Kauai bound!

[picturesing]

Hello! I'm a new diver! Something I always wanted to become a certified diver after a "non-cert" dive several years ago on Maui. Finally did it and am so excited! Going to Kauai in November and plan to get as many dives in as possible. Have decided to go with Fathom Five after much research and reviews as well as other recommendations. Would love to hear from others with recommendations and suggestions. It is a family vaca and we'll be diving as well as snorkeling! For those in our family going for the first time we want to attend a Luau - would love suggestions for that as all of the Luau places on Kauai have varied reviews.
Mahalo!

 

[RangerZo]

Your Going to Love it! from the Beautiful Scenery to the awesome diving. i was there back in July i choose to dive with Seasport Divers, they not only pointed me to the diving hot spots but land fun as well. it you can get your diving ability up i would suggest the Ni'ihau dive. it is an all day trip but the best diving in all of Hawaii. when i was there we had 150-200+ Vis. Koloa Landing for shore diving is hands down the best shore diving on the island. first dive on the island and we saw 5 Turtles, a cpl of eels including a dragon Morey eel and a cpl of octopuses just to name some of things we saw

 

[cbm32]

Kauai is fantastic. I am sure you will love your time there.

I dove with three of the operators while there and have no complaints about any of them. Be sure to dive Sheraton Caverns. During my dive on the caverns there must have been over 20 large Hawaiian Green turtles.

I would suggest you do a Na Pali coast tour while on Kauai. It was totally AWESOME and I am not easily awed. We did ours with Blue Dolphin and it was so fantastic we did it twice. They stop for a period of snorkeling and for a few extra bucks you can scuba instead.

We did three Luaus while there and each was very different from the others.

The first was on put on by the locals as a fund raiser for the building of a community kitchen just north of Hanapepe. It was in Nov but I am not sure if it will be while you are there or not but if it is it is a great glimpse of what an authentic Luau is like. I am sure if you ask around in Hanapepe you can find out when and where it is held.

I believe that Smith's Family Luau is the longest continuously running Luau on Kauai. It is held outdoors in a large amphitheater with tiered bench type seating. Very enjoyable and the food was ok too.

Lu'au Kalamakū was held inside and is a much, much, more theatrical production. Seating was more like banquet seating and it is held indoors. The food was a bit better than at Smith's and the experience over all is a little more upscale than Smith's.

We really enjoyed all three Luaus. Each was a very different experience and which is "best" would just depend on what your tastes are.

"South Pacific" was filmed on Kauai, and there is a dinner theater production of South Pacific at the Kauai Beach Resort. This is one of the things that is widely advertised and touted on Kauai. We went and were both very disappointed in it. The quality of the production was inferior to that of our local high school and the food was average at best. I would suggest you skip it and use the money for your Na Pali coast tour.

We are still deciding whether to return to Kauai this year of hit some place in the Caribbean or Central Amerca, but if we do Kauai we will be there in November as well.

 

[picturesing]

Thank you so much for all the wonderful suggestions! I am very excited!! My son is 31 and we have a great time together! He's a great dive buddy. Would love any other advice or suggestions as I want to make the most out of our time there.