Mini Trip Report - north shore Kauai diving with Fathom Five

My daughter and I dove with Fathom Five at Tunnels beach on July 2 and July 8 during a family vacation to Hawaii (2 days in Oahu and 10 days in Kauai-Haena). We really enjoyed the folks at Fathom Five. Their shore diving operation at Tunnels is very well-organized. Upon arriving, we found beach chairs set up for us as well as the rental gear for my daughter and tanks/weights for me. Jeanette, who runs the FF operation at Tunnels, provides great pre-dive briefings, including an overview of common marine life found at Tunnels. All 4 dives we did were guided, in groups of 6-8 divers. FF seemed to do a good job separating divers into groups based on experience and were attentive underwater to those who needed it. Depths were in the 30-50 foot range on our 4 dives. We saw octopus, green turtles, morays, white tip reef sharks, nudibranchs (including spanish dancer eggs), among others. The reef at Tunnels gets its name from the various swimthroughs/tunnels at this site - see the video for some examples. Water temp on all 4 dives was a consistent 79F per Suunto. We wore 5mm full suits and were comfortable.

This was our first trip to Hawaii. Pearl Harbor was moving and very interesting. Kauai is breathtakingly beautiful, particularly the north shore and the Na Pali coastline. Unfortunately I did not get a chance to dive Nihau (we stayed in Haena, close to the end of the road on the north shore....Nihau trips run from the south shore....too many family activities to balance). Makes me motivated to go back!

Hope you enjoy my brief video = less than 3 minutes, including topside and diving pics/footage. Click on the image to play.

Chris