Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
- Scubie Doo
- I've Got Gills
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- Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:13 pm
Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
Penders and I are heading to Kona for some diving in January. We are doing the Black Water and Manta dives and staying in Puako, so we'll hit some shore dives there too. I am looking for some locals to take us to a couple new shore dives and/or night dives. I have dove with Sockmonkey and Jackson Seay out there and have reached out to them, but have not been able to solidify anything yet. Let me know if you have any contacts there, that would be willing to show us some new sites. Thanks.
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
If you can catch Billy Ball from Kona Diving Compay on his day off he might take you out for a dive.
http://www.konadivingcompany.com/Pages/CrewMembers.aspx
Billy spent some time in Seattle diving cold, and occasionally lurks on NWDC. He took lessons from Bob Bailey.
Tell him Fritz sent you if you look him up.
If you are doing some boats I can highly recommend Kona Diving, especially for photographers and critter lovers. They are excellent.
Best shore dive we did was Ho'okena which is somewhat south of 2-Step, a ways from Puako.
http://www.konadivingcompany.com/Pages/CrewMembers.aspx
Billy spent some time in Seattle diving cold, and occasionally lurks on NWDC. He took lessons from Bob Bailey.
Tell him Fritz sent you if you look him up.
If you are doing some boats I can highly recommend Kona Diving, especially for photographers and critter lovers. They are excellent.
Best shore dive we did was Ho'okena which is somewhat south of 2-Step, a ways from Puako.
To Air is Human,
To Respire, Divine.
To Respire, Divine.
- Scubie Doo
- I've Got Gills
- Posts: 3027
- Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:13 pm
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
Thanks Fritz. I heard that site was good. Maybe we will make a run down there after two-step.
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
Unfortunately, Sockmonkey no longer lives there. You could try contacting Mari who works for Kohala Divers. She's bingediver here on NWDC. If you dive with her, say hi to my singles rig for me. She's currently using it.
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
I was disappointed in Puako. We went in at the tiny cove by the small tree, which seems to be a main entrance. There was a semi-commercial guy there trying to drum up business for guiding the site. He had a map of the site on his van. He was happy to give me a complete run down of the site, so I think we dove it reasonably well. I thought the outer reef area was uninteresting rubble. The closer in caves, overhangs, and notches seemed to be where the good stuff was.spatman wrote:Oh, and Puako is awesome. I love diving there.
Ho'okena by comparison was a beautiful reef in excellent shape.
Alua Beach (just to the left of the boat harbor is another good one. If you are lucky there will be Eagle Rays down on the flats, ~80'. On the edged of the reef-flat transition there is a puka with a good sized moray and red pipefish living in it. Good for large schools of goat fish, butterfly fish, and coronet fish.
To Air is Human,
To Respire, Divine.
To Respire, Divine.
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
I'm not sure what beach you dived at, Fritz, but it sounds a lot different than the areas we dived in Puako. Granted there are nicer sites to dive on the Kohala/Kona coast, but if you're staying Puako might as well take advantage of it.
In my maybe 15 total dives there I've seen reef sharks, eagle rays, octopuses mating, and a lot of turtles. Most of the reef was healthy with plenty of fish.
In my maybe 15 total dives there I've seen reef sharks, eagle rays, octopuses mating, and a lot of turtles. Most of the reef was healthy with plenty of fish.
- Scubie Doo
- I've Got Gills
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- Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:13 pm
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
I have dove there about 5 times and the first 3 were like Spatman's experience and the last 2 were like Fritz's. It depends. I am planning on at least 2-4 dives there.spatman wrote:I'm not sure what beach you dived at, Fritz, but it sounds a lot different than the areas we dived in Puako. Granted there are nicer sites to dive on the Kohala/Kona coast, but if you're staying Puako might as well take advantage of it.
In my maybe 15 total dives there I've seen reef sharks, eagle rays, octopuses mating, and a lot of turtles. Most of the reef was healthy with plenty of fish.
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
It's a big area and I've only seen the one dive there, so maybe I missed something, maybe a lot.
There's a beach just north of the airport that Billy said he could take us on our next trip there. For a guy diving with Kona all the time (and can go out on his days off), that must be some kind of decent. He could give more details. Outside Puako I don't have any shore dive experience north. The majority have been with Kona. Our 1st trip there had bad wave action and scrubbed most of our attempts to shore dive. It was better our 2nd trip.
Is it less expensive to stay up in the Puako area?
There's a beach just north of the airport that Billy said he could take us on our next trip there. For a guy diving with Kona all the time (and can go out on his days off), that must be some kind of decent. He could give more details. Outside Puako I don't have any shore dive experience north. The majority have been with Kona. Our 1st trip there had bad wave action and scrubbed most of our attempts to shore dive. It was better our 2nd trip.
Is it less expensive to stay up in the Puako area?
To Air is Human,
To Respire, Divine.
To Respire, Divine.
- Scubie Doo
- I've Got Gills
- Posts: 3027
- Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:13 pm
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
No, more a little more expensive. But I have only stayed at the Hilton Wiakoloa and am familiar with that area. Do you have Billy's email that you could send in a PM?fmerkel wrote:It's a big area and I've only seen the one dive there, so maybe I missed something, maybe a lot.
There's a beach just north of the airport that Billy said he could take us on our next trip there. For a guy diving with Kona all the time (and can go out on his days off), that must be some kind of decent. He could give more details. Outside Puako I don't have any shore dive experience north. The majority have been with Kona. Our 1st trip there had bad wave action and scrubbed most of our attempts to shore dive. It was better our 2nd trip.
Is it less expensive to stay up in the Puako area?
