Bubbles Below Kauai

[D_O_H]

Just got back from a week on Kauai.

We dove 2 days with Bubbles Below, due mostly to recommendations on this board. They were outstanding. Super nice people, small, fast and comfortable boats, very flexible about where, when and how we were diving.

They were also very environmentally conscious. When they discovered the mooring was broken at one of our sites, the captain sent the divemaster freediving to find a sandy coral-free spot to drop anchor. Linda (the owner) also gave us some cool marine biology lessons during our surface interval. And I got a (deserved) talking-to for trying to play with a gigantic octopus we happened upon.

The diving was pretty good too - better than I remember from prior Kauai trips. Highlights were seeing my first frogfish ever at Sheraton Caverns and seeing like 5 million turtles at the appropriately named Hale O Honu.

If you're going to Kauai, I highly recommend them. Mana divers, which seemed to be the other shop favored on the board, left from the same harbor and also looked like a first class operation.

 

[dlndavid]

So did you forget any gear? Nice report, Kauai was my first ww snorkeling trip that later lead to scuba.

 

[TCDiver1]

Cool ... i'll be there in a couple weeks. Any recommendations on dive sites, activities, golf courses, etc?

 

[D_O_H]

Cool ... i'll be there in a couple weeks. Any recommendations on dive sites, activities, golf courses, etc?

I think the really outstanding diving is supposed to be around Ni'ihau. It's a rough trip out there (especially this time of year), so we didn't try to book it.

Sheraton Caverns was crowded with dive boats, but it really was a cool dive site. Tons of canyons and swim throughs with abundant life everywhere. Bring a good dive light for peeking into the abundant nooks and crannies. If you go with bubbles below, they can probably find two frogfish for you there, too, as I don't think they move around much. BB wasn't going to take us here due to the crowds, but they agreed to go after I pleaded for a frogfish sighting.

Ambers Arches was another very good site. Nice big swim through at about 75 ft. that was full of schooling fish and a resting 6'+ reef shark when we came through.

Hale O Honu was good - nothing out of the ordinary really (other than all the turtles).

The other site we did was nothing special. We were trying to take some of my family on a discover scuba dive (they chickened out due to moderately rough conditions), so it was selected due to its max depth of 45 feet or so.

Everyone says Koloa Landing is a great shore dive. We kept meaning to try it out for a night dive, but could never resist having cocktails until sundown so we never made it.

Golf - I've played the princeville prince course (excellent, but hard and the back nine has some weird holes, expensive), both kauai lagoons courses (good, some great scenic holes, expensive) and the Hyatt one in Poipu (good, some great scenic holes, expensive). The public course in Kapa'a is supposed to be pretty good and reasonably priced, though I've never gotten around to playing it.

Other stuff - dinner at the Beach House in Poipu is a must for me. It's expensive but very worth it. Try to do some hiking (napali coast if you're into hiking and/or waimea canyon if you're less into it). Princeville has a great beach if you can find a day when it's sunny up there.

Oh and DLN, I did indeed leave my fancy camera on board the boat, but the good folks at Bubbles Below were kind enough to bring it to me. I also left my girlfriend's left bootie at home in our garage after unpacking the gear she packed (including both booties) and re-packing it to confirm that she remembered to pack everything.

 

[TCDiver1]

Thx, i'll keep all that in mind.

I would love to do Ni'ihau, but as you noted, its just not normally done this time of year due to prevailing weather conditions. Oh well, guess i'll just have to settle for Kaua'i sites.

 

[maddmike]

Cool ... i'll be there in a couple weeks. Any recommendations on dive sites, activities, golf courses, etc?

Activity: hike along the Na-Pali coast trail. Going 2 miles along the ocean, and then 2 miles inland to the 1st waterfall is very cool (also muddy and challenging).

Golf courses: Kukuiolono, a public course near Poipu. It's a 9-hole with terrific views. And it's about 10% the cost of Princeville, etc. Maybe it sucks if you're an all-business golfer. But for a hacker like me, you can't beat the view/dollar value.