Lihue, Kauai dive questions

[Aaron Wignall]

Hello all. My family will be traveling to Lihue, Kauai in March of 2020 for a week of vacation. I have an 11 year old son who is taking the NAUI Dive certification course here in Iowa. He'll have all of his book and pool work done after the 7 week course. Does any have any reference information on a NAUI or PADI group that will take a Universal reference so I can get my son open water certified?



Also would be looking for Dive recommendations while there. I'm PADI Advance so looking for 2-4 good dive recommendations.



Thanks for your help.



Aaron

 

[bmorescuba]

It's not in Lihue, but I really enjoyed diving with Fathom Five: » SCUBA Classes

You'll likely be heading down to Koloa Landing for the checkout dives anyway, so driving to Koloa is no big deal. They explicitly state you can bring your completed referral and complete the open water checkout portion with them.

All in all, just a great op. I really enjoyed going to Niihau and Tunnels with them, but if I'm not mistaken, those are summer only sites. Koloa landing is lots of fun - you can dive it while your son checks out. My favorite boat site other than the summer-only ones was Sheraton Caverns. Have a great time!

 

[KauaiScuba]

Aloha Aaron!
Any shop on Kauai can accommodate universal referrals. To my knowledge we're all PADI based shops here. Koloa Landing shore dive site tends to be the starting point for students. We offer boat dives for 3&4 if the student is ready for it.

p.s. March is a good month for humpback whales to be still hanging around!

 

[diversteve]

In March Ni'ihau is likely still shutdown (big weather) Tunnels probably also since it's on the north shore.

Nearest shop to you is Seasport Divers in Kapaa but their main shop and boats are kept in Poipu south - about a 20? min drive. Fathom Five is also nearby.

Should a window open up to get to Ni'ihau, Bubbles Below might go out there but they're in Port Allen across the island from Lihue, I would not count on it but you might call the night before, Not for your son, it's an all day trip with a rough crossing and you share sites like Vertical Awareness deep with resident reef sharks,

Jeannette at Fathom Five is a local Tunnels expert if that becomes an option - if it does go with them , parking is limited and it's in a neighborhood.

Koloa is a decent dive. Old boat ramp south near Poipu to walk down and there can be interesting stuff there - I've seen octopus plus a lot of fish.

Sheraton Caverns is the boat dive for both of you, IIRC not much over 50' and a lot of it shallower. It's a series of collapsed lava tubes and any overhead sections are short. Bring a good light, shine it on the roof and watch for movement. Massive green sea turtles also live in the ledges there - we got right next to one for photos while it slept the whole time.

I also liked the Fast Lanes dive site but it might be too much for your son.

Seeing the humpbacks is really cool, No diving near them, they're protected. Poipu Beach is really nice area - there's a couple of beaches near each other. Where ypu're staying tends to be rockier, It really is the Garden Isle - very green and lush.

 

[KauaiScuba]

We do Niihau year round as well("Explore Kauai Scuba"), weather depending like diversteve mentioned. Kikiaola Harbor is only an hour boat trip to Niihau which is super nice. Bubbles goes to Niihau also from Port Allen. It's hard to schedule them if you're a bigger shop. If you can get to Niihau it's not super uncommon to get a humpback encounter or bunch of manta rays mid dive. If weather doesn't allow a winter crossing, Bubbles or Explore Kauai Scuba will pick some awesome non crowded dive sites on the western side of Kauai.

Every shop here is pretty solid, read up on trip advisor or google reviews and go with who feels right. Most websites will have descriptions of dive sites on their page. "Hale O Honu" might be my all time favorite dive site. From endless green sea turtles, endangered hawksbill sea turtles (there's 4 hanging out!), countless species of fish, octopus, reef sharks, lobsters, frog fish, multiple species of eels, I could go on and on.

Let me/us know if you have any further questions.