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Join us for some great Hawaii boat diving!!!! |
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Join Steve for your Hawaii scuba diving adventure. |
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Wanna Dive had its humble beginnings teaching and leading dives from shore...Our recently re-powered Radon boat allows us to offer trips to dive sites we could not reach from shore. Miles of Hawaii shoreline is now our dive playground to explore. We carry a maximum of 6 passengers and we cater to the skill level of the divers we have on board on that day. About the boat: Our boat was completely rebuilt in late '07. We've added new engines, fuel tanks, decking, bench seating and storage, all new electrical and more... at just under 25 feet in length, the boat is faster, rides better and has more useable space and storage than before. We carry the required US Coast Guard and State of Hawaii Commercial Passenger Vessel safety equipment, as well as sonar/gps, a DAN O2 kit, and VHF radio. Along with PADI certified Divemasters/Instructors who are leading the dives, there is a US Coast Guard licensed Captain on board at all times. We're a small operator, so you'll see the same faces most of the time. Currently our crew consists of Cathy (leading dives in Kona since the 70's, she probably has more dives than I'll ever get to), Bob (started in Oahu in '95 then moved to Kona in '01 and has over 4000 working dives), and myself (been leading dives here since '99 and approaching 2000 working dives). We've got plenty of experience, enjoy showing people what Kona has to offer underwater, and know the sites and critters well. Join us and let us share our enthusiasm for diving. |
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What's a typical day like? Our typical day starts at 9:00 am at the Honokohau Harbor public boat launch. After gear set up, paperwork, boat briefing and such, we hit the water for a great day of diving. We like to run a casual charter, no rush or hurry, so on a typical day we are likely to be coming back into the launch at some time between 1:00 and 3:00, depending on where we go, how many on board, etc. After finding out what our customers for the day wish to look for, we'll head off for the first dive site. We generally don't choose sites 'til we hit the water, we're looking at water conditions at that time so we can show you the best visibility and best conditions available on any given day. Once we get to the first dive site of the day, we tie up to the mooring (Kona has a nice mooring system along much of the coast line) and then give the dive briefing describing the basic features of the area and some of the local inhabitants. When people are suited up and ready to dive, we'll have you go to the gunwale or the swim step and we'll bring your gear to you and help you into it - no need to walk around a boat carrying gear on your back. You have your choice of giant stride or back roll entries. Once everyone's in the water and ready to go, we're diving!!! There will be a DM who's looking for critters to show divers at all times, we usually have a few interesting critters stashed at each dive site. We don't expect you to hold hands and follow us super tightly, but we like to keep everyone within a reasonable distance and heading the same direction as the DM. As divers run low on air, we will get them back to the boat to ascend and then continue on with the rest of the group - most sites have patterns we can run which allow us to show the majority of the site, drop off those at 500 psi, and then continue on to show something else to divers who have better air consumption. Our diving is generally multi-level diving with generous, computer driven profiles. If you don't have a computer, one will be provided for the day. The vast majority of dive sites here have both deep and shallow water available on the same site, so we can see varying types of critters and reef structure on a single dive. Depending on depth, air consumption and such, dives can often run anywhere from 50 to 70 minutes or longer, with customers with exceptional air use occasionally seeing bottom times in the 80-90+ minute range (at some point the DM eventually runs low too) per dive.
After the first dive, we pass out towels, beverages and a sandwich lunch (there's a great little deli at the harbor which makes very nice sandwiches. You can generally pick between turkey, ham, roast beef, pastrami, tuna salad or veggie - just tell us ahead of time and we'll order it) and then make our way to the next dive site. We try to do an hour surface interval between dives to relax, talk story and get ready for the next dive. We generally try to mix up the types of sites you'll see for the second dive. If the first dive was a reef dive, we might try something more topography oriented, or critter specific, depending on what the divers want to see. If everyone on the boat is comfortable diving and the conditions allow, we occasionally will do a one way "drift" for the second dive. This is a great way to cover a fair amount of ground and see a lot of the area... we put in at one spot, and the boat Captain will follow the divers' bubbles and pick them up down the reef a ways at the end of the dive. One of the benefits of a smaller boat is with the smaller number of divers we carry (2-6 usually we're not to max capacity), it's easy to manage this type of diving. One way dives also allow us to do spots you can't generally do from a mooring because there's no having to turn around - some of our more interesting dives are drift only. After the second dive, it's back to the harbor. We pull the boat to the washdown area, you are welcome to join us and wash gear so you don't have to deal with washing gear at the hotel or condo. If you are signing up for multiple days, we're going to do our best to not repeat sites unless you really want to do one over. There's enough sites here to explore for quite a while without repeating. Once we get to know you, we may be able to be even more adventuresome with our choice of dive sites, we like to keep it interesting for both our divers and our crew. |
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3 Tank Dive Days |
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Our three tank trips are much like our two tank days, but we add an additional dive, a few more beverages and extra sandwiches. Our three tank charters are geared to be somewhat more advanced (but they don't have to be). It can take a dive or two to get dialed in again after a layoff, so we suggest the three tankers are best scheduled after your first day back in the water. We're running 3 tank trips as private charters any more. You'll have the boat to yourselves and we prefer to carry a max of 4 divers on the three tank trips. We try to cover some extra ground on our three tank charters, so it can make for a pretty long day and we're limiting the group size to keep it comfortable. |
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2 tank morning boat dives...........$119+ tax includes tanks and weights, beverages, snacks, etc. Diving for several days? From 3rd day on we'll drop $15 off the per person price on our 2 tank charters, 6th day on we drop $20 off our regular per person rate. Private 3 tank boat dives available.......... $700 for up to 3 passengers, $100 for each additional passenger. If you "think" you might want a 3 tanker, there is another option... let us know ahead of time and if at the end of our two tank day you're still game for another dive and time and conditions allow, we can do an extra dive on top of our regular trip (not the night dive, that's a whole shift for us) for $45 per person, with a two person minimum. NITROX is available on our charters... $12.50 a bottle if arranged in advance. Diving families with snorkelers or ride along passengers can have them join in on the fun on two tankers for...............$75+tax Need gear? We'll set you up with BC, wetsuit and regulator set for an additional $15. Mask, snorkel and fins are available for those who don't have their own. Please call or e-mail us to confirm reservations in advance with a credit card number. I go out for the two tank day trips whenever I have at least 2 customers, but if I don't already have a charter booked for a day, it can occasionally be difficult to arrange for crew at the last minute, so please reserve in advance when possible. |
