Kona Diving Company
Kona Diving Company
5
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
About
Looking for a fantastic SCUBA experience in Kona? Kona Diving Company is here for you! Awarded the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence for 2014-2019 and the Travelers' Choice Award for 2020 - 2023, Kona Diving Company offers SCUBA diving adventures off of our custom dive boats on the Kona coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. Contact us for certification of all levels, introductory dives & night dives/manta ray dives. Multi-day dive packages available. Women owned and operated, KDC welcomes everyone!
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Meets animal welfare guidelines

Awards
Travelers' Choice
2024

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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

5.0
5.0 of 5 bubbles1,311 reviews
Excellent
1,261
Very good
33
Average
6
Poor
8
Terrible
5

Caren L
Campbell River, Canada261 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
Prior to leaving for our trip my husband communicated with Siennna regarding the services offered. When we arrived in Kona we went to the dive shop and booked 5 trips or 10 dives each. You get a discount the more dives you do. We went on the larger boat for all of our dives and were very comfortable. All of the crew from the captains of the boat to the dive masters were friendly but professional. We were well briefed on each site that we were diving and the equipment was comfortable and well maintained. The shop also provides really great snacks from hot chocolate, cup of soup, brownies, sandwich wraps, pop, goldfish, trail mix and water. Probably the most I have ever seen on a dive boat. We did go on the night Manta dive, but unfortunatley the Manta's had not been seen for a number of days. Despte this, on out dives we did see Hawaiian spinner dolphins, sharks, turtles, octopus, a large spotted eagle ray and other sea life. Perhaps we will be back to see the Manta's. Great team. We highly recommend them.
Written February 20, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Fiona
5 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2021
Kona Diving Company is an incredibly high quality, well run dive shop and I highly recommend them for your diving in Kona! My dive guide Imran gave the best dive briefings I’ve ever heard - the manta briefing was both educational & entertaining, and our afternoon briefing also included incredible knowledge of other endemic species and unique behavior to look out for. All other staff I met were very helpful and knowledgeable and Captains Kelly & Mike were great. Their rental gear is high quality and well maintained (and had integrated weights!), and they'll also happily set up your own gear for you if you would like and hold it between dives.

The morning dives with Kona Diving also offer exceptional value for more experienced divers or those with lower air consumption as all divers are allowed to dive their full tank without a capped dive time. We were very fortunate to see dolphins, sharks, mantas, octopi, turtles and more across multiple days of diving and the guides did a great job assessing conditions and selecting dive sites.

As an added bonus, they have homemade brownies & a hot shower on board! I can’t recommend Kona Diving enough and hope you enjoy your diving there as much as I did!
Written December 23, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

artthiel
Redlands, CA62 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020
Dad mom and son with lots of diving experience but a big gap since our last dive. KDC set up a refresher 2 tank dive for us early in the week and then a two tank Manta Ray dive later in the week. Maxine our dive-master provided the encouragement, information and creature identification that made our dives reassuring and brought us up to date. The captain slowed to allow a whale watch experience on our way to the Manta Ray site. Our veggie food requests were accommodated and the food and brownies were delicious. The needed flexibility for equipment ( weights and wet suits ) was nicely done. The manta rays showed up! amazing experience. KDC despite small craft advisories that week gave us 4 good dives, despite the surge. Sorry can't remember all the captains or dive masters names ( Michael, ?? ) all well done. thank you!
Written February 7, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Emma M
Minneapolis, MN12 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020
I don't usually write reviews but was reminiscing on this the other day and felt compelled because this group did such a great job.

We had an unforgettable time with Kona Diving Company. First off, we saw a young humpback whale while leaving the marina. It was playing and breached a few times. They stopped the boat so we could all watch and enjoy for as long as it kept appearing. I know that was mainly luck, but it was more impressive than our actual whale watching trip the next day.

We went on the 2-tank manta dive. The crew was super helpful in getting our stuff ready to go. No hauling your own tank around a parking lot looking for the right boat. They had everything as prepared as possible. They gave funny and insightful briefings for both the snorkelers and divers. On the first (daylight) dive, the reef wasn't as bright and spectacular as other places but the guide was very knowledgeable and showed us all the unique factors. The coolest part of the area were the eels. I think I saw 4 different species. Very neat.

The second dive with the mantas was truly spectacular. My dad and I had never done a night dive before, so I was a bit nervous. The water was getting a little rough too (they had almost canceled our dive the day prior) but our guide, I think her name was Sarah, got us to the bottom and settled with a big rock to anchor ourselves to. The mantas are incredible. I think we were visited by 4 that night. The snorkelers in our group thought it was great from the surface too.

