Kauai diving

[fishlover]

I 'm planning a trip to Kauai this year. Anyone have recommendation on when to go? I am thinking of either May, June, September, or october. When is the warmest and best visibility with very calm water?
Any recommendation on dive shops?
Which are the good dives sites to see for beginner level divers?

 

[aascubagirl]

I 'm planning a trip to Kauai this year. Anyone have recommendation on when to go? I am thinking of either May, June, September, or october. When is the warmest and best visibility with very calm water?
Any recommendation on dive shops?
Which are the good dives sites to see for beginner level divers?

Aloha, fishlover!

Here's the general situation...Sept/Oct. through May the vast majority of the diving is on the south shore. May through Sept./Oct. the north shore calms down and you can dive Tunnels Beach which features some spectacular lava tube formations plus some other cool attractions. AND, Niihau is typically available that time of year which offers some absolutely unforgettable diving so if you have the ability to make a day trip over there, you should plan your trip for that time frame. And, warmer water during those months as well.

For beginner divers and/or for some excellent shore diving, I recommend Aquatic Adventures (but I have to confess that I am biased as I work there!). Our instructors specialize in guided tours for both experienced certified divers and also first-time or beginner divers. I guarantee your fellow new divers will LOVE their experience with us. Stop by our shop and you can see for yourself what our divers think of us

Good luck and happy diving to you!

 

[surf1]

Hello, If you are planning to come diving on Kauai you may want to do your homework first. There are only three real boat dive operations Seasport divers, fathom five, and bubbles below. These three operations offer shore diving and all cert courses as well. Don't be fooled by the web sites. Alot of companies have amazing websites and run their operations at Koloa landing out of a van. Koloa landing is a fun training site when the vis is good. But after a couple of dives it gets boring.

 

[DMJulie]

I disagree that Koloa Landing gets boring after a couple of dives. I personally dive there multiple times a week and it is NEVER boring. There is so much aquatic life at Koloa Landing. It is rated as one of the top shore dives on Kauai. <-----Boring???
Aquatic Adventures is who I dive with and they don't 'run their operation out of a van', they actually have a good dive shop, located in Poipu on Poipu Rd. The website is really cool and shows some amazing pictures, alot of which were taken at Koloa Landing.

They only do shore diving, but can recommend a couple good boat diving companies, if that is what you are looking for. (Fathom Five)

I suggest calling around, go by the dive shops and see what they each have to offer. There are lots of great companies on Kauai.

Happy Diving.

 

[Brandon]

I had a blast with Fathom Five in Kauai last year. Highlights included seeing dolphins underwater at Sheraton Caverns, and the biggest turtle I've ever seen just outside of Koloa Landing.

It was a nice change - Maui was the only other place I've ever dove in Hawaii. Different stuff on Kauai, in a good way =)

-B

 

[nematoid]

Aloha fishlover! My favorite time to dive Kauai is the end of May or beginning of June. Usually you can dive all the sites Kauai offers. I work at Fathom Five and we specialize in small groups and customer service. Tunnels is one of my favorites and have been guiding tours there for 18 years. We do excellent tours at Koloa Landing, over 26 boatdive sites out of Poipu and Niihau. All our guides are instructors and are very attentive and patient with beginners. Niihau is more of an intermediate dive location.

 

[aascubagirl]

Hello, If you are planning to come diving on Kauai you may want to do your homework first. There are only three real boat dive operations Seasport divers, fathom five, and bubbles below. These three operations offer shore diving and all cert courses as well. Don't be fooled by the web sites. Alot of companies have amazing websites and run their operations at Koloa landing out of a van. Koloa landing is a fun training site when the vis is good. But after a couple of dives it gets boring.

Koloa Landing boring?!!!

For anyone interested in diving Kauai and doing some fabulous shore diving while here, I highly recommend that you do at least one thing...just check the reviews from ScubaBoard members who have dove Koloa Landing in Kauai [and who they dove with] and see if they thought it was a boring dive site. I think you'll get a pretty accurate depiction of what it has to offer.

I love aquatic life and Koloa Landing is such a critter-intensive dive that I find it amazing that someone would characterize it as "boring." It has so much to offer! I guess I would just offer an old quote from my grandmother..."There's no such thing as boring, only boring people."

