By Kevin Stewart #188980
Maybe you’ve been fortunate enough to take a trip to a tropical locale such as Kona Hawaii and possibly even more than once? Possibly it was on one of these trips that you first went snorkeling and you first witnessed the incredible beauty of coral reefs with schools of tropical like that of Kona Hawaii. This may have made you want to spend even more time underneath the water and get ever closer to the marine life these coral reefs such as Kona Hawaii has to offer, but how to do it?
One way would be to improve on your breath holding skills so you could dive down deeper and stay down longer by doing a sanctioned “Free Diving” course. A Free Diving course would teach you how to breath hold at depth more effectively and most importantly safely than your ability to do it on your own and is something that we here at Kona Honu Divers in Kona Hawaii specialize in but does take a decent amount of fitness and might sound a little daunting for you?
Possibly you have heard of or even tried “Snuba” which will allow you to stay down underneath the water as you are supplied air through a hose connected to what is effectively a large snorkel on the surface of the water. I am sure you would probably enjoy this but are wanting to go a little deeper and feel a little freer as you are limited by the length of the hose and since you are attached to it with others at the same time you cannot get around the reef that easily.
You may even be considering becoming a certified scuba diver with a training agency such as “Padi” for whom I am a current instructor here in Kona Hawaii. Maybe you have seen scuba divers entering the water off shore in all their gear and have wondered what that would be like or you even ended up going on a boat that takes both divers and snorkelers out at the same time like we do here for the Manta Ray Night Dive of Kona Hawaii? As you were on the surface snorkeling above the divers you witnessed them down at depth gracefully gliding over the coral reef looking a bit like a bird flying above a cliff as scuba diving can be the closest you can get to flying without wings. You also notice just how much closer the divers are to those colorful fish you want to spend more time with and how they can stop and respectfully observe other sea creature such as different species of eels, octopus and others. It was witnessing scuba divers during underneath me during the same Manta Ray night Dive in Kona Hawaii that I did as a snorkeler all those many years ago that got me wanting to be a certified scuba diver. I loved snorkeling with the Manta Rays in Kona Hawaii but seeing those divers down with the majestic Mantas as they sometimes flew over the diver’s heads is what got me to do a Padi certification course so that I could come back one day and scuba dive in Kona Hawaii with the Mantas which I eventually did!
Now you have the desire to become a scuba diver but after doing some research or possibly talking to a family member or friend who is a diver you realize it does take some time and commitment to become a certified diver. Though a certification course for scuba diving such as how we conduct them in Kona Hawaii at Kona Honu Divers is usually completed in three days after doing your academics online it still is your time and has monetary considerations. So, you might really want to make sure that scuba diving is right for you before making the big plunge! To make sure might I suggest you do what is referred to as a “introductory dive” which is not a course but a try dive which is a “experince” which will not only allow you to judge if you want to become a certified scuba diver but have a lot of fun doing so!
In Padi we call this a “Discover Scuba Dive” which again is not a certification course but you will use all the gear that a scuba basically uses such as tanks, weights regulator etc. You can do a Discover Scuba Dive in different ways such as in a pool which will get you blowing bubbles under the water and learn some of the basic beginning skills of scuba diving but you can also go a Discover Scuba Dive in the ocean such as in Kona Hawaii which I highly suggest!
If you’re lucky enough to do a Discover Scuba Dive in Kona Hawaii let me give you an idea of what to expect. You should expect to have adventure, to learn new things and especially expect to have fun and if doing your Discover Scuba Dive in Kona Hawaii you can also expect to see its colorful schools of fish life while getting the true experience of a dive in Kona Hawaii’s clear warm waters. In most cases to do a Discover Scuba Dive in Kona Hawaii takes as little as half a day. First you will need to sign some liability release forms which is common all kinds of adventure activities and you will also need to fill out a medical evaluation form to see that you are fit for diving. You will then get together with your Padi instructor to go over some of the basics of scuba diving academics such as how pressure affects us underneath the water. You will also learn about the dive gear you will be using on your dive such as the regulator you will be breathing off of and the “BCD” you will be wearing which not only holds the tank of air on your back but also allows you to control your buoyancy with it both on the surface but also underneath the water. You will also learn things such as how to communicate underneath the water by using different hand signals, how to monitor your air and a few other basic skills that all certified scuba divers learn at the beginning of their course.
Your instructor will also teach you some of the very basic scuba diving skills such as how to clear a regulator of water and how to clear a small amount of water from your mask. They will demonstrate and then have you practice have you practice these along with just a few others in shallow water before going on an open water dive or “ocean dive” such as Kona Hawaii. You will be in a very small group with your instructor during the dive at a maximum depth of 40’ which is a lot deeper than most untrained free divers can dive or should dive down to but still a fairly shallow dive for scuba diving. During the dive the instructors main focus is your safety and you will be staying very close to them just like certified diver learn to stay by their dive buddies during their dives
After the dive you can go over with your instructor all the incredible sea creatures you encountered during your Discover Scuba Dive in Kona Hawaii and hopefully like me you will decide to sign up right away to do your Padi scuba diver course which will allow you to go on the Manta Ray Night Dive while in Kona Hawaii which can only be done as a fully certified scuba diver.
To do your Discover Scuba Dive in Kona Hawaii contact Kona Honu Divers @ konahonudivers.com and start your path to a scuba diving adventure today!
