About us

At Kohala Divers we keep our groups small and our profiles flexible. We like to get to know the people we dive with and cater the trip to your abilities and interests. The dives are set at a very mellow pace because going slow allows you to relax and find lots of hidden critters that you might otherwise swim past without noticing. Slow relaxed breathing allows you to hear dolphin clicks as they pass overhead and whale songs that are being sung in the distance. We avoid scaring away bigger creatures like turtles, sharks and rays, and allow you the time to look under ledges with your dive light and find nudibranch egg sacs, or nudibranchs themselves, or the nudibranch living on the egg sac of the nudibranch… well you get the point!!! The feeling above and below the water is never rushed and always fun!

We hold a great respect for the reefs that we visit daily and we have a no touching policy when it comes to coral, fish, octopus and other sensitive marine life. Our crew is very knowledgeable about local fish and invertebrate life and love to pour over our extensive marine life library to help you identify some of the more unusual critters. We give a daily pre-dive briefing on diver etiquette that includes information about securing your equipment, maintaining neutral buoyancy and keeping your hands to yourself (unless it’s okay with your buddy if you touch them!). We have a beautifully healthy coral reef system on the Kohala Coast and are dedicated to keeping it that way for generations to come.

Kohala Divers was established in 1984 by Turner Lett. He and his wife, Jorene, ran the shop and 6-passenger boat alone for many years. Around 1995 Kohala Divers joined forces with Ocean Sports and used their boat to book dive trips. About that time Reed Harmon was running a sport fishing charter boat, Reel Pleasure, out of Kawaihae harbor with Greg Kaufmann as his boat captain. In 2000 Reed Harmon bought Kohala Divers from Turner Lett and simultaneously ran his two businesses, Reel Pleasure and Kohala Divers, out of the same store front. Rebekah Keele, who was employed with Ocean Sports in 2000, knew the potential for diving out of Kawaihae and begged and pleaded with Reed until he purchased his own boat for the business and finally split forces with Ocean Sports in 2002. Rebekah then joined Kohala Divers and worked full time on the Kohala Diver, our 42’ Radon custom built dive-charter boat.

Over the next few years many new and exciting changes took place. The shop expanded to almost double its original square footage in 2006, Rebekah got her captains license, Reed got his ministers license, and after a few eventful company parties Greg got the nerve to ask Rebekah to marry him while on a dive trip to Fiji. In 2005 Greg and Rebekah Kaufmann were married by Reed Harmon, and in 2007 Reed sold them the business (and now it’s the happily-ever-after-part and they are loving it!!).