Kauai Dive Operators - Good, Bad, Whatever?

[Kauaiguy]

In several recent dives with both Fathom Five and Bubbles Below I've had very good experiences. Competent and attentive captains and dive masters. Linda (BB owner) did a superb job at Ni'ihau last Saturday.

Briefs have been thorough and informative. Equipment is new to recent from both, boats are in good mechanical order. In-water they've both been attentive without being oppressive.

George's (FF owner) jokes are awful and their snacks are Halloween left-overs, his other DMs are cool. BB local dives feature similar snacks, however--their Ni'ihau food was catered and terrific.

Another poster had good results with Seasport Divers; I haven't tried them. Their large catamaran makes for a nice ride, especially out to Ni'ihau (33 miles), the downside is potentially a crowd.

 

[likestea]

The one thing I would say about diving on Kauai - is that a lot of the dives are geared more toward experienced divers, there are excellent shore and boat dives around Kauai. The sea can get rough is a factor to consider for rusty or less experienced divers.

 

[Outlaw14]

Hi there.

Already have a shore dive booked with Fathom Five soon at this spot. Since we will be guided I hope to see a lot, but if anyone here has suggestions on what to see here/not to miss, etc I would appreciate it. Seems like it's a fairly shallow dive so should have lots of BT. I have read on some Oahu shore dive spots to beware of leaving valuables in the car. Are there similar cautions about Kauai (is it as bad)? Thanks. We leave this Friday for Kauai.

Lauren

 

[mjcoussens]

Just returned from a month in kauai, Koloa landing is a nice dive. Lots of turtles, eels, and a few eagle rays. Also, there are two pairs of harlequin shrimp, one in an acro head off to the left side of the access and another living in an old engine sitting on the bottom. Fathom Five usually feeds them pieces of urchin or starfish. As for valuable in the car...koloa landing is usually pretty busy with other shore divers and dive ops and there is almost always somebody on the surface associated with a dive op. I felt safe just locking the car and putting the keys under a wheel well. I really can't say enough about fathom five either. Really geat guys, aside from the owner (very crude, insulted my girlfriend several times). They have a very nice kama 'aina program that we were able to take advantage of several times. 2 tank boat dive of $12!!! unfortunately it is on standby only when they have an opening on the boat.

Anyways, hope this helps.

Matt

 

[Outlaw14]

Thanks Matt for the info on your recent dive at Koloa Landing. Since you were there for a month I wondered if you had any other favorites, shore or boat dives? I am newly certified, with only 9 dives total so far, so I am not looking for a big deep water experience yet!

Also, did you happen to use a dive light at Koloa Landing? Seems like I read that it would be good to use to peer in crevices, etc.

Thanks for the tips. Looking forward to our trip.

Oh, what thickness of wet suit do you think we should be renting this time of year? What would the water temp be down around 30ft?

Lauren

 

[mjcoussens]

some of the other sites I've been to are the sheraton caverns (lots of tunnels and swim throughs, and also out to niihau. Niihau is definitely worth the money, especially if you can dive vertical awareness. It's a really nice wall dive, excellent visibility, lots of big pelagics too. Also while diving niihau, we were able to dive with 4 monk seals. Definitely something I'll never forget. I didn't carry a light with me at koloa landing as I had my polespear, but my girlfriend really benefited from it. When we were there the water temps were about 79F, I wore a full 3mm suit and it worked just fine. You may want to check out www.shorediving.com for lots of info on the other beach sites around kauai. Also, fathom five sells a waterproof map of the island with all of the dive sites listed on it as well as the native fishes. Hope this helps.

Matt

 

[rje634]

Wife and I are going to be in Kauai in Dec. and we are wondering what are the dive that shouldn't be missed?
I've already done some reading about dive ops and we're thinking of Fathom Five, if anyone has any new feedback on them I'd love to hear it. BTW well be staying in Poipu so if anyone has any other dive ops in that area please let us know.

