My family and I will be spending 12 days in Kauai celebrating my 40th birthday in early September! We'll be staying in Princeville half the time, and Poipu half the time. I'm looking for current information on shore diving:
- Dive shops renting tanks/weights (we'll be bringing the rest of our gear)
- Dive shops for fills in various areas
- Good shore dives (we don't plan on hiring a guide, we are all competent divers with lot's of experience shore diving northern California, and had done a significant amount of shore dives on the Big Island, but this is our first time in Kauai)
- And then, just for fun, recommended restaurants!
Thanks in advance for all your recommendations!
Holly
Aloha Holly!
First of all Happy pre-Birthday wishes to you! You are going to love the island and the diving alike! You can rent weight from a number of places and should see if someone will give you a rate for the 12 days. It can be pretty expensive to rent daily. If you want to let me know how much weight you need - I can look into that part for you. As far a filling of the tanks, I'd suggest Seasport Divers in Poipu. They also have a shop in Kapaa which may be the closest spot to get them filled near the north shore.
The shore diving is a little limited in terms of easy self guided sites. On the north shore your best bet is Tunnels. It is very important to have some knowledge of this site prior to diving on your own should you choose to do so. You will likely find that diving without a guide up there will meet resistance as it is generally frowned upon in my experience. There is essentially only one small channel to enter and exit the reef at the traditional tunnels spot. Further down the reef some ways there is another entry that is accessible but not as easy to find on your own (at least potentially). In between - and on the other sides of these entry ways is VERY shallow reef with living corals and algae. While visitors all to often walk over these areas - it is sure to damage the reef. During the week there are usually DM's up there leading dives and hopefully one or more of them would be kind enough to point out the entry areas. The other thing to be aware of is the potential for very strong currents that pick up quickly and "can" catch you off guard. The nature of the site is that you often have no choice but to come back against the current to end the dive (should there be a current present). The current there only runs east to west as water rushes over the outer reef which is enclosed to the east. This leaves the water nowhere to run but down to the west where the dive site is located. As you weave in and out of the lava tubes for which the site is famous, it can be hard sometimes to detect a current that is building until it is time to return to the entry (if you are using the traditional one). And "yes" the entry and exit are one in the same if I wasn't explaining that well. My intent is certainly not to scare anyone away from diving tunnels - or make it sound overly advanced, but just to make people aware of the potential dangers there when self guiding. The back drop for the dive is pretty breathtaking as it is such a beautiful beach. Vis' at Tunnels is typically not that great compared to other spots on the island, but the lava tubes can be a lot of fun. I would humbly suggest dive lights. You'll also find that Tunnels is certainly limited with critters compared to any other dive you'd likely do on the island. There are zero facilities at the site and you'll have to travel to rest rooms and concessions. As a closing thought on the site - many visitors do a single orientation dive with a guide before going self guided on further dives.
Your gold mine for a shore dive will be the south side location Koloa Landing. Easy to get to, easy to navigate, zero currents, and crazy amazing critters. Koloa Landing in fact has some of the rarest critters you can see while diving in Hawaii. The max depth for all intents and purposes is 45 ft. Navigation is directly north / south from the entry and the dive has super easy natural navigation. Essentially it is a horse shoe cove underwater. There are limited but at least present restrooms there and you are a very short distance from dive shops and food etc. BTW Koloa Landing is a GREAT nite dive!
If I can personally help you out with anything while you are here (or prior to arriving) please feel free to reach out. You can send me a PM here as well which I will see quickly. If I can help with a mat to borrow for protecting your gear, a cooler or anything random just let me know. If any dive items are forgotten I'd be happy to let you borrow something. The water is super warm here right now which will no doubt be an amazing treat for you guys!
I don't want to get to long winded so just let me know if I can help you out. Congrats again on your exciting upcoming trip. I hope your time on island is amazing!
Cheers
A
oh, and just a couple great spots for grinds ( places to eat) !
Pietro's Pizza - Harbor Mall in Kalapaki (Authentic Italian brick oven fired pizza)
Koloa Fish Market - Koloa (Plate Lunch is fantastic along with their Poke)
Tidpools (Hyatt Poipu) - Expensive but if you were to treat yourselves to one special dinner out - this is the spot)
There is a Costco in Lihue which is a great spot to stop to kick off your stay. As you probably recall - food is a wee bit pricey here to say the least.