- Scubie Doo
- I've Got Gills
- Posts: 3027
- Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:13 pm
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
Do you have Mari's email you could forward to me via PM?spatman wrote:Unfortunately, Sockmonkey no longer lives there. You could try contacting Mari who works for Kohala Divers. She's bingediver here on NWDC. If you dive with her, say hi to my singles rig for me. She's currently using it.
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
fmerkel wrote:I was disappointed in Puako. We went in at the tiny cove by the small tree, which seems to be a main entrance. There was a semi-commercial guy there trying to drum up business for guiding the site. He had a map of the site on his van. He was happy to give me a complete run down of the site, so I think we dove it reasonably well. I thought the outer reef area was uninteresting rubble. The closer in caves, overhangs, and notches seemed to be where the good stuff was.spatman wrote:Oh, and Puako is awesome. I love diving there.
Ho'okena by comparison was a beautiful reef in excellent shape.
Alua Beach (just to the left of the boat harbor is another good one. If you are lucky there will be Eagle Rays down on the flats, ~80'. On the edged of the reef-flat transition there is a puka with a good sized moray and red pipefish living in it. Good for large schools of goat fish, butterfly fish, and coronet fish.
Interesting comment on Ho'okena. Would love to hear a bit more about how you dove that site. I have passed it up on previous trips, as it didnt sound too good on Shorediving.com
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
I will put in a plug for Billy. Bob hooked us up with him about 2 years ago. Beth and I only had a few dives on our own at the time. I think we had done 4 dives not counting the OW dive, then did a weekend "workshop" with Bob before we went. I think our first dive in HI was #12. Billy was awesome for us.
We are loosely planning on going to BI again in June/July and hope too hook up with him again now that we are more experienced divers.
We are loosely planning on going to BI again in June/July and hope too hook up with him again now that we are more experienced divers.
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
Scubie Doo wrote:Penders and I are heading to Kona for some diving in January.
That is all.
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
So far I consider shorediving there to be kind of a guide, certainly not an absolute. Tastes certainly do vary, along with expectations, diver skill, and conditions at the time.Gdog wrote: Interesting comment on Ho'okena. Would love to hear a bit more about how you dove that site. I have passed it up on previous trips, as it didnt sound too good on Shorediving.com
It's pretty easy to find on Google maps.
http://goo.gl/maps/8BQLm
If possible park to the far right as you come down to the beach. There's a shelter to the right with nice tables to load gear and a shower right in front of the parking area.
BEWARE-there are some kind of bees that nest in the sand near the shower! They were not a big nuisance but could be a deal breaker if you are allergic.
There's the remains of an old pier wall going into the water. Enter here on the left side and pick your way through the coral.
Swim toward the point on your right. Along the way you'll see some large coral head sticking up. Drop where it pleases you and head kind of right toward the point and out. We did not go around the point but you can. It's a shallow dive unless you go WAY out (not been there but was told that). Give yourself air and time to get back. Simply poke along and look at stuff, but then, that's my dive style. I thought the coral and reef were in very good shape and quite pretty. Some of our other shore dives were kind of beat up looking. This one was not.
We ended up coming in more at the main beach. The area out front of the beach is quite shallow. I think the whole area can work for entrance and exit as long as you can get through the coral. I think if the waves are running from the wrong direction this could be pretty exposed. You can get wave reports on line when you are on island. That makes a big difference on some sites.
To Air is Human,
To Respire, Divine.
To Respire, Divine.
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
Thanks for the pointers. I will give it a go!
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
Jan. 17......
Surf is up big time and three more 'surges' are in the forecast for the next several days.
Surfers are in heaven, but shore diving is not happening here in Kona.
Will be checking on boat diving conditions for the next couple days.
Surf is up big time and three more 'surges' are in the forecast for the next several days.
Surfers are in heaven, but shore diving is not happening here in Kona.
Will be checking on boat diving conditions for the next couple days.
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
Check out the Kohala Divers' FB page for a really cool whale video:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kohala-D ... 4108875269
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kohala-D ... 4108875269
- Scubie Doo
- I've Got Gills
- Posts: 3027
- Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:13 pm
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
We flew in on Friday (late night) and have 7 shore dives. And yes, the surfs up. But we are from PNW, this has nothing on deception pass. HahaPapaZ wrote:Jan. 17......
Surf is up big time and three more 'surges' are in the forecast for the next several days.
Surfers are in heaven, but shore diving is not happening here in Kona.
Will be checking on boat diving conditions for the next couple days.
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
Much better here in Kona.
Had this yesterday to wave to as it came out of a cave.
http://youtu.be/aCWPt5qUTU0
Of for a couple more dives this morning too.
PapaZ
"nothing more dangerous than an old diver with a camera in tow."
Had this yesterday to wave to as it came out of a cave.
http://youtu.be/aCWPt5qUTU0
Of for a couple more dives this morning too.
PapaZ
"nothing more dangerous than an old diver with a camera in tow."
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
That's funny. I ran into the same one in that same hole in October of 2012...PapaZ wrote:Much better here in Kona.
Had this yesterday to wave to as it came out of a cave.
http://youtu.be/aCWPt5qUTU0
Of for a couple more dives this morning too.
PapaZ
"nothing more dangerous than an old diver with a camera in tow."
- lologrande
- Avid Diver
- Posts: 58
- Joined: Mon Oct 04, 2010 12:57 pm
Re: Big Island Diving - 1/18 through 1/21
Greetings all. I am a little late to this thread. I am not lurking too much these days. Anyone coming to Kona please feel free to contact me. I will give all the help I can and hopefully join for a dive or two. Feel free to pm me through the board. My account is still active.
Billy Ball
Billy Ball
The owls are not what they seem.