Kona Honu Divers was named one of the best overall dive operations
in the world in Scuba Diving’s 2024 Readers Choice Awards.
Each year Scuba Diving Magazine sends out a survey to its readers in an effort to establish their favorite dive resorts, liveaboards, destinations, and operators. They are evaluated on many different metrics. In 2024 Kona Honu Divers achieved the most votes in all 7 categories in the poll.
Looking to Dive with The Best?
Looking to book with Hawaii’s best dive shop? Go ahead and check out our excursions to see which is best suited to you.
Categories
- Best Overall
- Quality of Dive Boats
- Attention to Safety
- Quality of Rental Gear
- Quality of Staff
- Quality of Facilities
- Quality of Training Courses
Best Overall
Kona Honu Divers won best overall in the Pacific and Indian oceans sweeping all 7 categories in the Reader’s Choice Survey. Our strict adherence to our core values means we are willing to make the hard choices necessary to maintain the highest quality scuba diving experience in the Pacific Ocean.
Kona Honu Diver’s Core Values:
- Safety
- Stewardship
- Passion
- Kindness
- Fun
Safety
Safety is our #1 priority when diving with us. This is because it’s difficult to have fun without first being safe.
Stewardship
We feel it is our obligation to protect and preserve the underwater world that delivers so much pleasure to us and our divers. We regularly host cleanup dives from our boats and donate a portion of proceeds to ocean related causes.
Passion
Our people are passionate about diving. They love what they do and they excel in their work because they are passionate about the work.
Kindness
It’s important to us to give everyone a chance. By showing kindness we hope our fellow crew members and our guests see that we care about them and are here to make your experience positive. It’s our purpose to show you a good time above and below the surface. After all, if you’re not enjoying the experience what’s the point!
Fun
If we’re not having fun what’s the point! In the end we all partificipate in scuba diving to enjoy the natural world underwater. It’s supposed to be fun! We hope that by focusing on the details we can make it fun and easy to enjoy your underwater experience and maybe even your time on the surface.
While it’s difficult to say what makes the best dive shop in Hawaii. We know that if we can show you a good time. You’ll want to come back year-after-year and keep diving.
Quality of Dive Boats
Owning boats is hard. They are subject to harsh conditions and need a lot of expensive maintenance. We regularly take the boats out of service to maintain their mechanical components and appearance. While this means we don’t run as frequently as other tour operators do, it does mean our boats are far less likely to break down in the middle of a dive trip.
Our boats are also some of the best dive boats in Hawaii. They are outfitted for comfort and have amenities not found on other dive boats in Hawaii. To learn more about our boats the Honu One & Honu Lele visit our private charters page.
Attention to Safety
Aside from being our number one core value safety is important to us because it makes everything else that we do possible. Safety is our #1 core value and it dictates the decisions we make daily. From requiring our students to have dive insurance to choosing not to go out on rough and stormy nights we make safety a priority in our operation. This means sometimes it’s not convenient, but the outcome are happy divers that can go home with a good story to tell their friends and family.
While the sport of scuba diving is relatively safe and Big Island scuba diving is relatively easy compared to diving in other locales it’s still important to us. That’s why we have an excellent safety record.
Quality of Rental Gear
We use some of the best scuba gear available on the market and maintain and replace it regularly. We also put your gear together for you and store it while you’re on shore so it’s washed and ready for you the next time you dive.
We believe that part of becoming the best dive shop is to maintain the highest standards and quality in dive equipment.
Regulators
We use Atomic Aquatics brand regulators. They are top-of-the-line and deliver natural breathing. We maintain them pro-actively. This means we inspect them regularly and bench test them before the required service interval. To our knowledge (and Atomic Aquatics) we are the only operator in the world to do this.
Wetsuits
We use Bare brand wetsuits. Based in Canada Bare uses high quality materials and construction to deliver comfortable and warm wetsuits. Being in Canada they know how to keep warm!
We regularly replace our wetsuits with new models so that they keep a good appearance and function keeping you taosty throughout the dive. We also provide beanies on the boat to keep your head warm should you get cold easily.
Quality of Staff
Our staff is what makes our company great. Without professional, passionate, staff we would not have divers returning back year after year. To see some reviews from our divers visit our reviews page.
Quality of Facilities
Kona Honu Divers has a retail location in town near the harbor. unlike other dive operators we don’t force you to come in before your tour and waste precious vacation time. But if you did come into our shop you would find a well appointed rentals, and gear for freediving, scuba diving, and spearfishing. We also have service technicians and custom services for fins and more.
Quality of Training Courses
Our scuba diving courses are led by a group of highly trained pros many of whom have taught thousands of divers each. This means they know what they are doing. Furthermore they love to teach divers. It’s their passion. It shows when divers return year-after-year to dive again with us.
What Really Matters
While we appreciate our award from Scuba Diving magazine, in the end what really matters to us is our divers continue to return year-after-year to dive with us again. They tell their friends about the great experience they had with us and our Ohana (family) continues to grow. This is the biggest reward for the work we do.
Lets go Diving
Looking to do some Big Island scuba diving with us? Book a dive package and save on multiple Kona diving charters. The Big Island of Hawaii has the best diving among the Hawaiian Islands and Kona Honu Divers is the top-rated dive company in Kona so what are you waiting for? Let’s go diving!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Best Dive Shop in Hawaii?
Kona Honu Divers has received the most 5 star reviews of any dive shop in the Hawaiian Islands. With thousands of 5 star reviews on google, that makes Kona Honu Divers the best dive shop in Hawaii.
Which Hawaiian island is best for scuba diving?
The Big Island of Hawaii has Hawaii’s best scuba diving. It’s western coast is host to warm, clear, mostly calmer waters. The reef is teaming with life and there are plenty of critters large and small.
Is scuba diving better in Maui or Oahu?
Why limit yourself? Maui and Oahu have good scuba diving for their own reasons but if you’re looking for the best diving in Hawaii the Big Island of Hawaii is where it’s at.
Oahu Diving
The reefs off Oahu are not the main attraction. Frequent runoff pollution and loads of people in the water make sure of this. The wrecks are where its at when it comes to Oahu diving. It has the most and the best wreck diving in Hawaii hands down. Eslwise there is a great deal of sand which comes with it’s own interesting biome.
Maui Diving
Most of the best Maui diving is not actually on Maui itself. On Maui the visibility is typically limited doe to the abundance of sand. The best diving near Maui is Molokini crater on the backside. The diving there is deep and more advanced. Check it out here.
Other than Molokini Crater, some of the best ‘Maui’ diving is actually on the islands of Molokai and Lanai. The backside of Lanai is stellar epic diving and some of the best in Hawaii. Keep in mind there are few charters visiting this area as it takes a bit to get there. If you do want to attempt it check out here.
