Diving in Kauai?

[rremski]

If you already made reservations, why did you ask? Enjoy your vacation.

Reservations can be cancelled. I wanted to check the reputations of the different firms and wanted to see what information was volunteered. I have no reference point other than my LDS who said that one of their past employees used to work at FF (he's not there now). Having read over the other posts and the other thread you offered, Wildcard, I'm reconsidering going with FF....so don't worry, the effort and electrons spent in replying to my inquiry isn't wasted....

 

[adrenalineblues]

Was there in June...

Sheraton Caverns is not to be missed...

Brenecki's ledge (sp?) is a great dive as well. Current permitting...

I booked with SeaSport and couldn't have been happier...

Have a great trip...

 

[Teamcasa]

Must agree, Sheraton caverns would be my favorite dive - so far!

Elaborate on Bubbles Below? I went with them and it was great!

Bubbles Below had one great DM, Kaki. She did my wifes OW cert and was great. However, despite faxing and emailing my reservation a week before I arrived on Kauai. Following up with two separate phone calls, one three days before and one the day before, Steh the guy I talked to, failed to remember my reservation. I had to re-schedule, last minute with SeaSports. Bubbles Below does not have a boat, shop or office that I could tell. All communication is via telephone.

We were to meet them in a Port Allen parking lot for the dive trip. As the scheduled dive date approached, contact with them became more illusive. As we were flying out on Sunday AM I needed to get a Friday dive in and they finally told me, Thursday night (5:30 PM), that there were not enough divers scheduled and the boat they were chartering would not go out with just three divers. Thankfully, SeaSport had room. (I had made a tentative reservation with them on Wednesday due to the poor communications with BB.)

So to sum it up, they may have been good, but now, they seem to be no more than a poorly run reservation service.

Dave

 

[cfelliot]

Bubbles Below had one great DM, Kaki. She did my wifes OW cert and was great. However, despite faxing and emailing my reservation a week before I arrived on Kauai. Following up with two separate phone calls, one three days before and one the day before, Steh the guy I talked to, failed to remember my reservation. I had to re-schedule, last minute with SeaSports. Bubbles Below does not have a boat, shop or office that I could tell. All communication is via telephone.

We were to meet them in a Port Allen parking lot for the dive trip. As the scheduled dive date approached, contact with them became more illusive. As we were flying out on Sunday AM I needed to get a Friday dive in and they finally told me, Thursday night (5:30 PM), that there were not enough divers scheduled and the boat they were chartering would not go out with just three divers. Thankfully, SeaSport had room. (I had made a tentative reservation with them on Wednesday due to the poor communications with BB.)

So to sum it up, they may have been good, but now, they seem to be no more than a poorly run reservation service.

Dave

This is sad. My wife and I went in April of 2005. They were great when we made the reservations etc. We did 3 days of diving with them. Joe, our DM, was awesome with every group that went out. They were prompt at the Port Allen dock and had just purchased a second boat. We met Linda and a number of people with the company. Everyone was wonderful. I wonder what changed??

 

[rookers]

I have always liked Bubbles Below. They have great local fauna/flora knowledge and the Niihau trip I took with them was one of the most memorable sets of dives I have ever had.

 

[swdke]

I dove with Fathom Five last week, Thanksgiving morning, had a great time, very professional, very energetic.

 

[Ob1Stogie]

I rented my tanks and wetsuit for my beach dives from Five Fathom and they were great. They had Alum 100's which was a huge bonus since I dive with a BP and steel 95's at home and my weight was fine. They even made sure the tanks were very full since they knew I was beach diving. Very friendly, and I recommend them.

 

[Luxury_yacht]

I just got back from Kauai this morning and I've been diving with Fathom Five since 2002, and they have always been great. They only take small groups of divers and will do their best to find whatever you are looking for. They usually take out two boats at a time with the divers divided up by experience, with each boat diving a different site. This means you will likely dive with others who are at your experience level. They also have been doing a lot of exploriing around the south side and have found a lot of dive sites that only they use. In the 30 some-odd dives I've done with them, I've never been dissapointed, and they have always been very professional and safety conscious. If you do not have a dive computer (I always dive with two), they will make sure you have one. They also now have Nitrox and offer a three tank dive trip with lunch included.

Debbie who used to co-own Bubbles Below is now one of their dive masters, and she is great to dive with. If you can get George the owner to dive you are guaranteed a great time, he is a real character. In the last 4 years I've seen very little turn-over in their personnel, which I take as a sign that they are a good outfit.

I have dived all over the Pacific from Cocos Island to the Tuamotus, Fiji, Palau, Sipidan and the Sulawesi, and I still feel like I'm home when I dive with Fathom Five.

Seasport divers is good if you are a novice diver as they only visit a few dive sites at least on the south side. They also put a lot of divers in the water at the same time so a lot of the critters in the area can be a little scarce, and at Sheraton Caverns that many divers stirs up a lot of sediment.

As always YMMV.

 

[Teamcasa]

...
Debbie who used to co-own Bubbles Below is now one of their dive masters, and she is great to dive with. ...
Seasport divers is good if you are a novice diver as they only visit a few dive sites at least on the south side. They also put a lot of divers in the water at the same time so a lot of the critters in the area can be a little scarce, and at Sheraton Caverns that many divers stirs up a lot of sediment./quote]



This might explain why Bubbles Below has gone a touch haywire…

Granted I only went with them once but as for SeaSport Divers, we only had 12 divers on a 45’ boat, 4 DM and great Captain and crew. Very positive experience with them.

Dave

 

[chickmama]

any suggestions on where to stay in Kauai? I need a place for 4 adults and 1 child. Have found several places but very expensive. Would love a place under $150. a night.
please email me at scubacoz22@aol.com Thanks Kathy