Kauai diving in July

[aascubagirl]

Aloha...a late afternoon shore dive on Sunday will be inching toward high tide (high tide is at approx. 6:30PM) and Koloa Landing is recovering from a series of south swells so vis probably won't be the best and there might be a good 2-4 foot surge as well. If you don't mind those factors, dive away! Baby frogfish is still around and a pair or two of Harlequin Shrimps plus our dragon morays and turtles.

 

[Teamcasa]

Thanks, That is exactly what I wanted to know. Hmmm, maybe we see when we get there. Thanks again.

 

[MikeRDar]

My wife and I will be headed over to Kauai next week as well, arriving Thursday and staying for an extra long weekend. We're scheduled for Lehua/Niihau on Sunday, but we have a friend on-island who wants to dive with us but isn't experienced enough to go out to Lehua. Plus my wife will have new gear that she should get comfy in before we head out to Lehua, which I hear can be challenging. SO... we'd like to go dive Tunnels beach beforehand (Fri or Sat).

Here's the issue... my friend on-island called the dive shop and they said it would be $105 pp to dive Tunnels, a shore dive. NOT including rental gear (which our local friends will need). I feel like I'm missing something. My wife and I are fairly competent divers and regularly rent tanks for $20-30 and go shore diving here on Oahu. Is there any reason we can't do the same on Kauai? $105 seems like a lot to pay for a shore dive, even counting the guide. Heck, we do two tank boat dives with top-notch service all the time, and that's only $75, tanks and all. Am I missing something here? It seems out of proportion to the services provided; which is especially odd considering the high marks I've always heard for this shop.

 

[Teamcasa]

There is nothing stopping you from renting gear and go shore diving with your buddy. When I proposed the same idea, my lovely bride and dive buddy told me in no uncertain terms that she wants to dive with a guide (at Tunnels) and accused me of being a cheap SOB! I made the call.

 

[aascubagirl]

Aloha, Mike.

I dive Oahu a couple of times a year and yes, the price is definitely higher over here in Kauai. However, you'll find that the majority of dive shops are all w/in $5-15 of each other (our cost for a guided, certified two-tank dive w/o gear is $100+tax and with gear is $120+tax).

Tunnels is a great dive but as most dive operators are based on the south shore of Kauai, conducting dives up there requires a tremendous amount of time and fuel so there isn't a whole lot of flexibility on price unfortunately.

Unless you are great at navigation and have a lot of experience under your belt, I always recommend a guided tour for Tunnels - at least for the first dive - so you can get oriented to the numerous tubes and swim-throughs, find the sharks and the turtle cleaning stations. IMO, the $ is worth it!

Best of luck to you and we hope to see you while you are diving in Kauai :O)

 

[MikeRDar]

Dave, I don't mind being a cheap SOB, I just don't want to be a LOST cheap SOB. It's a shame I don't have more friends over there that dive more often who could show us around. While I've found several sites offering descriptions of the site, they all seem to start with "we recommend a dive guide for your first time here." So, with that said, I guess we'll be diving with one of these guys...
pd:

Thanks everyone for the advice, at least now I don't feel like I'm getting taken for a (underwater) ride. Cheers and I hope we see you all out there!

 

[aascubagirl]

Aloha again Mike.

I totally understand where you are coming from, btw.

One more thing I forgot to mention...if you are going to book a guided tour for Tunnels...all of us scuba companies are only allowed to conduct dives there Monday - Friday. Absolutely no commercial diving on the weekends. AND, each company is not allowed to take more than 12 divers per day. So...it looks like your only option for a guided tour is Friday and I would recommend reserving your spots before they sell out. The dive site is set in a residential area and this is the compromise that the scuba companies made with the local community to respect recreational users of the area.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Teamcasa]

Well we are here but was not able to get a dive in today. However, we will be diving tomorrow!

 

[berick]

Just out of curiousity, what's the current ocean temperature at depth in Kauai?

 

[Teamcasa]

Yesterday we had 80+ at 68 fsw and two great dives.