Kauai Dive Report From New Hawaiian Diver

[Busdiver]

Thank you for your follow up. I appreciate the clarification. It is always best to call a dive if you are not sure about it and you and your spouse made the wisest decision of all by doing so.

I once did a dive with a DM at a local quarry in Ohio that resulted in me giving him a hand signal that is not very friendly when he started questioning me about my giving him the thumbs up sign. In my world a thumbs up is a statement and not a question. We can discuss it at the top not at 80 feet. In this case I had some issues with my second stage and some water leaking in through the diaphram (sp?). I switched to my octo (a Mares Rebel and a terrible back up--shame on me) gave him the thumbs up and he just put his arms out saying why. I reinforced it twice and he continued to question me. I shook my head, gave him the bird, and did a very slow ascent. At the surf he asked why I called the dive and I politely called him my rear end and asked why he wanted to question me calling a dive. Once he found out why I went up he apologized. I wrote him off my dive list and wont get wet with him again. Not all DM's/DI's are built the same so I understand the frustration and appreciate your clearification.

Take care and don't give up on Kauai diving. There are good people there.

Bus

 

[berick]

My wife and I just returned from our first trip to Kauai, so, I'll add my thoughts as a new Hawaiian diver to this thread. We did 2 2-tank morning boat dives and the Ni'ihau 3-tank trip with Fathom Five. We would not hesitate to dive with Fathom Five again.

Before this trip, we both had just shy of 200 logged ocean dives (mainly boat dives) in the Caribbean(4 trips to Honduras, 3 trips Cozumel, 2 trips Bonaire, Belize Liveaboard, Little Cayman). The diving is definitely different from the Caribbean. The first thing that is different is, as themons noted, the boats are stored on trailers. Fathom Five has you meet back at the boat trailers and then place your fins, masks, booties in one tub, your exposure suit in another tub, and put your BCD & reg on a tank which they load onto the boat on a trailer (1st day). They store your gear and rinse it if you're diving multiple days. Then, you meet the boat at the harbour where they launch it. This was a bit different, but, only a bit perplexing on the first day.

The second thing is the actual diving. In the Caribbean, there's tons of colorful soft coral. The south side of Kauai doesn't have coral like the Caribbean. So, if you're a macro oriented individual who likes float over a coral head looking at the small creatures, it takes a bit of adjustment. However, there are larger fish(white tip sharks included), tons of turtles, and some smaller eels to look at. The visibility last week (not that I think I'm a great estimator of visibility) on the south Kauai sites was probably 40-60' where we dove -- not appreciably better or worse than most of our Caribbean dives. On the Ni'ihau trip, visibility at our first site (Vertical Awareness) was the best I've ever experienced (100+). We had Hawaiian Monk seals on every dive and sharks on a couple dives -- including the first Tiger shark I've ever seen. Ni'ihau is definitely worth the trip and I didn't feel the crossing back was bad (still I took meclizine before going).

The dive masters were helpful. They let you stay down as long as you have air. We particularly enjoyed diving with Holly & Cory?. We also enjoyed the boat captains on our trips. I'll second Themons comment that Lonnie(sp?) -- the shop manager -- is top notch. He gave us great advice on where to eat. He also replaced a couple of o-rings on my air gage -- which leaked on the first day of diving -- gratis.

Well, that's my impressions from my first Kauai dive trip.

 

[Charlie99]

For curious minds:

The incident with the DM/DI had to do with equipment, safety stops, uncontrolled ascents, embolism, diving history, diving skills, diving knowledge, DM/DI responsibilities and attitudes. I refused to dive under those conditions with that DM/DI and would do so again. Apparently, the DM/DI had a history of conducting themself in this manner whenever anyone questioned their decisions. It was not just this incident, but also the history that I believe led the manager and owners to indefinitely suspend the DM/DI for their professional conduct.

I hope that answers everyone's questions.

It doesn't answer my questions. I doesn't really tell me anything about what your concern/problem/disagreement was with the DM/DI.

Was the DM/DI doing uncontrolled ascents?
Did he have an embolism?
Was he diving with broken equipment?

How about being a bit more specific as to what the problem was so that we can all learn from your experience.

 

[Oside Jimc]

Thanks to everybody for your feedback, I guess I'll stay the course and stick with my boat dive with Fathom 5. I'll post a trip report when I get back.

 

[Instr.x]

Id just like to say,
I am not affiliated with Fathom five, though i would work for them in a heart beat, great shop, great dive professionals.

This thread did get resurrected by me i suppose, really didn't expect it to keep on going.

I do think its interesting though, i ask for clarification and essentially get bashed. Why does it bother you that someone, read a post, saw a few points that stood out from a mile away, asked for clarification.

Sad to say but the theme of this thread ( and a few others ive seen) has somehow turned into a Us against Them, Proffesionals / customer.

This was never a bash Themons thread.

Im done , im out.

Have fun keep smiling

 

[Teamcasa]

Id just like to say,
I am not affiliated with Fathom five, though i would work for them in a heart beat, great shop, great dive professionals.

I agree, they are a first class operation, as are many on the island.

..I do think its interesting though, i ask for clarification and essentially get bashed. Why does it bother you that someone, read a post, saw a few points that stood out from a mile away, asked for clarification.

Sad to say but the theme of this thread ( and a few others ive seen) has somehow turned into a Us against Them, Proffesionals / customer.

This was never a bash Themons thread.

Im done , im out.

Have fun keep smiling

I did not read your post as a bash, just simply asking a few questions. Some people do tend to jump to conclusions but that is the nature of internet forums. There is far more good information worth reading and learning from than to worry about a few people who post just for a reaction.

I hope to see and dive with you on the island sometime soon.

 

[Hawaii Scuba Divers]

I think that we Again need to Support each other but attacking Tourist is not how to do IT.