybody else on that trip?