Kauai boat dives and outfitters

[jszei]

Hello,

I will be traveling to Kauai at the end of Jan. Can anyone recommend a good location around that island for reef diving? Also, if anyone can recommend an outfitter that would be great.

Thanks,
John

 

[jszei]

well after a quick search here it looks like Bubbles Below is the best recommended outfitter with Fathom Five a second. Sheraton Caverns, Hale A Honu as well as Ni'ihau are the best boat diving locs. It also appears the shore dives are just as good as boat dives. Am I good to go?

Thanks,
John

 

[Blackfish]

I dove with Bubbles Below & Linda in 2004 and enjoyed their crew---I'd recommend them heartily and I selected them based upon reviews on Undercurrents (maybe here too). I'd skip Sheraton Caverns----I dove there 5-6 years ago and don't remember anything terribly remarkable, but maybe I just missed it. I believe that it is also quite a haul from the launch Bubbles Below uses, so they likely don't dive there much---one of the cattle boats dives there all of the time.

Bubbles Below had a couple of DMs and 8 or so divers on their boat when we dove. The DMs were good, the diving casual, and everyone dove their air, which was good since some of the folks ran through steel 100s quite quickly. If there is anything you are interested in seeing, let them know and they'll try to find it for you. The DMs were all very interested in critters---we saw a monsterous trevally, a nurse shark and a some colorful crabs on a night dive---some sort of decorated lobster as well.

Hale O'Honu (House of Turtles) is not to be missed if you enjoy diving with the turtles. The turtles are pretty friendly & will swim right up to you if you just hang in the water near them. Since they are protected, the turtles have no fear of people. One of the DMs talked wistfully about the good old days when you could pet the turtles---evidently they quite enjoy a good scratching & would swim right up to you & ask for it.

I would've loved to get to Ni'ihau, but the channel was too rough for the crossing. It is supposed to be great diving---maybe I'll get there next time.

Enjoy!

 

[urmegr]

Both Bubbles Below and Fathom Five do a good job, but if you want to dive with the best try Seasport Divers. They have a 48 foot pro dive boat, a brand new custom 34 foot Power Cat, the nicest rental gear on the island and the only real dive shop on the island. with how bumpy the ocean around the island typically is, you'll be much happier on a larger boat. Funny when people call our boat a cattle boat as the groups are usually smaller than on the six pax boats - and you can walk around on your surface interval.

 

[awall54308]

I dove with SeaSport Divers last March. They did a great job so I would recommend them. Also, the more you dive with them, they reduce their prices.

We dove at Sheraton Caverns and saw at least 30-40 turtles sleeping in all of the caverns in 1 dive. It was awesome!

 

[Blackfish]

Actually, I didn't single out any operation as a cattle boat. I simply mentioned that a "cattle" boat dives Sheraton Caverns all the time. If you are staying in Poipu, it is pretty obvious & if you've got 1 DM / 10 divers---sorry, I'm going to label you a "cattle" boat. I've been diving with Seasport & with Bubbles Below. I'd dive with Bubbles Below again.

Based upon my experience, all the operations on Kauai have their good days and bad days because they have little control over the skill level of the divers they get. Some currents, less experienced divers, and it is going to be an underwater animal show nomatter who you are. That just seems to go with the reality of being on a day charter.

The green sea turtles are great---the dive we had at the House of Honu made our diving on Kauai complete.

Enjoy!

 

[gracefulc]

I also highly recommend Seasport divers. I originally booked 2 shore dives through a different shop and found myself VERY dissapointed and angered by the treatment we were given. Down the road a ways was seasport divers and I found their shop to be INCREDIBLY helpful, particularly since I had to rent a piece of equipment that I failed to bring along. In fact we were so impressed with them that after walking out of the shop my dive buddy and I turned around and walked back in the shop to reserve a boat dive for later in the week. Sadly a rather large storm came up, bringing 14 ft surf, so the dive never happened, but I was very impressed with them on land and can only imagine how great they would have been in the water!

BTW, the shop that I would not recommend I do not wish to name publicly, but if you wish to know their name PM me. I haven't seen their name pop up on this thread yet.

 

[Humuhumunukunukuapua'a]

well after a quick search here it looks like Bubbles Below is the best recommended outfitter with Fathom Five a second. Sheraton Caverns, Hale A Honu as well as Ni'ihau are the best boat diving locs. It also appears the shore dives are just as good as boat dives. Am I good to go?

Thanks,
John

The boat dives at Ni'ihau and Na Pali Coast are going to be very different from the shore dives, but the close boat dives will probably be a lot like shore diving. Diving Ni'ihau will be expensive and the crossing is long and usually really rough. Count on a two-hour boat ride each way and $200-300 per person. But I bet it would be awesome diving. We snorkelled over there and it was just beautiful. Really clear water and really pristine reef.

If you appreciate the rarer Hawaiian fish and want the chance to see some bigger stuff, and are a comfortably advanced diver, I would definitely try to get out to Ni'ihau if you can. Just take seasick meds if you are at all prone to mal de mer. It's an arse-kicker coming back in the afternoon.

Aloha!