Dive Review of Explore Kauai Scuba/NA in
Hawaii/Kauai

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Explore Kauai Scuba/NA: "Excellent dive op, great variety of marine life, seas a bit rough", Sep, 2023, by Jill Rain, WA, US ( Sr. Reviewer 9 reports with 5 Helpful votes). Report 12597 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Best dive op you will find on Kauai for a personalized diving experience. Jessie and Nick have a well set up 28’ Parker and take out 6 divers max to a variety of sites. Because of the small group they quickly get to know what you need and are looking for. They are very professional: well organized, fully equipped, highly competent, good naturalists who love to share their enthusiasm for the natural world above and below the surface. We appreciated their broad range of knowledge: fish, inverts, seabirds, geology, oceanography. Jessie is a bundle of energy, smoothly managing gear and briefings on the boat and leading dives below, finding and pointing out critters. She knows them all, describing their natural history and behavior. Many endemics. Nick is a master boat captain, negotiating the local sea conditions which can be rough and variable from moment to moment (btw use Bonine if there’s any chance you might get seasick! There were sick divers on every trip). Jessie and Nick work as an efficient team to pick sites, decide whether to have a fixed or drift dive, switching out tanks between dives. When we went, I’d just had a recent back problem and was fully expecting to have to miss out on diving but Jessie and Nick went above and beyond to accommodate my limitations, and I ended up doing all the dives! Very happy about that. Apparently unlike most divers in Hawai’i we dived five days in a row. During this time the other divers came for one or two. We dived three days of local sites about 15-20 min from Kikialoa small boat harbor where they go out of. The viz was 40-50 feet, currents light to strong. Half our dives were drift, those starting with boat moored. Protocol is giant stride, swim to bow line and descend on it. As divers ran low on air Jessie sent up a tethered safety sausage, those buddies ascended and were picked up. Jessie stayed down until last divers ready to go up, we usually had 60+ minutes. Jessie wrote IDs and other info on a slate as she showed critters. Saw big turtles frequently, mostly greens. Many inverts. Dolphins, mostly spinner, also bottlenose once, from the boat. We also did the Mana crack dives/Napali coast tour, which goes around as far as Kalalau beach. 6:30am-2:30pm. Seas were fairly rough. Viz low. Lots to see above and below. On our last day we went out on the Niihau/Lehua trip. That’s a long day too, across the channel, fairly smooth going over, rough coming back. The sites, between Lehua and Ni’ihau, were totally different from those just off Kauai. Fantastic viz, over 100’, with large rocky formations. Walls, caves, tunnels, arches. Huge schools of fish, especially butterflyfish. Several monk seals and sharks. Eagle ray. Lots of inverts, incl big octos. Between dives Nick circumnavigated Lehua where we saw dolphins and many seabirds. Cool collapsed crater geology. While on the boat we had visits from monk seals, dolphins, and in mid channel, rare beaked whales. Nick and Jessie run an efficient operation. Good reliable rental gear, plenty of food, learned lots about Hawai’i marine nature. Fun memorable days out diving. Highly recommended.
Websites	Explore Kauai Scuba
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, PNW, Western Pacific, Kauai, Baja
Closest Airport	Lihue	Getting There	Direct from Seattle, rent car
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, cloudy	Seas	choppy, surge, currents
Water Temp	78-80°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	40-120 Ft/ 12-37 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	700psi inform DM
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	1 or 2
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Explore Kauai Scuba/NA in Hawaii/Kauai

Explore Kauai Scuba/NA: "Excellent dive op, great variety of marine life, seas a bit rough", Sep, 2023,

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Dive Review of Explore Kauai Scuba/NA in
Hawaii/Kauai