In Reply to: Re: Re: Kona Dive Operators posted by Terry F on March 23, 2006 at 15:43:26:

Hi Terry,

When are you going again? I'll be there Apr 15 - 25 so I'll have even better info after that.

Manuka was amazing for us. There were jumping whales in the middle of the cove. I even got to see part of one underwater. It was so long that only half of it was in the vis. It also had the clearest water with vis between 100-150ft. The drive down to Manuka is difficult and the entrance to the little dirt road isn't really clear. You'll probably be the only non-natives there. We were very respectful and the locals treated us like family. The cove has good diving all around, but of particular interest is to follow the finger reef out on the right side of the cove.

Puako Village End is amazing and I plan to spend another 2-3 dives there next month. It has awesome lava tubes with sleeping turtles, supposedly sleeping sharks, and gold lace nudis.

Place of Refuge also deserves 2-3 more dives. It's overrun by turtles and is where I saw the eagle ray.

South Point was initially a little intimidating because everyone we spoke to said it was nearly impossible to dive, had deadly currents that would sweep us off to Anartica with no chance of rescue, had schooling hammerheads that would eat us, and all sorts of other scary stuff. We caught it on a good day and had a blast! The only scary thing we encountered was lots of heavy fishing gear and a manta that sneaked up on me (twice!) and nearly caused me to have a heart attack.

I wasn't terribly impressed with Mahukona or the diving at Capt Cook, although the kayak crossing of the bay was fun. Not that the diving was bad, it just wasn't as impressive as everything else.

I hear that the Mantas are hanging out in front of the Sheraton hotel now and it's an easy night beach dive. The big boys are still out near the airport and you have to take a boat to get to them, but I hear the Sheraton offers a much more personal experience in that you're forced to be on your knees in the sand (a position that I'm fundamentally opposed to!) and can interact with them with fewer divers around.

I highly recommend Big Island Divers for all of your gear rental or trip needs. They were really good to us and to friends that I've recommended.

Cheers,
Ross-O

• Re: Re: Re: Re: Kona Dive Operators Terry F 07:58:22 03/24/06 (0)
• make that "NOT forced to be on your knees" Ross-O 00:14:42 03/24/06 (0)