Best Safety Oriented Kauai Dive Operators

[Kirgan]

Hi all,

I am planning a trip to Kauai in May of 2020. Plan to do some diving in Kauai and Niihau. I have to pick a dive operator to go with and there are several factors that will help me make my choice. I am very safety conscious, so that is the main thing I look at. Of course I care about the dive boat, friendliness of staff and the DM knowledge of the area & the DMs experience (assuming the dive requires that I follow a DM - like many boat dives in Hawaii).

My dive experience is a bit over 500 dives. I do drifts, love deep wreck dives: my favorites here in Florida are The Eagle and The Spiegel Grove. I also like beach dives, but not much experience in beach dives with heavy surf entries like in California. All my certs are NAUI, but my instructor was also GUE Cave diver, so a lot of the procedures we were taught have a GUE influence.

So in your opinion, which dive boat operators in Kauai do you think has the best general safety procedures? And do any of them have any tech diving experience?

One of the reasons I ask about their safety procedures is due to my previous trip to Maui. One operator on a dive to Lanai, had buddy pairs separate and each enter the water from the opposite sides of the boat and said each person should just swim up to the front of the boat where the DM would be and meet your buddy there. They said it helped them speed up getting people in the water. I didn't like it and thought it was a bad idea - speed over safety. I personally want to see my buddy enter the water and wont take my eyes off them, until I jump in and then do another quick check that all is ok, before we go to the front of the boat together. Instead with their procedures we both headed to the front from opposite sides of the boat and although we didn't expect to have any problems, you catch yourself thinking as you approach the front of the boat, I hope they are ok and I see them coming around the corner. You never know if they could have experienced that 1 in a million emergency shortly after they entered and I would not have known it on the opposite side of the boat!

Needless to say, we never went back to that operator again.

I did like Mike Severns in Maui. Besides not requiring us all to go up together, letting divers with better air consumption stay down longer, they also didn't mind that me and my buddy wanted to follow different safety stop procedures (mini deco), instead of than the standard 15' safety stop.

I also prefer dive operators that - when possible - use a surface marker for drift dives from the start of the dive, instead of just follow the bubble method and launch an DSMB at the end.

Based on what kind of diver I am, do you have any recommendations of what dive operations to go with on Kauai and ones that go to Niihau.

Thanks,

--Mike

 

[diversteve]

If you plan to go to Ni'ihau IMO you want the biggest boat - it's a long ride over in generally rougher water. Plus it's your dive platform for the day. For local dives I used Seasport - for no specific reason except we were staying in Poipu. Fathom Five is also in that area but Bubbles Below is in Port Allen. Slightly closer ro Ni'ihau but not enough to matter.

I believe the biggest boat is SeaSport's but check with Anthony - he works for someone else now but won't steer you wrong AquamanKauai

 

[Kirgan]

I believe the bigger boats are still Fathom Five's but check with Anthony - he works for someone else now but won't steer you wrong AquamanKauai

Thank you for the feedback and the contact. I will reach out to him.

--Mike

 

[azstinger11]

We used Bubbles Below, and had nothing but great experiences. With the exception of one dive (where we had a few swim throughs early in the dive) the DM did launch a DSMB at the start of the dive and towed it, he launched it after the swim throughs on that particular dive. Can’t speak to their tec experience as all the divers on the boats we were on were doing normal recreational diving.

 

[grantwiscour]

We went out with Bubbles Below in 2017. I cannot recommend them. There were a host of issues...so many that we canceled the next day's dive trip to Ni'ihau.

 

[KauaiScuba]

Aloha Mike!
May is pretty much the "beginning" of the Niihau diving season. "Explore Kauai Scuba and Bubbles Below will cross year round weather permitting. There are 4 dive boats that usually cross to Niihau (Seasport, Fathom Five, Bubbles Below, and Explore Kauai Scuba). Seasport has the biggest boat and usually runs consistently two days a week May-Sept. The Kaulakahi channel between Kauai and Niihau can supply some exciting and adventurous conditions to say the least! Like diversteve said, the bigger the boat the better. "Explore Kauai Scuba"(my company) with the smallest but fastest boat will cut travel times in half. Leaving from Kikiaola Small Boat Harbor, gives the most leeward and closest harbor to Niihau dramatically decreasing travel times. However when the channel is considered "adventurous" we don't tend to cross. We will cross any and everyday we can when the weather is on the nicer side. Our travel time averages 1 hour there and 1 hour return.

