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Dive Review of Bubbles Below/Radisson Kauai Beach Resort in
Hawaii/Kauai/Niihau

Bubbles Below/Radisson Kauai Beach Resort, Aug, 2003,

by Ed Gross, TX, US . Report 977.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 3 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments Awesome diving. Niihau world class site. Spectacular volcanic formations. Towards the west side of Niihau, at Niihau Arches, there are some large volcanic rifts that form a large "stadium" - 3 sides enclosed by large, slanted, perfectly flat stone walls. As we entered the stadium, there were 12 to 15 large gray reef sharks, all of which were curious about our presence. The monk seals are friendly and playful.

The boat ride back from Niihau is everything they claim it to be. Its a tough ride back, but worth the effort if your bones can stand it. Not for the weak of heart or back.

Even better than Niihau were all the large turtles at Shawna's Shelf (sp?). Over 40 table sized turtles at various cleaning stations. One large turtle was sitting in a slight depression as we swam up. After the turtle when to the surface to breathe, I measured the depression - it was over 5 feet across, and the turtle was slight bigger than the depression!!!. Also saw two large white tips (> 5 ft), a reef scorpion fish, and > 1 ft bright blue frog fish on various dives at Kauai.

Radisson was a nice place, good for our family. At the time, the 2nd room was free, so the kids had their own room to stay in. Only bad thing about the Radisson was it was on the east side of the island, and all diving leaves from Port Arthur on the west side - usually about a 30 to 45 minute drive.

Boat was well equipped, especially for the open ocean crossing to Niihau. Comfortably handles 8 divers, unfortunately, sometimes we were dealing with > 10 divers, which made things a bit crowded. The dive guides were among the best we've had, and I liked their "everyone in and let's meet at the bottom" approach, especially when things were crowded. All the dive masters we had were extremely knowledgeable about the local fauna and flora.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Fiji, Saba, Cozumel, Bonaire, Roatan
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas choppy
Water Temp 78-80°F / 26-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 80-120 Ft/ 24-37 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Stay within visual contact of dive group
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas None
Dolphins 1 or 2 Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish 5 stars
Large Pelagics 5 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 3 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments No rinse tank for cameras, but fresh water hose had ample supply of warm water.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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