Pride of America Hawaii Cruise & Scuba Diving

[TMJJS]

Taking this cruise in June and looking to scuba diving.  My wife and 18 year old son along with me haven't dived in about 4 years.  We have about 2 dozen dives under us, but only dive while on cruise vacations in the Carribean.  We are going to several islands and wondering which are the best to look into diving?  Also any recommendations on local dive shops that would be good for us getting back into diving? 

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[mac66]

Have you been to Hawaii before?   I only ask because there is so much to see on each island and the ship only docks for the day in each port.  I've done the POA twice (9 years apart) but never dived.  I do recommend going to Honolulu early or stay after your cruise to see Pearl Harbor and the rest of the island, and perhaps dive while there.

[ABQrobin]

We went to Kona a decade ago to dive, and did enjoy it a lot.  There are several dive ops, all good.  Not sure about how they handle cruise divers.  Lots and lots of interesting eels, huge turtles, and frogfish at Kona, it was really cool since they aren't something you always see in Caribbean.  We really enjoyed the variety.

 

If your first port is Honolulu I would try to schedule a "refresher" dive there for all of you.  It is probably the easiest diving anyhow, so a good place to do it.  Maui is supposed to have spectacular diving (friends of ours go twice a year) but I don't think they would take you to Molokini crater if you haven't dived in 4 yrs.  So do the refresher dive before you get there.  

 

[mac66]

The POA cruise starts and ends in Honolulu.  The OP will want to see as much of Oahu as they can while there if they've never been before.  We did that cruise last May for the second time. It's the best way to see Hawaii.