Who runs this site
Best Diving Hawaiʻi is published by Eye To Ad Media, a small independent web publishing and digital marketing company based in Denver, Colorado, run by Zach Wennstedt. Eye To Ad Media publishes a group of travel and local-information guides, including this one. We are not a dive shop, a charter operator or a training agency. We do not sell dives, courses or gear, and we cannot take bookings.
What we cover
The site focuses on what a visiting diver or snorkeler needs to plan well:
- Dive and snorkel sites on Oʻahu, Maui, Hawaiʻi Island and Kauaʻi, with typical depths, entries, seasons and the protected-area rules that apply.
- Certification: how entry-level training works, medical screening, and the flying and altitude rules that matter in Hawaiʻi.
- Conditions and safety: swell seasons, advisories, currents, water quality and emergency planning.
- Marine-life etiquette: viewing distances and the federal and state laws protecting turtles, monk seals, dolphins, whales and manta rays.
- Reef-safe sunscreen rules statewide and by county.
- Experiences and operators, such as the Kona manta ray night dive and dive shops by island.
How we research
Safety rules, laws and protected-area information come from primary sources wherever possible: NOAA Fisheries and the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources and its divisions, the Hawaiʻi Department of Health, the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, county ocean safety agencies, the National Weather Service and the training agencies' published standards. Dive-site descriptions draw on those sources together with established dive publications and operators' published site information. Pages list their main sources at the bottom so you can check them yourself. Read our full editorial policy for details.
Conditions in the ocean change daily, and rules and fees change from year to year. Treat this site as a planning guide, not a substitute for a dive briefing, a lifeguard's advice or the official notice for a park or preserve.
How the site is funded
Best Diving Hawaiʻi is free to read. It is supported by advertising, including ads served by Google AdSense and placements for Hawaiʻi businesses. Advertising placements are labeled. Advertisers do not decide what our safety, law or etiquette pages say. Some links to other websites are simply references; we note in the editorial policy how we treat sponsored placements and links to related sites.
Get in touch
Spotted something out of date, a closed site, or a rule that has changed? We want to hear about it. Use our contact page. If your message is about a specific page, include the page address so we can find it quickly.