I am so excited to report on our certification dives and vk on Kauai!
First, my husband and I got a wonderful talking to from the Hertz shuttle bus driver about the laid back aloha spirit. That helped us destress from our trip and set the mood.
We stayed at the Poipu Plantation Bed and Breakfast just up the hill from Poipu beach. The bnb is great - mostly due to the location and people. The rooms are nice and quiet but the bed we had was a little too firm for me. The staff do an excellent job of taking care of you and the guests we met were fantastic!
We chose to do our open water certification dives with Seasport Divers in Poipu after reading reviews here. Wow did we make a great decision! First we had to rescedule our dives as my husband and I both caught a cold just before our trip. Seasport was great in accomodating the change. We had also asked to do a pool refresher before the open water because it had been 5 months since our class and pool sessions. Although there was a group doing their first two open water dives that morning, they gave us our own instructor and had us in the pool for at least 1 - 1 1/2 hours starting around 11 am. Then we grabbed some lunch and did our first two open water dives starting around 2 or so in the afternoon.
Our instructor was Noehealani. I cannot say enough good things about her as our instructor and dive master. She is so helpful and patient with just enough tough love to let you gain confidence in your skills. Mahalo, Noe!
We did our first two dives from the shore at Kaloa Landing. We saw lots of turtles, eels, damsels, sargeant majors guarding purple eggs, trumpet fish and heard whale song. Amazing! By the time we were done and loaded gear it was about 6:15. Noe was so accomodating and nice to stick with us for a long afternoon and then she had to unload and store gear!
Next day we did our last two dives from the Seasport boat. Although it was my first experience, the crew seemed to do a great job! It was helpful to see the boat dive process in action as the cert divers went first. We dived Stonehouse to 55ft and Sheraton Caverns to 60 ft. Saw our closest whale sighting just before getting to Sheraton - a momma and baby maybe 300 yards from the boat. Diving we saw lots of turtles, a pufferfish, seastars, eels, damsels, lobster, barracuda and commersons frog fish.
Than the attempt at an underwater high five and a life long ambition was fulfilled! We are certified divers!
On the boat dives we used the Air 2 (not sure on spelling) bcd. Some pluses and minuses - easier buttons for the operating, but sometimes seemed harder to get all of the air out of the bcd. It was nice to get experience with a variety of equipment. I wore a 5ml full length suit in 73 degree water and down to 12 lbs of weight 1/2 way through dive 2. (maybe the yoga and running is paying off) I was quite comfy in the water but a little cool between dives 3 and 4.
I turn out to be a slow equalizer, and again Noe was so patient and helpful.
Is it normal to be tired and starving after those last 2 dives? I couldn't decide if I should snore into my dinner or inhale it that night!
We leave Kauai tomorrow for the Big Island. We hope to do the manta Ray night dive with Steve from Wanna Dive on Monday, depending upon the post-tsunami conditions of course.
Aloha!
First, my husband and I got a wonderful talking to from the Hertz shuttle bus driver about the laid back aloha spirit. That helped us destress from our trip and set the mood.
We stayed at the Poipu Plantation Bed and Breakfast just up the hill from Poipu beach. The bnb is great - mostly due to the location and people. The rooms are nice and quiet but the bed we had was a little too firm for me. The staff do an excellent job of taking care of you and the guests we met were fantastic!
We chose to do our open water certification dives with Seasport Divers in Poipu after reading reviews here. Wow did we make a great decision! First we had to rescedule our dives as my husband and I both caught a cold just before our trip. Seasport was great in accomodating the change. We had also asked to do a pool refresher before the open water because it had been 5 months since our class and pool sessions. Although there was a group doing their first two open water dives that morning, they gave us our own instructor and had us in the pool for at least 1 - 1 1/2 hours starting around 11 am. Then we grabbed some lunch and did our first two open water dives starting around 2 or so in the afternoon.
Our instructor was Noehealani. I cannot say enough good things about her as our instructor and dive master. She is so helpful and patient with just enough tough love to let you gain confidence in your skills. Mahalo, Noe!
We did our first two dives from the shore at Kaloa Landing. We saw lots of turtles, eels, damsels, sargeant majors guarding purple eggs, trumpet fish and heard whale song. Amazing! By the time we were done and loaded gear it was about 6:15. Noe was so accomodating and nice to stick with us for a long afternoon and then she had to unload and store gear!
Next day we did our last two dives from the Seasport boat. Although it was my first experience, the crew seemed to do a great job! It was helpful to see the boat dive process in action as the cert divers went first. We dived Stonehouse to 55ft and Sheraton Caverns to 60 ft. Saw our closest whale sighting just before getting to Sheraton - a momma and baby maybe 300 yards from the boat. Diving we saw lots of turtles, a pufferfish, seastars, eels, damsels, lobster, barracuda and commersons frog fish.
Than the attempt at an underwater high five and a life long ambition was fulfilled! We are certified divers!
On the boat dives we used the Air 2 (not sure on spelling) bcd. Some pluses and minuses - easier buttons for the operating, but sometimes seemed harder to get all of the air out of the bcd. It was nice to get experience with a variety of equipment. I wore a 5ml full length suit in 73 degree water and down to 12 lbs of weight 1/2 way through dive 2. (maybe the yoga and running is paying off) I was quite comfy in the water but a little cool between dives 3 and 4.
I turn out to be a slow equalizer, and again Noe was so patient and helpful.
Is it normal to be tired and starving after those last 2 dives? I couldn't decide if I should snore into my dinner or inhale it that night!
We leave Kauai tomorrow for the Big Island. We hope to do the manta Ray night dive with Steve from Wanna Dive on Monday, depending upon the post-tsunami conditions of course.
Aloha!
