Kauai Diving - Recommendations Needed

[tangfish]

I'm heading to Kauai this August for a family vacation, and I need some recommendations on diving there.

- First off, is there good diving off of this island?
- Dive operators, recommendations appreciated! Also, do any of them cater to rebreather/technical divers?
- Shore diving options?
- Is nitrox available on the island?
- Anything special I should know about diving off of Kauai?
- Weight restrictions on inter-island flights.

Mahalo in advance to anyone who can provide me info so that I can plan some diving for this trip!

 

[fisheater]

Most diving is on the south side.

I had a GREAT time with Fathom Five, both shore diving at Koloa Landing and going out on their 6 packs. Knowledgeable, friendly and professional captains and DM/OWSIs, throughout.

Next time, I want to go on a trip to Ni'ihau with them.

Also, I did a dive for $35 with Blue Dolphin. Well, it was $35 extra for the dive on top of the catamaran / snorkel trip to the Na Pali coast. They, too, are a class act.

Depending upon the season, Tunnels on the north shore is a must-do.

 

[Just_James]

Without a doubt Aquatic Adventures (Leah,Shawn,Jordan and Mike) My wife and I first got our open water cert last year and we just got back from diving and getting our advance open water with them. We can not say enough about this dive shop, Great people, Great gear, Great dive sites, Great pricing and VERY knolagable staff. Although you will think of them more as your extended family before its over.

 

[Busdiver]

I have dove with Scott from Fathom Five. Great guy and very mellow guide. The folks at Advanced Aquatics are very cool. Two basic shore dives are Koala Landing and PK's. Lots of turtles at PK.

Again, Scott made the experience worth while. My wife and I ended up doing 7 dives with him.

 

[Teamcasa]

I'm heading to Kauai this August for a family vacation, and I need some recommendations on diving there.

- First off, is there good diving off of this island?
- Dive operators, recommendations appreciated! Also, do any of them cater to rebreather/technical divers?
- Shore diving options?
- Is nitrox available on the island?
- Anything special I should know about diving off of Kauai?
- Weight restrictions on inter-island flights.

Mahalo in advance to anyone who can provide me info so that I can plan some diving for this trip!

• Good Diving? Yes, and underrated. I love diving there and will be enjoying the island in July.
• Dive operators? I used several and am looking forward to diving with Aquatic Adventures and SeaSports. I don’t know about ops that cater to technical divers. Someone will surely jump in with an answer.
• Shore diving options? The old stand by answer: http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/Hawaii/Kauai/index.htm
• Nitrox is available on the island
• Anything special? Try to make time to visit Niihau. Kauai diving is very laid back, lots of resort/vacation divers. Try to get on the morning dives as they tend to cater to the more advanced diver and visit better sites.

More importantly, Have Fun!

 

[aascubagirl]

Aloha funkyspelunker!

Kauai has awesome diving if you are into aquatic life and just plain having fun being in the water. We don't have the prettiest coral but we've got tons of endemic critters and some pretty stunning underwater scenery - especially up at Tunnels. And, shore diving and boat diving options galore.

Shore diving - Koloa Landing (south side), Prince Kuhio's (south side), Tunnels Beach (north shore) and one or two more spots. Don't let any dive cynics fool you - these can all be amazing dive spots if conditions are good and you've got a good guide or you have the eagle eye when diving on your own. Some of the stuff you can see while diving these sites: frogfish, Harlequin Shrimp, dragon morays, Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles, cleaning stations, white tip/black tip reef sharks, eagle rays, sting rays, etc. I'd like to plug myself as your guide (I work for Aquatic Adventures in Poipu) but you won't go wrong w/most of the crew over at Fathom Five either.

For boat diving, I've dove bunches w/Fathom so I am comfortable recommending them. They do 6-packs so you get a smaller size group w/more attention. I always recommend asking for Anthony or Debbie on the boats. Pretty much all the boat diving is on the south side of Kauai, FYI. I've never dove w/SeaSports so I can't offer any opinions on them. I do know they have much larger boats. Both Fathom and SeaSports offer nitrox - not necessary for the shore dives but helpful on the deeper boat dives. Fathom also has rebreathers, I believe.

Good luck w/your research and we hope to see you for some fantastic diving this summer :O)

 

[Gdog]

Dove with Seasport divers, they were great, and very close to Koloa landing. Sheraton caverns is very good as well. Seasport was great, my son did his OW cert dives with them as well. Have fun!

 

[REFLECTIONPOOL]

"Ditto" on aascubagirl's comments.

Debbie and Anthony both are great guides over at Fathom. Both have been on the island a pretty long time and probably spend more time underwater than above.

I enjoyed the shore dives there as well. Koloa was not impressive to me the very first time I went. The second time... well, I went with a guide and it was truely amazing the difference. If you know where to find the cool critters there you can quickly fill a log page with id's.

Niihau is NOT to be missed. It gets some misleading press sometimes because of the sometimes VERY rough return trip. The diving there makes it worth it about 100 times over though.

Happy diving!

 

[tangfish]

Thanks for all the advice, folks. I just gave a couple of the shops a call and I'll be doing the boat to Niihau and shore diving the rest of the time

 

[Shoreliner11]

Hi everyone,
I'll also be heading to Kaua'i late august into early september. I'm set to do at least one boat trip but also want to take my gf on a discover scuba course. We've been practicing in the pool to get her comfortable. Getting her cert. or even bookwork isn't in the cards as we're saving all the money we can to go.
Would anyone recommend a good boat or shore dive(s) for a discover dive?
Also, if you had to do one boat trip, where would it be?

Thanks everyone

Aaron