Explore Kauai Scuba

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Skeptic14

Contributor
Messages
799
Reaction score
638
Location
Va
# of dives
50 - 99
My wife and I did a guided two tank dive on Kauai today at Koloa landing with Nick of Explore Kauai Scuba and it was fantastic. The visibility was probably only average due to some surge stirring things up a bit, but that's the luck of the draw.

We were initially trying to decide if we wanted to just rent tanks/gear and do some dives ourselves or use a guide. We are new divers and with the pacific being a bit different animal than the gulf or caribbean decided a guide would be a good idea.

It was a great decision and well worth it to hire Nick to guide us! He was not in a rush to get the dives over with and go on with his day, he talked to us about the site, what creatures to expect, brought a wet board to id critters as he spotted them and really helped maximize what we got from our dives. While under water there was no rushing us about either, we got some nice long dives (for me - air hog) out of both tanks. During the surface interval we talked some more, he provided some fresh fruit, water, and snacks.

Had we opted to simply rent gear and do the dives, we definitely wouldn't have had nearly the experience.

A list of what we saw (mostly thanks to Nick finding them and pointing it out), I'm sure I'll forget some:

- 3 scorpionfish
- 2 frogfish
- lionfish
- several trumpetfish
- 4 dragon moray (1 juvenile)
- 2 whitemouth moray? (I think)
- 1 yellow margin moray
- lots of turtles sleeping, eating, cleaning station
- the usual suspects of reef fish (too many to list...)

I'm forgetting a few that I'll have to try and ID from my pictures.

At the end, he pointed us toward a great restaurant for lunch to round off a great morning spent on Kauai. If you are a newer to moderately new diver (or even experienced if you aren't as critter knowledgeable) I highly recommend diving with Nick, (they have a boat too for offshore diving), our logbooks are pretty thin, but these were probably our best dives!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/GUwGSf][/URL]
























Images taken with TG-3/TG-4 and new UWL-04 wal.
 
I wanted to follow up my initial post regarding Explore Kauai Scuba, my wife and I went over to Maui after Kauai and we used two different operations on Maui to do some dives and while one was also excellent (Extended Horizons) and one just ok (Maui Dream), we both agreed neither was as good as what Nick provided on Kauai.
 
Having been a Instructor / Divemaster for over 15 years here - I would have no problem sending divers to Explore Kauai Scuba. Nick is fantastic and very passionate about diving and sharing Kauai with others. Do yourself a favor and book a dive or two with Nick!
 
I have to agree! Nick is a fantastic guide. He is very impressionable. I used Nick since his boat port out of Waimea area to dive Mana Crack and explore NaPali and was not disappointed. The drift dive to Mana Crack is a must dive! Love the topography and the abundance sea life it has to offer. The coastline ride to Na Pali is breathtaking! The beach SI was fabulous too. We had a picnic lunch at Na Pali State Park, Nualolo Kai where we also explored an old Hawaiian Village. Do yourself a favor and dive w Explore Kauai Scuba you wouldn't regret it!
 
Another vote for Nick. My son and I did a couple tanks with him. As others have said, he's super nice, knowledgeable, and loves to talk about sea life. He really seems to love what he does.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom