home: charters: dive sites

Dive Sites

With over 80 established sites on the Kona coast, divers have a wide variety to choose from. Sites like Suck'em Up, The Dome and Henry's Cave feature lava tubes…a great place to search for cowry shells, nudibranchs and maybe a sleeping white-tip reef shark. It's easy to become mesmerized by the beams of light filtering down through the lava tube skylights. Sites like Kaiwi, Eel Cove and Pipe Dreams have steep drop-offs. Look for cool critters hidden in the branching coral or glance out into the deep blue in the hope of seeing exciting pelagics. Sites such as Turtle Pinnacle provide great photo and video opportunities. Turtles often hang out at this cleaning station to have algae and parasites removed from their shells. At all of our sites, your guide will keep an eye out for eels and a variety of beautiful reef fish to point out to you. Divers with a good eye can search for octopus, scorpion fish, frog fish, leaf fish and colorful nudibranchs. Here are a just a few more details of our favorite dives....

Garden Eels:  Hundreds of tiny garden eels emerge from the sand as you dive along this steep coral ledge.  This is a great spot to find Hawaiian Turkeyfish and schooling Heller's Barracudas. Also a good site to see Manta Rays in the late afternoon and at night!

Pyramid Pinnacles:  Butterfly fishes are plentiful around these large lava pinnacles, and the nearby arches and caverns are encrusted with colorful sponges making the walls look like an artist's palette speckled with orange, yellow and red.

Turtle Heaven:  Friendly Green Sea Turtles make this an excellent site to take world class turtle photos.  Frogfish, pipefish, and scorpion fish are also common on this beautiful reef.

Kaiwi Point:  The tremendous variety of reef fish and abundant coral growth make this site one of the best.  A steep drop-off to deep water provides occasional sightings of manta and eagle rays, hammerhead sharks, whale sharks and other pelagic creatures.

Long Lava Tube:  Nearly 100 feet long, this is one of Kona's most interesting lava tubes.  Lobsters and Spanish Dancer nudibranchs hide in the cavern walls while reef fish and eels flourish on the ledges outside.

Manta Ray Night Dive - Kona Surf or Garden Eel Cove:  Ideal for divers of any expertise, this is one of the Big Island's must-dive sites. The bright lights from shore attract plankton which in turn attracts the majestic manta rays. An exhilarating night dive, divers can experience these twirling gentle giants up-close as they glide overhead. Perfect for PADI Night Diving, PADI Underwater Photography, and the world's only Manta Ray Specialty taught by Keller Laros.
 
To help the memories of an awesome dive trip last, you can request photos or videos of your trip to be made by one of your guides.