 

[kaimanu]

Aloha Fishlover! May is the month of coral spawning here around Kauai. This triggers other species to spawn and the water gets quite lively. The largest planktavores, such as mantas and whale sharks come in to feed on the larval states several weeks later. May is amazing for crossing the channel over to Niihau as there can be such pelagic action and in addition there is usually a few late humpbacks around. Last year, we had a Mother and a late newborn calf hanging around Niihau until the 2nd week in June. Compared to Sept. it will not be as warm of water in May/June, however the action and potential visions are better. Bubbles Below offers charters to Niihau year round as well as the NaPali coast. You should consider talking to them about the type of dives you wish to do. The trips are marine ecology tours where time is spent discussing not only endemic marine life but also the habitats.

 

[Ken VanPelt]

I dove with Bubbles Below last Oct. They were very safety conscious and their dive briefings were fabulous. They talked about the dive and also about what fish we would be seeing. During the dive, they had a slate and would write the name of the fish.

I will be diving with them again the next time I'm there.

 

[Scubaman7596]

Anyone who says Koloa Landing is the Greatest dive, Only has the choice to dive there Prince Kuhios, Tunnels, Or Ahukini and that is because they are shore dives. Logically if you don't have a boat then your going to tell everyone (including potential customers) that the spots you dive are the greatest, most amazing, phenomenal places to dive. You have to sell what you have available to you.

Koloa Landing is the greatest dive Out of those choices depending on what's going on with the water. Not too long ago the location was completely blown out and looked like a big chocolate milk washing machine.

There are more than 20 different boat diving sites on this island that completely blow Koloa Landing off of the map!

Koloa Landing Has Changed!!

On That Note, Kauai has been pummeled with rain this season, The flooding has completely dissipated the amount of marine life in the area. The coral is destroyed and partly bleached, or extremely stressed from all this flooding. The walk in entrance is filled with sut from the golf course up stream from the entrance. The sand bowl is filled with grass, tires , and trash from the flooding.

It used to be that the fresh water was a good thing for Koloa Landing, over the past few years we have had season's of tyrenchal rain. It is severely hurting the ecosystem there.

It is reminding me of Quarry diving, back on the mainland, except for its salt water.

Anyone saying anything different.
A) Has no choice but to dive you there
b) has never been diving anywhere else
c) Is Blowing sunshine up your Wazoo

All of the Critters that are said to be at Koloa Landing are in abundance at any of the boat diving locations. Schools of fish so thick you can't see thru them, 4-7 White tips on a regular Basis, We had whales cruise by us about 30ft from our divers 2 days ago. The nudibraches( Spanish Dancers, elegants, physidillas, John smiths, Indians) are all over the place, so are the Octopus, Schools of pyramid butterfly fish, Tiger cowries the size of softballs, Frogfish the size of a volleyball. A Monk seal swimming with us, 22 turtles at one location it was an airport. 2 dragoon Morays and a partridge in a pear tree 100ft + visibility I could make this a very long paragraph, But jesus cant script what we have been seeing on a regular basis.

Now Someone is going to say "we see all that at koloa landing" and that's quite possible if you live on Kauai and dive there on a regular basis for maybe 6 years or more. Don't get me wrong I still love that spot I have spent countless years diving there. But to compare the wow factor of Koloa Landing to almost any boat dive on this island is like saying a Honda and a Ferrari are the same car. Take the Pepsi challenge yourself!

The dives and marine life I just described earlier were from dives on Sunday and Monday alone. As soon as I figure out how to put Pics and Vids on here, I will post

Koloa Landing is good for Intro's and refreshers and after one dive GET ON A BOAT!!!
The boat dive choices Range from beginner to advanced so there are dives for everyone.

SURF1
There are actually 4 REAL boat diving companies on Kauai
In Port Allen you have:

Kauai Scuba Center DBA: Kauai Aquatics Scuba/ Mana Divers Scuba/ Dive Kauai Scuba
Bubbles Below

In Poipu you have:

Seasports
Fathom Five

and out of all the operators on kauai only one boat company doesn't have a shop and 3 shore companies don't have shops

I hope this information helps divers I agree with the background research, safety is the most important factor to quality diving. Have fun blowing bubbles!