One part that really sticks with me, at some point during the mantas, I could hear something was wrong with my equipment and saw my secondary regulator spewing air. I tried turning it over and pressing the purge button but it wouldn't stop. I showed my dad/buddy and he did the same thing with no luck. Out of seemingly nowhere, our guide was immediately there and fixed it. I'm still so impressed. The water was a bit rough and it was very dark. I hadn't seen her the entire time after she'd situated us on the bottom, yet she was totally on top of things. Thank you for being awesome! If she hadn't been right there, I would have had to start returning to the surface and miss half the dive.
Written June 29, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

redsantana
San Francisco, CA41 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2022
I dived with KDC in 2018 and they were fine, except we didn't see any mantas on the Manta night dive.

This time, I booked the Manta night dive on 12/13 and a morning dive on 12/14. The staff insisted I take a refresher course, which I completed on 12/12. I also paid for all my dives.

KDC insists that guests cannot make changes or cancellations within 48 hours of a dive. Yet, they called me less than 48 hours before my 12/14 dive to let me know that my 12/14 dive might be canceled. The reason is that they could not find enough people to fill the boat for the 12/14 dive!

By this time, I had already completed the refresher course. So I was pretty set on taking my dives.

KDC offered to put me on the 12/15 morning dive. This would mean that I might use two sets of rental gear (including breathing regulators). I had specifically tried to avoid this COVID risk by originally scheduling my night and morning dives within a 24 hour span (to use the same equipment for both dives).

Normally, I would just reshuffle my schedule.

However, this notice from KDC came so last-minute that it conflicted with a Horseback Ranch ride that I had already scheduled for 12/15. Unfortunately, there are no more Horseback Ranch rides for the duration of my stay, so I will have to miss it due to KDC's last minute change.

Now, the right thing to do is to still run the 12/14 dive without a full boat. Each guest is already paid $300 per person for the product that KDC has sold to us.

Perhaps, KDC can even use this opportunity to train their staffers by adding them to the 12/14 boat. But it seems that KDC cares less about guests, and prefers to make more $$$ by running full boats!
Written December 13, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

clinegirl
San Francisco, CA75 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2021
We dove two trips (4 dives) with KDC including the manta ray night dive. My husband and I are still relatively new divers (<10 dives), and I have a lot of anxiety about diving even though I love it once I'm under the water!

Both of our dive guides were fantastic. Our first dive guide did a great job walking us through our gear and reminding us of the key safety information since it'd been a little while since our last dive. I also liked that you get to dive your entire tank (except the manta dive) so I could go up early once I ran out of air and my husband could stay down with the guide as he has better air consumption. Our guide did a really great job of educating us on the marine life and pointing out sea creatures I would have missed.

The manta dive was an incredible, spiritual experience. It was great to get to dive the area first to get used to the space, and then we knew exactly what to expect and where to set up for the manta viewing. Our guide again did a phenomenal job educating us on manta rays and making sure we felt safe heading into our first night dive. This is a must-see dive if you're in Kona!

The captains on both are trips were also extremely helpful. COVID protocols were maintained and they did a great job of offering you a hot beverage or water whenever you needed something. They also were extremely timely; with other dive companies, I've felt we did a lot of waiting around on the dock. KDC got things going as soon as everyone had arrived.

I wouldn't hesitate to dive again with Kona Diving Company! Thank you for a fantastic adventure!
Written March 20, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