Thanks

 

[Outlaw14]

Wife and I are going to be in Kauai in Dec. and we are wondering what are the dive that shouldn't be missed?
I've already done some reading about dive ops and we're thinking of Fathom Five, if anyone has any new feedback on them I'd love to hear it. BTW well be staying in Poipu so if anyone has any other dive ops in that area please let us know.

Thanks

Greetings. We went shore diving twice in Kauai in July. We used Fathom Five's shore diving arm Ocean Quest when we were there. My buddy and I had a guided 2 tank dive by ourselves at Koloa Landing on south shore near where you are staying. The Fathom Five shop is easy to find in Koloa just a bit north of Poipu and maybe 5-10 minutes down to the shore. We loved Scuba Steve (the guy working the shop) and Anthony our dive guide. The reef was beautiful and we saw lots of turtles, fish, a baby frogfish...oh and a pair of harlequin shrimp (which we would have missed without Anthony). One nice thing that Anthony was the first to ever do for us was that he carried a small magnadoodle type writing instrument so that he could write notes to us explaining what things were. That was very helpful. Our guide the next day on a different dive also had one and was similarly helpful writing down what things were. The dive operators on Oahu had never heard of anyone using those types of things to communicate underwater.

The next day we dove on the North Shore at Tunnels Beach which was completely different topographically. Tunnels is more of a lava tubes, tunnels (!), swim through type environment and is very interesting. Lots of turtles, pufferfish, some lobsters (that we didn't see), and lots of other fish. Saw eels here too. Bring a dive light which makes it more interesting. A small one works well for exploring crevices, etc. Fathom Five was full up this day but they recommended another dive operation to us. Sacred Seas Scuba, another good outfit (but you won't find them mentioned in any of the books that I looked at!). You get a 10% discount if you mention their web page (or so the web site says, we didn't see that until we got back from our trip) http://www.sacredseasscuba.com/ Our dive guide was Brian and he was excellent too.

Both dive guides gave a good pre-dive briefing on the plan and the fish, etc what to expect. Both had drinks/snacks for us during our SI.

We didn't get a chance to do any boat dives this go around, but what we did do we loved. While we didn't use them I have also heard good things about Bubbles Below Scuba.

Good luck. Come back later and tell us what you did and saw!

Lauren

 

[sharkdiver00]

Hi there,
I have used Bubbles Below and had no problems at all. The boat rides were short and their DM Zack gives a very thorough briefing, he knows the sites and where to find the interesting stuff. Sheraton Caverns and the House of Turtles (turtles and more turtles, spanish dancers, lionfish, etc.) Brennecke's Ledge, General store, Amber's Arches, Fish Bowl... were nice dives. They also do shore diving... Ke'e beach, Cannons, The Hole, Koloa Landing, Nohili Point, all good as well.

Considering you have nive dives under your belt, I would pass on the Ni'ihau trip. One, the boat ride is very long and very rough, and then the dives once you are there are definitely not for beginners.

REMEMBER not to go to Waimea Canyon after you dive. Because of the change in altitude, this will be the equivalent of flying after diving.

I bought the book "The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook" and followed their advice with excellent results. Take the trip to "Tunnels Beach" which is on the North shore. You park on the side of the road and walk a little bit, then go down to the beach using a rugged ladder. This is a dive or snorkel beach and there are lots of turtles.

Take a heli ride with Inter Island Helicopters and go for the one that lands at a waterfall (accessible only by them), swim a the waterfall and have lunch there. It is an incredible trip.

Also go on a River/kayak/hike/waterfall all day Kipu Ranch with Outfitters Kauai. Go hiking at Waimea Canyon... do the Honopu trail.

Have a great trip.
Maria

 

[rje634]

Lauren, thanks for the info, appreciate it.
From how you describe it the DM had a Mini-Quest magnetic dive slate, I've got one too they're great.. If you want to communicate underwater you can't beat them..
Joe