Hawaii, Kona Coast, by Jim G

My wife and I just returned from a 10 day trip to the Kona coast on the Big Island of Hawaii. We stayed at the Kona Reef and completed 16 dives. The weather was perfect. 80-90 degrees with occasional rain that kept the island feeling tropical. We dove without exposure suits except for the one night dive. Water temperatures were in the low eighties. Our goal on this trip was to see how economically we could shore dive in Hawaii. Tank and weight rentals and air fills cost on average $10 per dive per person. We were very selective about boat diving. The Manta dive is incredible...don't miss it. The only other boat diving we did was with Big Island Divers. There were only 4 customers, a Captain, and a Videographer on the Big Island Divers trip, and it was fantastic. Check out Big Island Divers web site.

I researched the shore diving extensively through: Kona Coast Divers, and Dick The Diver.

The follow is a list of the sites we dove with brief descriptions of the highlights. Kona Coast Diver's and Dick The Diver's web sites do a great job explaining these sites and how to get there. I've listed the sites in a north-to-south order.

Mahukona County Beach Park -easy to find -giant stride entry -ladder exit -fresh water shower -giant chain leads to the wreck Puako -easy to find -beach entry -turtles/lava tubes Cresent Beach/Alula Beach (Honokohau Harbor) -easy to find -tricky short hike over lava -beach entry -turtles/frog fish Pahoehoe Beach Park -easy to find -beach entry/surge and surf -fresh water shower Mile Marker 4 -easy to find -beach entry -turtles/lava tubes Old Warf at Kealakekua Bay -easy to find -giant stride entry -shallow dive/extensive coral growth Ke'ei -not so easy to find -giant stride entry -deep dive -garden eels Place of Refuge (Honauhau) -easy to find -giant stride entry -lava "steps" at exit -healthy corals -swim-thru archway Miloli'i Beach Park -not so easy to find -rough road -giant stride entry -ladder exit -interesting valleys underwater

Kona Surf, Manta Ray Dive -night dive -"Manta Madness" Spaceship -turtles -swim-thru archway -schooling fish Turtle Pinnacle -turtle cleaning station

Peacock Flounder Black Durgeon Eel Butterflyfish Green Turtle Parrotfish Trumpetfish Coronetfish Octopus Cleaner Wrasse Banded Shrimp Nudebranch Chub Crab Manta Yellow Tang Triggerfish Lizardfish Scorpionfish Frogfish Dolphin (while snorkeling) Peacock Grouper Goatfish Filefish Pufferfish Damselfish Hawaiian Seargent Angelfish Moorish Idol Blenny Surgeonfish Dragon Wrasse Red Pipefish

Check out my SCUBA page at
http://www.sonic.net/~jimg/scuba.htm