If you’d like to see what ocean wonders await all around the Big Island, let the Kona Diving Company take you on a trip to remember. Their diving charters always prove absolutely delightful, no matter which of the 40 dive sites you explore around the Kona coast. You’ll always set out from the Honokohau Harbor, although where you end up varies with the conditions and your preferences. The crew plans each trip around what you’d like to see most, whether that’s underwater lava tubes, colorful reefs, or something altogether different.
You can improve your underwater moves by taking one of their awesome courses ahead of time. They offer certification courses that let you safely go to your preferred depths and explore without damaging the ecosystem. Want to boost your buoyancy and ability to control your air consumption? Take the PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy Specialty class. You’ll learn how to transform your dive style and kick like a frog to avoid stirring up the sand.
To complete their offerings, they run a full dive shop full of gear for sale and rent. They have everything from wetsuits and regulators to dive lights and lanyards. Their equipment comes from all the most popular brands, including BARE, Oceanic, Tusa, and Lavacore. Unless you already have your own, you’ll need to get rental gear from the shop when joining their charters. They have a complete rental gear package, or you can get certain items ala carte. They do provide air tanks and weights, so you don’t have to bring or rent those.
If you want to dive around the island on your own, you can rent their gear by the day, too. They also offer gear maintenance services as needed to keep your personal items in peak condition. They only service gear from Aeris, Atomic, Hollis, Oceanic, and Zeagle, however.
Their most popular charters:
AM Two-Tank Local Dive Trip
On the AM Two-Tank Local Dive Trip, you’ll head out early in the morning to one of the many phenomenal dive sites around Kona. The crew will then help you get geared up and dive up to 35 feet down to see fish, eels, and so much more along the reefs. You may visit many other habitats along the way as well, so you can admire the diversity of the marine life all around.
One-Tank Night Reef Dive
The One-Tank Night Reef Dive allows you to explore the beauty of the ocean well after sunset. As the ultra-dark water envelopes you all around, you can use dive lights to pick out the sights lurking in the depths. The behavior of the marine life changes phenomenally at night, so it’s well worth coming down to see what’s happening beneath the waves.
Manta Ray Snorkeling
If you’re not dive-certified, you can still get in on the fun by joining the Manta Ray Snorkeling excursion. On this tour, you’ll go on two guided snorkeling sessions before sunset and right after dark. All along the way, you’ll be sure to see tons of majestic manta rays gliding through the water as they search for food in the bright lights.
As a part of their commitment to keeping you safe always, the crew pays close attention to the conditions all throughout the day. If they ever feel like the current conditions could put their guests, crew, or boat in danger, they will cancel the trip in an instant. You’ll always get a chance to reschedule ASAP. But if the options don’t work for you, they’ll just provide a full refund instead.
Insider Tips:
-Their cancellation policies vary. Most tours have a 48 hours’ notice policy, but that’s not always the case. So, pay close attention to the policies for your exact trip type and date, so you can avoid losing your money.
-Always take great care to avoid touching the reef. Watch your fins as you kick and use a reef stick to stabilize yourself as you look around.
-Bring cash, so you can tip the dive master and crew for a job well done.