Kauai Conditions?

[mtheiss]

Heading to Kauai this Saturday with a two tank AM dive scheduled for Sunday (why wait, right?). As one does I have been keeping an eye on the weather for my upcoming trip and have read about the record rainfall, flooding, and landslides (the latter affecting more of the north shore from my understanding). First, what is most important is that everyone on island is OK. We have friends staying up north and I believe they have been stranded so I understand this is a serious situation. That being said, I am wondering if anyone local can comment on current diving conditions. I imagine the runoff is impacting visibility but maybe sites are chosen further away from emptying streams or rivers. Anyway, hope things are holding up there and if anyone can comment it would be appreciated. Cheers,

Mike

 

[AquamanKauai]

Aloha and thank you for your kind message ,

It's going to be a day or two of assessment to see just how bad south shore conditions are. Numerous south side streams/rivers dumped last night. The volume of rain believed to be over 2 ft in a period of 24 hours will impact the water likely around the entire island. There are so many factors in nature's cleaning process including swell, winds and currents. During these times local operators largely work together to find and communicate finding of clearing (and eventually clear) waters. I know that dive operators are not running charters today. The best thing to do is contact the company that you have booked with and let them know you are flexible and welcome communication as to the "best" time to dive. To be fair, they should be contacting you and updating you as well with options. Sorry this isn't of immediate help in terms of what conditions are - but this is a very unique situation with the volume of flooding that has occurred. I can tell you that shore diving will certainly not be an option for some time.

Feel free to contact me if I can help with anything during your visit to the island
A

 

[H2ODoc]

Any chance Koloa Landing would be dive-able tomorrow / Wednesday? We dove it Saturday, and it was good, but that little stream was dumping a lot of murky water Sunday. Not sure how quick that clears up.

 

[AquamanKauai]

As of Wed mid day Koloa Landing is not even close to being dive ready. The thick brown water is still entering from the Waikomo stream. I don't expect that Koloa Landing will be open to diving for quite some time. Although mother nature can sometimes really surprise me with how quickly waters clear up ... Koloa Landing is not really capable of quick turn around in the way that off shore sites are. Sadly, this could be weeks. More rain is in the forecast now as well.
A

 

[H2ODoc]

I went by Koloa landing early afternoon and can see what you mean. Chocolate milk. All the way out. Bummer.

 

[mtheiss]

Thanks for the updates. Any word on offshore boat sites? Thanks so much,

Mike

 

[AquamanKauai]

Aloha Mike,
As of yesterday the vis' on all south shore sites was less than 10ft. Even the deeper sites in the 60-100ft range. We'll be out scouting today but I don't imagine anyone will be taking divers - or at least they shouldn't be. It appears that they predicted heavy rain may miss Kauai now which will help with the long term recovery. We're praying for trades and currents to slowly clear things out.

 

[H2ODoc]

FYI - I drove down to Koloa Landing, and it's still chocolate milk as of this morning.

 

[AquamanKauai]

Thanks for the updates. Any word on offshore boat sites? Thanks so much,

Mike

Aloha Mike,
I hope you have arrived safely and happily on island. There are a couple boats out today on the south shore and while there is still brown water around most of the island I am hoping that with the break in rain that things will start to improve quickly. While you are here please feel free to contact me if I can help with updates. Yesterday I heard that there was limited clearing in vis' in a couple spots so I am cautiously optimistic that diving may be available in the upcoming week. I don't anticipate that we will have our beautiful blue water back this week, but we may have enough clearing to do some enjoyable dives. Certainly feel free to stop in to any of our wonderful dive shops here if you are passing by for up to date condition reports. Sea Sport divers in Poipu, Fathom Five in Koloa, or Bubbles Below in Port Allen.

A

 

[mtheiss]

Aquaman,

Thank you for the continued updates. We did not go out this morning but got a phone call early that they were headed to scope it out so at least things had improved to the point where it wasn’t out of the question. My only other day I can potentially make it is Tuesday so I may shoot for that, otherwise I suppose it wasn’t meant to be. Thanks again,

Mike