In Reply to: diving the big island hawaii posted by patrick on August 26, 2006 at 18:02:42:

Diving the big island rocks. I've spent nearly 3 weeks there shore diving the place. Don't listen to any naysayers. If someone didn't have a blast, they did something wrong.

There are tons of good beach dives. If you want easy dives where you're sure to see a bunch of good stuff, then go for Puako Village End, Puako Church, and Place of Refuge (aka Two Step). If you want to get off the beaten path and enjoy elevating the risk in order to do some amazing dives that almost no one ever does, rent a 4WD and head to Manuka Bay or Road to the Sea. You can dive a green sand beach with amazing reef and more turtles than you can count at Road to the Sea. Both of these spots are 6-8 miles down a lava road 4WD trail and are DESOLATE! I saw a whale and a ton of dolphins during a dive at Manuka Bay a few years ago.

The only boat dive worth taking is the Manta night dive. It was one of the most spectacular things that I've done in my life. If you only do one dive there, that should be it. Shops don't matter much on that dive since all the shops go to the exact same spot near the airport.

Since we shore dive the place, we needed a shop that was really friendly and would let us rent a bunch of tanks at a time. Big Island Divers is the place. With one tiny exception, everyone there is really friendly and helpful. We looked at other shops and liked the vibe at BID much better than some of the other shops.

Have Fun,
Ross-O

Spots I've dove on the Big Island:
Puako Village End
Puako Church (lots of cleaning stations with turtles & cuda)
Alua Beach
Place of Refuge
Manuka Bay
Old Airport
Kealakekua Bay
Mahukona
Captain Cook Monument
South Point
Road to the Sea
Manta Night Dive

• Re: Re: diving the big island hawaii scjoe 11:10:45 08/28/06 (1)
  • That's probably true Ross-O 15:32:41 08/28/06 (0)