Kona Aggressor II
Kona, known for it's flat water, is a great destination. The Aggressor is super easy because they meet at the pier next to the King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel. I actually walked to meet the boat with my giant Pelican camera case and gear bag.
Once on board the Kona Aggressor II is spacious. My cabin was plenty roomy with a double bed and a twin bunk. The cabins also have a large window, which can be rare on a liveaboard. The hot water for the showers was always plentiful, something that is important to me.
The food was tasty, we even had fresh fish some nights . A special meal was presented on deck the night of the manta ray dive. (more on that later) We dined alfresco while watching the other dive boats come to see the mantas. There were plenty of snacks to be had but dessert was sometimes a bit Costco-ish.
The dive deck was well organized with two fresh water showers on the swim deck and large camera freshwater rinse bins. We all had personal gear storage under our seats. Big hot towels always awaited our return! The camera area was spacious with plenty of power outlets and air hoses for drying camera equipment.
The diving was wonderful. Kona's water is known for being clean and flat. During my week on board we had excellent visibility everyday. The dive briefs were well done with maps and critter briefs. We had divemasters in the water on every dive but were allowed to take a leisurely pace. The max number of guests on the boat being 14 made for uncrowded dives.
We dove lava formations and saw tons of marine life. I was looking for small stuff to shoot with my new macro lens and was not disappointed. I saw Wire Coral Gobys a plenty and even wire coral crabs (very small!), flat worms, nudi's, sea roses, christmas tree worms and even the worlds smallest peacock flounder. I found a huge Commerson's Frog Fish, octopus and plenty of other critters.
The Manta Night Dive is a must do. We ate dinner on the upper deck and watched as all the other dive and snorkel boats came in for the Manta's. After we ate and prepared to dive, the other boats were ready to leave so we went out armed with our lights and cameras. The crowds left and we had the Manta's to ourselves. Well played Aggressor!
