Kauai Dive Report From New Hawaiian Diver

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divezonescuba

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I originally joined this board to find out about diving in Kauai. Now that I have had my first Hawaiian experience, I thought it important to relate some of the experiences that I had.

To put things in perspective, I have been diving for 18 years, open water certified for the last 9, and have dove in the Bahamas, Eleuthera, Aruba, Cozomel, Grand Caymans, and Texas. I consider myself a very conservative diver with 40+ real dives and another 100 or so shallow water dives doing underwater boat maintenance. I also have a USGC 50 ton master's license and own several boats.

The first difference between my other diving experiences and those on Kauai is that it appears that the majority of the dive companies keep their boats on trailers. I found out that this is partially due to the high $2000 per month commerical slip rental fees imposed by the government controlled marinas.

The requirement to launch the dive boats introduces new logistical issues. For example, it may be necessary for you to go between a remote parking lot and the boat ramp. Some companies like Bubbles will shuttle your gear and possibly you to the ramp. Others such as Fathom Five actually load your equipment on the boat prior to leaving the boat storage area. In those cases, you must travel to the launch site. To save space, some boats require you to configure your equipment in a particular manner. You may also be required to leave your gear bag behind. All of this requires additional time, so plan accordingly.

Another difference is that there seems to be more of a dependence on group diving rather than group diving with dive partners. I received the feeling that individual ascent did not have the same level of taboo as with all of the other dives that I have performed. The dive companies that we interacted with strongly encouraged the use of individual dive computers.

We also discovered that the current is Kauai can be quite strong for moored dives versus drift dives. I found that finning against these currents could greatly increase the consumption of air. If you are thinking about getting a better pair of fins, Hawaii is a good justification.

We were originally scheduled to do a total of five dives in Kauai. We did two with Bubbles under Kauai to Ambers Arches and the Turtle House. I had a couple of equipment glitches on the first dive which required me to terminate the dive a little early. One was that my regulator free flowed while attaching the dive computer. This resulted in diving with 2700 PSI. I also burned up extra air trying to figure out why my Bonica HDDV camera would not function. Apparently it has some sort of difficulty reading the 16 GB, but not the 8 GB memory card. I made the mistake of testing the camera for only a few seconds with the 16 GB card. Always, always thoroughly test out all your equipment before use.

We were scheduled to go to Nihiu, but cancelled that dive because my wife was not confident enough to do their three tank dive and we had heard that the return passage that week was going to be very rough.

We had such a good time anyway, that we rented some tanks and weights. Apparently a number of the dive companies will not allow you to rent tanks. To do a shore dive you must book a guided dive. Of course, there are pluses and minuses to that. We were able to rent from Sea Sports Scuba. We found them to be very friendly and knowledgeable. Interestingly enough, the woman that we rented the tanks from politely assessed our ability to execute shore dives.

Since we were not going to Nihiu, we decided to book another local dive. This time we used Fathom Five. Unfortunately, I had a serious disagreement with the dive master / instructor that we were suppose to have just prior to the dive. Both my wife and I were so upset at this situation that we walked back to the store and cancelled our dives. I must give the Fathom Five manager, Loni credit for quickly and effectively addressing this problem. Though we were way too upset to dive that morning, Loni really displayed great concern for our negative experience.

It was a couple of more days before my wife was mentally recovered enough to go diving again. In the end, we only did one more dive and that was a shallow shore dive with our tanks from Sea Sports. This was at Kolah Landing. Since we mostly boat dive, this was also an interesting contrasting experience. Fortunately, some time ago, someone had the generousity to lay down a very large section of rug on the entry ramp. This makes it significantly easier to get to the water. You may however still have to walk some distance with your equipment. I actually made several trips carrying rather than wearing our equipment. We will have to buy a couple of cheap foldable chairs and a small mat next time. Perhaps Sea Sports can rent those out at the same time as the tanks.

After snorkeling Tunnels reef, we decided that it would definitely be worth a shore dive. However, by the time we were ready, there were significant swells from the north that would have made it unsafe. So, you may want to try to do Tunnels as early in your trip as possible in case the weather changes. Tunnels is also difficult to do, due to the very limited availablity of parking. The distance between the parking area and the beach is quite far. So you might consider using some sort of wheeled carrier to make things easier.

