Northwest Dive Club

I am going to Kauai in July with wife and kids, my wife has authorized some diving time. I looked online but can anyone recommend any particular dives, shops or charters?

Where are you staying? When we were there, it was winter which made diving the north end impossible. We dove the south end a little, Sheraton Caves and Kohala Landing. We dove the landing several times from shore. We dove and got tanks from Seasport Divers, they did a nice job. Cant say about the North end tho. Will be looking for the trip report tho when you get back!

I was there in April a couple of yrs ago, also restricted to the south side due to winter(ish) weather conditions on the north side. Did two half-day boat dives with Bubbles Below Kaiuai, and had a great time. I have nothing else to comapre, but I was quite happy with them and the locations. One thing that impressed me was that the owner called me up a few days ahead of our trip and asked me if I wanted to swap a shore dive for a boat dive, since they had just had a good storm and the visibility was just terrible on shore dives from runoff. Of course, we had to define what "terrible" meant, got a good laugh over it ;-), and I ended up having great time. We were staying in Lihue, I did have to allow time to get down to their dock at Port Allen.

Jim

You're going at a good time, weather wise. We went in April and the weather and viz was iffy, but still had an awesome 4 dives. We want to go back.

Bubbles Below and Seasport are both good options.

If you're an experienced diver pay the $$ and head out to Niihau.

thanks everyone. I was hoping to do the niihau dive. I will check with Bubbles below and seasport.

As far as shore diving goes, Kola Landing in the south is a decent dive. It's pretty close to the Seasport Divers so you can drop by, pick up some tanks and head over. Since you'll be there in July you should be able to dive Tunnels on the North Shore which is probably the best dive on the island.

I'm going there in late October/early November. I hope the weather/visibility is good...

You might also look into Fathom Five. They are another shop just up the road from Seasport divers, in Koloa town. They run a smaller boat (6 pack) than Seasport. Boat runs out of the small boat harbor just past poipu and before spouting horn. Can't remember the name of the harbor. They also make one trip to Niihau per week, advanced cert required. I've inly been out with them once, but had a great time.
Frank

how much do they usually charge?

I went with Fathom Five last year right after Christmas. As I recall, a two tank boat trip out of the small harbor was about $100, not including rental gear. They provided tanks and weights.

Trips to Niihau were not available during the winter months due to rough seas. That sounds like one if the more worthwhile trips if you're there at the right time.

I did the Niihau trip with Bubbles Below Kauai. The diving was incredible - good vis, unusual volcanic landforms, and a good deal of sea life (especially the monk seals, which seemed to be around every corner). The charter was fairly crowded, and the crossing was a bit rough, but not too bad. The crew caught some seriously large fish on the crossing too, so keep that in mind if that concerns you. Pricy, but I've never seen anything like the seafloor there, which in retrospect was probably the coolest part.

I also did a two-tank dive with Seasport. There were only three of us, so we got a lot more personalized attention. The sites were much nearer to shore, but I lost count of how many morays I saw. The divemaster was friendly, as was the other couple that was there diving. At least when I was there they would run the dive regardless of how many people signed up. I would recommend them.

Note, I went about five years ago, so things may have changed.

Over here right now. Took our pony bottles to Seasport for fills and after the questions and confused looks from the staff just didn't feel comfortable with them so we went out with Fathom Five instead since we have used them in the past. We've done dives with both Bubbles Below and Fathom Five. They both run nice operations, definitely preferred the boat layout that Fathom Five has , it at least has a head on board which Bubbles does not. Bubbles Below runs out of Port Allen and does more trips to both Niihau and the Na Pali coast than the other charters do, which we have booked for Thur & Friday. Will report back after the trips.

Thur we did the Na Pali coast trip with Bubbles Below, 2 dives on a reef structure called Mana Crack with lots of varied life including some rare species of coral, during the surface interval we also got a tour of the Na Pali coast. Fri we headed to Niihau for 3 dives, one word spectacular. It is a 33 mile open ocean boat ride in open water each way so it is a all day excursion during which we had whales beaching, spinner dolphins ,well worth the long ride. Linda the owner of Bubbles Below was our DM both days and I found her to be exceptionally knowledgable and enthusiastic on both trips if you have any questions she is happy to answer them, we also had the chance to see 2 monk seals on the shoreline at the end of our first dive. The sites we dove were called Vertical , Keyhole, Niihau Arches. We saw sandbar sharks, Galapagos sharks, spotted eagle rays and more fish species than I could keep track of, vis was 150 ft +, definitely a must do trip and charter company if you get the opportunity.