Dive Review of Kona Agressor II in
Hawaii/Kona

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Kona Agressor II, Jul, 2005, by Jay Newby, AL, USA . Report 1894.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was my third time on a liveaboard and second time diving in Kona. The crew is extremely knowledgeable and Aggressor freindly. Our first day concluded with the Manta Ray night dive where 4 of these big animals showed up and devoured the plankton from the lights. Another boat nearby set a milk crate full of flashlights on the bottom and all the divers had lights too. I used the modeling light from my Ikelight DS125 twin strobes which emite a powerful light. I was told I constantly had a cloud of plankton above my head, which means the Mantas where constantly swooping down inches above my head and occasionally bumping me. A true religous experience. Throughout the week the diving just seemed to get better and better. I have not been to Palau or any other Pacific location so I do not have anything to compare it too, other than the Caribbean where I do most of my diving. But for the money, and the close distance to home and ease in getting there, the Kona Aggressor is hard to beat. The food was also just awesome. Every meal was a special occasion with Robert the chef cooking his ass off for the divers. Rob the boat captain said that they have the best food on any liveaboard due to the availabilty of fresh veggies and meat from the islands and the crew catches fresh fish too! I very much enjoyed the macro subject matter and the crew's knowledge of the ocean's critters both small and large. During week, we saw other mantas, eagle rays, dolphins, a white tip on a night dive and a large hammer head (some people saw him on second dive too). On one afternoon a pod of dolpins showed up and played with us for over an half hour. Most of us jumped in with snorkel gear and were able to get up real close to them. Some of the dolphins were real playful, and some where busy making baby dolhins! Another religous experience! Rob Clayton the boat captain is a professional shutterbug shooting a Canon Rebel in an Aquatica housing. He has a website which is www.divesights.net. He was a big help to me as I just went to the darkside (Nikon D70 in Aquatica housing) from shooting Nikonos V. LiveDive operates 4 Aggressor franchises in the Pacific; Kona, Palua, Fiji and Truk. They are moving the Truk boat to Indonesia in Dec. 2005 due to low volume of business. From what I have seen, they run a topnotch operation and have the advantage of moving their crew from boat to boat to reduce burnout. All the crew where hardcore passionate divers, with many being into photography as well. I rate this boat and the operation as 5 stars and will come back again though next year the wife and I plan to do the Palau and Indonesia Aggressor boats as they are running a special; dive one week on one boat and dive the other boat for half price.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Bonaire(my favorite!), Grand Cayman, BVI, Turks and Caicos, Kona, Florida
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	surge
Water Temp	79-81°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	100-0 Ft/ 30-0 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Dive computer, within limits of sport diving or nitrox limits
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Rob the boat captain is a professional photographer with his own website (www.divesights.net) I was blown away with the quality of the diving on the Aggressor compared to what I had seen on Kona land-based operations. Great macro subjects (for Hawaii) with many different kinds of cool nudibrachs. The manta dive was really awesome and we saw dolphins and sharks on other dives as well as other mantas and eagle rays.

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Dive Review of Kona Agressor II in Hawaii/Kona

Kona Agressor II, Jul, 2005,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Kona Agressor II in
Hawaii/Kona