JP Hannah
Riverbank, CA2 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2022 • Couples
We had a fantastic experience over three Different days of driving… Two Manta ray night drives(2 tanks each night)… And one morning dive(2 tanks). The crew on the boat was exceptional… Captain Jill and Imran were amazing…lmran was spectacular in calming my wife, safety swimming her back to the boat after a panic/asthma attack. He will always have a place in our hearts. He also did a private lesson with her the next night to get her back in the water as she missed the first Manta Heaven dive.Sarah was also great. Then we got our bill! The front office did not honor the original quote… We were overcharged in a number of areas and felt like we had been okey doked! After reaching out to them we were told that their prices had changed and we would not be able to get our original quote fulfilled. Very disappointed… My concern is that this business practice leads to make shopping other dive companies the best idea…Maybe you should too? Mahalo to the crew…. Asta la vista to the office staff. When we come back we will almost certainly seek another dive company that will act with integrity… even financially!
Written March 20, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Aloha JP, Kerry here, the owner of KDC. I met you and Cheri on your first morning diving with us. Mahalo for your kind words to our crew! Imran, Jill and Sara all appreciate being recognized on forums such as TripAdivsor, but you and Cheri went even further. You wrote a lovely letter to Imran, you left a box of delicious donuts at the shop and you verbally expressed your gratitude to each of them for help with support they provided to Cheri. I will apologize for any miscommunication regarding our prices. It is true that when you first reached out to us in October of 2021 (five months ago), we did quote our prices to you (with an expiration date of January 26th, 2022). We also explained that your booking was not confirmed without a credit card. This past December, in response to operating expense increases across the board (everything from fuel to canned juice) we made a moderate price increase for our activities. This increase put us in line with all the other operators in Kona. For any bookings that were confirmed prior to our rate increase, we honored the prices that were in place at the time of the booking. Your booking wasn't confirmed until February - just a few weeks prior to your visit and after your quote had expired. I appreciate that TripAdvisor allows businesses to respond to reviews, because I now get to say something that is so important for people to hear (you guys and future guests as well). Kona Diving Company values safety over anything, with a close second being service. We have been so fortunate to cultivate a work culture where all of our staff have the same values in this regard. You used the word "integrity" in your review, it's a good word, and a rare and valuable quality. Our KDC ohana - every single staff member - has integrity. We do the right thing, even when it's hard. As the owner of the company, it's my job to make sure they get paid a living wage (something that's become increasingly challenging, especially in Hawaii) so that we can all continue to do what we love - share this place, this ocean, these creatures - with visitors looking for a special kind of experience. That is what you've paid for. And I will stand by that all day long. As you go forward with your exciting and newly found hobby of diving, please stay safe and consider the value of that when choosing your operators. A hui ho! Kind regards, Kerry
Written March 22, 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Sonia B
6 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2021
We are so happy we selected Kona Diving Company. My family did three trips (six dives) over our vacation. Of course, the mantas themselves are awesome, but KDC distinguished itself by allowing us to do a reef dive before the "main" dive with lights. That meant that we ended up being the last divers on the bottom with the mantas and got "alone" time with them. In addition, our other four reef dives were great. We saw eels, sharks, more mantas, pipefish, garden eels, etc. Hailey was our guide for those dives and she was great at finding small things we might not have noticed. Our drivers Jill and Max were also wonderful and Milo delivered a great manta night dive.
KDC is a smaller company and has 2 boats. For our reef dives, we were the only 4 people on the small boat. For the manta dive, the larger boat took out 6 people. It was nice not to be on massive boats with tons of divers. We appreciated the laid back vibe combined with high-quality gear and knowledgeable, capable dive leaders.
Written July 12, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

mooseAustin_TX
Austin, TX20 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2022
My husband and I recently did two morning dives as well as the afternoon and manta dive with Kona Diving Company. We also dove with this dive shop in 2018 for several dives. Kona Diving Company is an incredible dive shop... I think I would have to rate them as the best I have ever dove with. They take a maximum of 5 divers per guide. This ratio is excellent. One might not think there is much difference between a 4 or 5 to 1 ratio compared to 6 to one (like most other shops), but the experience is exponentially better. The boat is very comfortable with plenty of room. You can choose to ride up top by the captain or in the covered area of the boat out of the sun. They have a warm freshwater shower and conditioner for use on the boat as well as ample snacks.
Kona Diving Company lets you dive your air. You do not have to surface if your buddy or other guests run low and needs to surface and complete a safety stop. This is very important to me and I get at least 50% more underwater time because of this process.
Haley was our. guide for our morning dives. She was amazing. She spotted more kinds of nudibranchs in just one dive than I have seen in all my dives put together. She was extremely professional and checked on divers frequently, but not overly rigid. I had some issues at the start of my first dive and Haley made me feel comfortable and not rushed. She found many octopus and even spotted one from our safety stop! Haley's professionalism and knowledge made the trip!
Emron was our guide for the afternoon and manta dive. Again, Emron was incredibly professional and knowledgeable. It was hard to believe we would like anyone as much as Haley, but Emron was just as fantastic. We had a diver in our group who had just finished certification and was on his first dive post class. Emron was great with him and at the same time made sure everyone had a first rate experience.
The manta dive was incredible. However, as we sat in our small group (only 5 customers on the boat that night) and looked out at the huge boats packed with people, we were once again glad we chose Kona Diving Company. I would have hated the experience with the boats packed with people. Emron also had us wait so that we timed our decent with the approximate time the first groups of divers were leaving. Again, this resulted in a much less crowded experience.
I cannot recommend Kona Diving Company enough! They are the best.
Written August 14, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Carbs3
Reno, NV53 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2021 • Solo
I booked a 2 tank dive (afternoon and evening manta ray) with KDC on 9/1/21. It was an amazing experience! Milo, my dive guide, was hilarious and incredibly knowledgeable about mantas. He very clearly outlined the dive for the group and made sure everyone felt safe with the plan. (Which I greatly appreciated as something of a still-novice diver!) Captain Mike was right there to help get us in and out of the water and get us safely back to shore. I would highly recommend KDC and the nighttime manta ray dive. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience to see the underwater ballet of these huge yet incredibly graceful creatures!
Written September 3, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Kona Diving Company - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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