All of Kauai dive companies are pretty on spot with showing you a safe and fun day. I'm not sure what happened with Bubbles Below, but I usually hear positive feedback from their customers. I'd say if you want a for sure crossing to book with either of the 3 other operators, Seasport having the biggest boat and most consistent crossings. We at "EKS" will be in contact via phone a few days out and updating on weather conditions for the most enjoyable day to cross over to Niihau. We're a smaller family owned and operated and focus heavily on safety and always have 6 divers or less. We have currently 4 main crew consisting of myself, my business partner Jessie, Anthony(aquaman on here), and Capt Mark. All 4 of us are heavily seasoned and straight up dive/ocean/fish nerds that live and breath this stuff! Niihau being our most favorite place to spend our time.

Aquaman is currently in the bush of AK so it's why he isn't chiming in but I'm sure he will as soon as he's back in civilization! haha! Between him or I we can help answer any questions to the fullest, even if not booking with EKS. If you book with another company, I'll gladly mentioned which divemaster/crew to request. I'll cut my response off now because I can keep going on and on about how rad Niihau is, safety protocols, etc. Let me know what other questions you may have!

-Nick

 

[jonhall]

Dove with Fathom Five this past April. No problems although my buddy didn't want to dive the 3rd day (of 3 days in a row) which he decided after the dives on day 2. He was feeling a little tired but this wouldn't have allowed for a refund because there wasn't 24 hrs advance notice. The guy at the desk told me we would be charged the full rate, so I asked about changing our boat dives to shore dives thinking it may be a little easier for my buddy. The desk guy said he would have to check with someone else. He called me about 5 minutes after we left the shop and said we were good for the shore dives. Other than that (which I understood although I'm not a fan of those policies) the dive crew was great, safety was a priority, Cole was an enthusiastic DM, the sites were good, price was right - discount for each day after the first, and a maximum of 6 or 8 on the boat - I'm leaning towards 6 (will start writing that down in the future.) Cole had worked for Seasport and liked the company, but liked the smaller number of divers at Fathom Five. After a dive briefing, we back-rolled into the water from different sides of the boat (just how you didn't like it) and met at the front of the boat, but not in buddy pairs. Went down pretty quick and followed the DM. He kept us together pretty well and checked on our air often. Near the end of the dive, those lower on air could go up while those with more air could continue to explore. A highlight for us was a whale about 50 yards away which came by twice while we were underwater on our first dive.

As April was still not a good time for Niihau, one of the FF crew did tell us that there was a dive op that, when conditions were good, went in a Zodiac. Maybe that is @KauaiScuba and Nick. The difference is that boats may take a few hours each way - I believe longer to get back.

Anyway, would dive with Fathom Five again, but I would dive with others as well.

 

[KauaiScuba]

As April was still not a good time for Niihau, one of the FF crew did tell us that there was a dive op that, when conditions were good, went in a Zodiac. Maybe that is @KauaiScuba and Nick. The difference is that boats may take a few hours each way - I believe longer to get back.

Anyway, would dive with Fathom Five again, but I would dive with others as well.[/QUOTE]

@jonhall That would be me/us! We crossed to Niihau again today with some not ideal winds but still pretty mellow and very safe. It took 1 hour there and 1 1/2 hours home. It makes such a HUGE difference driving 20-30 minutes further west to Kikiaola Harbor to knock 1 1/2-2hrs or more off boat travel time!

Cole is a great dive master and is still at Fathom Five, also Jordan at Fathom is a great dive master too!

As for cancelation policies, everyone has the same policy. We are pretty lenient over here because I don't have the nerves to take a credit card diving without the owner! The main reason is because others wanting to get a seat on the boat and giving time to contact them and fill the newly opened seat. The no shows are where it makes it hard for us but that only happened to us once. We strive for that 5 star review so we try our hardest to work with last minute mishaps, colds, etc. Stuff happens right?!

-Nick

 

[jonhall]

It makes such a HUGE difference driving 20-30 minutes further west to Kikiaola Harbor to knock 1 1/2-2hrs or more off boat travel time!

I think that's a great selling point and would definitely do that if/when I return.

As for cancelation policies, everyone has the same policy.

I really appreciate ops that can work with the customer, but understand their side. Doing a southern Caribbean cruise in January and plan to dive (a first for a cruise which is only my second) - ruled out an op that has a 7 day cancellation policy!!

 

[KauaiScuba]

@jonhall 7 days?!? wowsers!