As a final word, I would have to agree with many other in that the diving in Kauai is quite different from that of the rest of the Carribean. The visibility may not be as great and the sealife not quite as abundant in some areas. However, the unusual endemic sealife of Kauai and the other islands is definitely worth diving.

As they say in Hawaii, Mahalo
 
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Thanks. Sorry you had a bad experience with Fathom Five. They took GREAT care of me during 7 dives and I'll be back with them next year (if I can make it back to Kauai).

As for the chairs and mat rental, try Snorkel Bobs.
 
My wife and I have been to Kauai before and we are returning with a family group of 14 this July. We have dove most of the spots on Kauai and for the most part the diving was spectacular. However, like any other place, conditions change in a moment.

I happy to say that many of Kauai’s shops and divers have begun to post here so I’m sure they will jump in and add more valuable info.

Thanks for the report.
 
That's a great review Themons!

It is nice that you were so well balanced and remembered to mention the pros and cons of your experience.

I live and dive in Oahu Hawaii so I know how it can be a bit rough and vis and currents can change dramatically even within an hour.

I will be diving Kauai with Bubbles Below so I am happy you had a good time with them.

It would be interesting to know more about the negative experience with the one divemaster. It must have been pretty bad to make you abort the dive with Fathom Five. Til now I had only heard good things about that company.

Thanks for being so balanced in your posting.

Jason
 
Ok Themons,

While reading your post there where a few things i felt i should edit / comment on.

Ill start at the beginning.

1: "I have been diving for 18 years, open water certified for the last 9"
So where you diving without certification? not sure what this means.

2: "The requirement to launch the dive boats introduces new logistical issues"
The places ive worked for in kauai, bring divers to the boat, you get on and go diving. Yes WE have to get the boat in the water, but in no way should you have to do anything "extra" but dive.

3: "some boats require you to configure your equipment in a particular manner. You may also be required to leave your gear bag behind" what is meant by 'configure your equipment"? leave your Fins under the seat? Both this and not bringing on your travel bag is generally considered good "dive boat etiquette"

4: "The dive companies that we interacted with strongly encouraged the use of individual dive computers" Never dive your buddies dive computer, NEVER! The shop im working for now, gives everyone a dive computer if you dont bring your own.

5: :"One was that my regulator free flowed while attaching the dive computer. This resulted in diving with 2700 PSI"
Where you attaching your comp to your reg? If you get a freeflow, simply put your hand over the mouthpiece. Also alot of opperators fill tank between 2800 -3000. 100psi, can be a difference of 2 mins for poeple who suck air, also if you felt your air was too low to begin with you should ask for another, we are MORE than happy to replace it, we cant do much about it once your in the water.

6: "I also burned up extra air trying to figure out why my Bonica HDDV camera would not function" /shakes head Sorry , but as a dive guide / i see this ALOT. 80ft down is NOT the place to figure out how your camera is working. This can potentially ruin everyone elses dive. I had a guy a few days ago, so intent on messing with the settings on his camera, he almost drifted up in to the props. No amount of banging on my tank could get his attention, when i finally yanked him back to a safe distance and pointed to the props, he looked at me like I was an idiot, /shakes head.

7: "We were scheduled to go to Nihiu, but cancelled that dive because my wife was not confident enough"
Well done, really cudos. Takes a good diver to know when to say when. Its Ni'ihau BTW.

8: "Unfortunately, I had a serious disagreement with the dive master / instructor" "It was a couple of more days before my wife was mentally recovered enough to go diving again"
What the heck did this guy do???? that made you stay out of the water for 3 days!!!

9: *sp* Koloa landing

10: "the diving in Kauai is quite different from that of the rest of the Carribean" "the sealife not quite as abundant"

Pacific, not Caribean.
Also, i worked in Bahamas, and the Keys for years, while the carib has more soft corals - color, the fish here in kauai are way MORE abundant, and colorful, every kind of Angel fish, butterfly fish basically your sought after aquarium fish.


Didn't want this thread to be a "beat on OP" post. Just see this kind of post all the time and felt the need to comment / rectify a few things.
 
Curious, which is condenscending?
 
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