Kona Coast, April/May 2018

Tell us your tale of coming nose-to-nose with a 6 gill [--this big--], or about your vacation to turquoise warm waters. Share your adventures here!
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Sharkb8
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Kona Coast, April/May 2018

Post by Sharkb8 »

My wife and I had a 10 day vacation with my father-in-law to the Kona Coast on the big island of Hawaii at the end of April. We stayed just south of Kona for 6 nights, and then spent 2 nights in Hilo before flying home. While on the leeward side we got shore dives in at 2 Step and Kailua Bay right in downtown. My wife had some fluid in her ear before the trip so unfortunately she cut the diving off early. I did the Manta night dive and then the basic 2 tank morning trip with Jacks Diving Locker. I also got some great snorkeling in at 2 Step, Kua Bay, Hapuna Beach and at Richardson's Park outside of Hilo. This was my first time diving in the warmer waters of the Pacific and it was fantastic. Our shore dives were pretty nice, and we had turtles, eels and all the reef fish on both of them. Jack's Diving treated me very well for the boat dives and I couldn't have been happier with the shop service or guided diving they provided. We had 8 mantas show up for the night dive, and my 2 tank day dive featured harlequin shrimp, frogfish, leafy scorpion fish, nudi's laying eggs and beautiful lava formations, along with about 150 min of bottom time! The snorkeling was also really pleasant, and I saw turtles and big schools of fish on all of them. On land we drank plenty of Mai Tais, ate the best poke, did the tourist things around town, got sunburned on the one full day of sun, and saw some waterfalls and flowers. We also tried to spend the day in Volcano National Park, but we got kicked out after only a couple hours. Apparently the giant 6.9 earthquake that happened while we were at the caldera overlook and then the resulting giant ash plumes from the collapsing crater floor made all the rangers a bit jumpy.... We never made it down to the Puna district either unfortunately. There were some hot orange cracks in the ground that had been deemed dangerous and they were kicking out all the locals. I have a geology degree so I still fail to see what all the fuss is about :supz:

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H20doctor
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Re: Kona Coast, April/May 2018

Post by H20doctor »

Very cool frogfish
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ScubaJess
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Re: Kona Coast, April/May 2018

Post by ScubaJess »

Wow looks Fantastic!!!!
Nice report :)
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Scubak
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Re: Kona Coast, April/May 2018

Post by Scubak »

"Lefty" The Manta!!!
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YellowEye
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Re: Kona Coast, April/May 2018

Post by YellowEye »

Very cool!

Wow did that 6.9 shake you pretty good?
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Tom Nic
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Re: Kona Coast, April/May 2018

Post by Tom Nic »

Nice! Thanks for telling the story!
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Gdog
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Re: Kona Coast, April/May 2018

Post by Gdog »

Awesome, great report! Will be back to Kona this coming February for a week, looking forward to the dives. Do you remember the dive site the harlequin shrimp were at?
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RoxnDox
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Re: Kona Coast, April/May 2018

Post by RoxnDox »

Great pics! As someone else with a geology degree, I'd have been one of the people trying to look down into the hot orange cracks! Sad as it is when people are displaced by Madam Pele, what's happening now is frickin' awe-inspiring (and the HVO folks are learning a lot from it).
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Vjw
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Re: Kona Coast, April/May 2018

Post by Vjw »

Great pictures - especially like the frog fish and mantas!! Glad to hear jacks was good - I thought they were good when I was there few years ago too.

Do tell — what dive site did you see the harlequin shrimp at?? Gdog and I would really like to know ?!?!
Sharkb8
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Re: Kona Coast, April/May 2018

Post by Sharkb8 »

Vjw wrote:Great pictures - especially like the frog fish and mantas!! Glad to hear jacks was good - I thought they were good when I was there few years ago too.

Do tell — what dive site did you see the harlequin shrimp at?? Gdog and I would really like to know ?!?!
The harlequin shrimp were at the Pyramid Pinnacle site. If you dive through Jacks then ask for Juan Carlos to be your DM. They are his babies! There was a huge school of pyramid butterfly fish on that dive schooling at about 100 fsw also that were equally entertaining. Are you guys doing a trip there soon? I’m jealous if so!

The big earthquake was pretty crazy. I watched the sign saying stay back from the edge move about 5 ft side to side right in front of me. Glad I wasn’t in the gift shop (or bathroom) when it happened!
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Gdog
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Re: Kona Coast, April/May 2018

Post by Gdog »

Sharkb8 wrote:
Vjw wrote:Great pictures - especially like the frog fish and mantas!! Glad to hear jacks was good - I thought they were good when I was there few years ago too.

Do tell — what dive site did you see the harlequin shrimp at?? Gdog and I would really like to know ?!?!
The harlequin shrimp were at the Pyramid Pinnacle site. If you dive through Jacks then ask for Juan Carlos to be your DM.
Awesome, thanks for the tip! Come on Val, lets go check it out!
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Vjw
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Re: Kona Coast, April/May 2018

Post by Vjw »

Thanks for clarifying where the harlequin shrimp were!!
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