Guided Spearfishing Tours in Hawaiʻi: What a Kona Shore Dive Is Like

What's included in a guided spearfishing tour

On a Top Shot Spearfishing tour you show up in a swimsuit. We bring everything else: low-volume freedive mask, freedive fins, camo wetsuit, a weight belt fitted to you, and an Aimrite speargun. Your guide is in the water with you the whole time.

The morning has four parts: land training on safety and speargun handling, practice in calm shallow water, a guided hunt along the coastline, and a debrief with your catch cleaned and bagged to take home.

Spearfishing charter or shore dive?

A lot of people search for a spearfishing charter. We don't run charters. Every Top Shot Spearfishing dive starts from the lava shoreline on the Kona coast, where the reef begins a few fin-kicks from the rocks and the water is clear enough to see the bottom.

For a first-timer, that's a good thing. You learn in water where you can see everything, close to land, at your own pace, and the time goes into diving instead of getting to the dive site.

How much does a spearfishing tour in Hawaiʻi cost?

Group Dive: $299 per person. About 5 hours, 8:00 AM start, max 8 guests, ages 14+. Built for complete beginners.

Private Dive: $449 per person for 2 to 8 guests, $499 solo. About 5 hours, 6:30 or 9:30 AM start, ages 12+, premium gear, hand-picked sites and GoPro footage.

Visitors 15 and older also need Hawaiʻi's nonresident fishing license, from $20 for a day. Details: Can tourists spearfish in Hawaiʻi?

Why Kona for a spearfishing tour

The Kona side of the Big Island sits in the wind shadow of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, so the water is calm and clear most mornings, year-round. The lava coastline drops into reef right off the rocks, which is what makes guided shore diving possible here.

How to pick a spearfishing guide in Hawaiʻi

Ask four questions before you book. Is the operator licensed and insured? Is the guide in the water with you, or watching from somewhere else? How many guests share one guide? And which fish do they target? Good guides hunt species that can take the pressure, and invasives like roi, and they leave alone the fish that keep the reef healthy.

Top Shot Spearfishing has been licensed and insured for more than 15 years, caps groups at eight, and is rated 5.0 on both Google and Tripadvisor, with more than 900 reviews between them.