Dive Review of Kona Aggressor II/NA in
Hawaii/Kona

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Kona Aggressor II/NA: "Kona is always fun.", Dec, 2019, by Jeanne Downey, PA, US ( Top Contributor 54 reports with 17 Helpful votes). Report 11392.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	After spending a week in a Kona condo, my husband and I boarded the Kona Aggressor, where we were welcomed by Captain Matt, Captain trainee John, 2d Captain Rochelle, engineer Mike, guide Celia, Chef Ken, and hard-working chef’s assistant and steward Theresa. The routine was 5 dives a day, at 7am, 10:30, 2pm, 4:30pm, and 7pm-ish. Food was of course plentiful, with snacks or meals at regular intervals. The kitchen crew bent over backwards honoring dietary needs and requests. The first night dive was the manta-ray dive, where lights are pointed upwards to attract plankton to attract mantas, and the waiting began. Our boat anchored for the two afternoon dives as well as the manta dive, to secure a spot; we were about a ten-minute swim away from the main show. Anyone who wanted to return to the boat early could follow a guide about every 15 minutes. We stuck it out to the end, but we only saw a couple of mantas. Close to the boat, a big dolphin came within touching distance, the first I’ve ever seen at night. Our first morning dive we saw a large school of dolphins underwater, and they were fairly common throughout the week, although none were close. Dive briefings were thorough, and always included one or two pictures of endemic fish; I managed to spot a few new ones that I missed during our trip on the Aggressor five years ago. The guide had us back under the boat after 30 minutes; once they knew who the decent divers were (everyone except one particularly fanatic photographer who didn’t do the reef any favors), they had us back under the boat in 40-45 minutes, after which we could do what we wanted as long as we were out of the water at 60 minutes, with an occasional 5 minute wiggle room. We saw a few giant frog fish and leaf fish, and many eels, mostly white-mouth morays. The juvenile rockmover wrasse were always a challenge to photograph as they flopped around like fast moving dead leaves. I hadn’t realized there were two kinds of long-nose butterfly fish—the regular one and the rare long-nose butterfly fish, which also came in a black color and is only seen off the Kona coast. Occasionally we swam out into the blue a bit, where we saw the only eagle ray along with some interesting floaters, including shiny specks of blue and gold confetti, which skittered away when my finger got close; I’ve seen these other places and have no idea what they are. Swimming through the lava tubes was fun, although the sea urchins were everywhere, especially at night. We also saw a couple of white-tip sharks sleeping under ledges. There was a lot of dead cauliflower coral and algae was everywhere. The last night dive was a blue-water dive; the boat motored out a couple miles while we were eating dinner, five long lines were hung below the boat, everyone grabbed a line, and then we waited to see what would come up from the depths to feed and float by. Five years ago, this was quite the dive, but this time the wind was much stronger, pushing the boat so that everything floated by too quickly, although my husband managed to get a few interesting photos. When tired, cold, or bored, the divers switched from line to line until close to a ladder, and then grabbed hold; get too far behind and it would be difficult to catch the boat. We saw a couple turtles, but the turtle cleaning station with dozens of butterfly fish cleaning their shells is no more; evidently it became a fish cleaning area which attracted sharks. Safety issues were discussed the first day. All the cabins are on the main deck, so that eliminates some of the concern. We were told not to charge anything in the cabins unless we were physically in the cabin, the staff rotates in three hour night watch shifts. All in all a good trip; the weather cooperated most of the time, although the last night at anchor was a bit lumpy and woke many from sleep. The beauty of diving Hawaii is that passports aren’t needed, there’s no port fee, and the plane ride isn’t too bad. We’ll probably do it again some time in the future
Websites	Kona Aggressor II
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Bahamas, Caribbean, Cocos, Socorro, Tahiti, Malaysia, Indonesia, Micronesia, Galapagos, Cayman Islands, Philippines, etc.
Closest Airport	Hewanorra International Airport	Getting There	Non-stop from Denver.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	79-80°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	100 feet, 60 minutes.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Two rinse tanks strictly for cameras. Only a couple of larger rigs, mostly go-pros. Staff was careful with the cameras.

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Dive Review of Kona Aggressor II/NA in Hawaii/Kona

Kona Aggressor II/NA: "Kona is always fun.", Dec, 2019,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Kona Aggressor II/NA in
Hawaii/Kona