What to do in Kona, HI?

What are the must do's and must sees (in terms of Tiki, of course) in Kona? Any recommendations?

Check out puamana's thread.

Digitiki:

Forgive me if this is not very Tiki, but Kona has THE BEST underwater scenery in the whole island chain. Really, a must do is snorkel or scuba. It really is unbelieveable and you never know what you will see underwater. You might discover The Incredible Sunken Tikis of Kona.

Cheers!

T.F.

I echo Tiki Fink...snorkeling/scuba is outstanding.

I agree with the previous. Get yourself a mask and fins and get underwater. From what I hear the best snorkeling is at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau (great topside stuff too!) and Kealakekua bay. Do it. If you dive, I suggest Jack's Diving Locker. In fact, if you snorkel, call them anyway and see if you can get on their manta ray trip at night. It's AMAZING.

Thanks for the tips! Definately going to have to check out the undersea life!!

Kona is our fav. We love the Keauhou Beach Hotel, next to Kahaluu Beach, though small it always has turtles, good coral and lots of fish. Snorkeling is a must. We've done SeaQuest, it's a hard rubber raft that holds up to six, two motors, that goes to Kealakekua Bay and Pu'uohonaunau which are the two premier spots. We love Place of refuge, and hiking to the petroglyphs north near Spencer beach, by Hilo Onomea town for smoothies, Akaka falls, the Japanese garden in Hilo. And of course Volcanoes park is awesome. We want to come back and do the Manta Ray night snorkel/dive. Gonna have to get a tattoo soon.

On 2006-06-21 15:24, tekoteko wrote:
I agree with the previous. Get yourself a mask and fins and get underwater. From what I hear the best snorkeling is at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau (great topside stuff too!) and Kealakekua bay. Do it. If you dive, I suggest Jack's Diving Locker. In fact, if you snorkel, call them anyway and see if you can get on their manta ray trip at night. It's AMAZING.

The Missus and I are going in October. I've seen a couple of operations that do the Manta dive. Do you recommend Jack's based on experience, or word of mouth? Just curious, since I'm trying to figure out who to book with.
Any additional info on the Manta Dive? I've heard they do best at a new moon. When did you go? What time of year? What was the water temperature? Just kidding on that last one. Seriously, though, any info would be helpful. Thanks.

Go to the Kava Bar ( in the Hard Rock Cafe'/ Out Back shopping center thingy, on Ali'i', by the hippie tree on the breakwater wall ) on an empty gut and drink at least 6 coco cups full. Trust me. Good stuff!!!

And... you can't beat the AHI at the KTA!!! Da Kine!!

Oh! And there is a Kareoke (sp?) Bar in one of the older shopping centers, where if you go late at night, you can have an "old rummy lady" pick a fight with you!

p.s. the Black Sand Beach on the way to Hilo has Way Too Many Honu'. Snorkeling sucks there. The Honu get in your way and block the view of the fish!!!!

On 2006-06-22 09:28, TikiJosh wrote:

On 2006-06-21 15:24, tekoteko wrote:
I agree with the previous. Get yourself a mask and fins and get underwater. From what I hear the best snorkeling is at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau (great topside stuff too!) and Kealakekua bay. Do it. If you dive, I suggest Jack's Diving Locker. In fact, if you snorkel, call them anyway and see if you can get on their manta ray trip at night. It's AMAZING.

The Missus and I are going in October. I've seen a couple of operations that do the Manta dive. Do you recommend Jack's based on experience, or word of mouth? Just curious, since I'm trying to figure out who to book with.
Any additional info on the Manta Dive? I've heard they do best at a new moon. When did you go? What time of year? What was the water temperature? Just kidding on that last one. Seriously, though, any info would be helpful. Thanks.

Jacks is by the Kava Bar too. Matter of fact, I was sitting next to a few of the Jack's guys drinking Kava.

It's all good. Trust me.

Thanks Ben! Man, I hate when those Honu get all up in your face. I'll have to avoid that beach.

TikiJosh...I recommend Jack's from experience. Kona Honu Divers is a good too...but Jack's has a different vibe if you will. Also, a lot of the Jacks Diving Locker people are involved with manta ray research...great place to start if you want to see mantas.

On 2006-08-03 21:53, tekoteko wrote:
TikiJosh...I recommend Jack's from experience. Kona Honu Divers is a good too...but Jack's has a different vibe if you will. Also, a lot of the Jacks Diving Locker people are involved with manta ray research...great place to start if you want to see mantas.

Sweet! Thanks for the tip!
The word for the day:
MANTAS!

I just returned recently from a trip to Kona.
The snorkeling was great at Place of Refuge and Captain Cooks Monument but be CAREFUL of the lava rocks (I did a slip and fall...)

Also, on the other side of the island in Honoka'a there is a fab antique store on the main drag with a TON of vintage hawaiian clothes for very reasonable prices. Also, some rare Trader Vics mugs and I scored a bunch of Arthur Lyman LP's for cheap. Plus, the lady who runs it used to dance at Trader Dick's and work at the Trader Vics on Oahu.

Don the Beachcomber was great too! It was interesting to see their take on the "original" mai tai, which a recent article in the Aloha magazine claims that Trader Vic did not start serving it until a few years after Don Beach did.

There are also some great tiki lamps for sale everywhere in Kona for pretty reasonable price too~

Oh, and there is a new park accessed through the Harbor between Kona and the airport that has faint petroglyphs on a great shaded walk to a practically private white sand beach (very few a'a lava rocks) and a TON of Honu just hanging out.

May the power of Tiki compel you!

[ Edited by: dangergirl299 2006-10-05 16:36 ]