By Nate Edmons

For twenty years my wife has used the same excuse, “I’d like to try scuba diving, but only if it’s in warm water.” Of course, as residents of the Pacific Northwest, all of my diving has been in cold water.  So when it came time to plan a vacation for our twentieth anniversary, warm water diving was our first consideration.  We didn’t want to travel too far, and we didn’t want the hassle of international travel, so the Hawaiian Islands were a good fit.  After consulting with family and friends, we decided to spend a week on the island of Kaua’i.
Kaua’i, the northernmost of the large islands, is about 500 square miles of tropical paradise.  The south side is relatively flat and includes coffee plantations and the remains of a once thriving sugar cane industry.  The east side is where most of the towns are located, and includes long stretches of sandy beach with excellent surf conditions.

The rest of the island is mountainous jungle, in most places extending right down to the shoreline.  To picture this, imagine the opening scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Jurassic Park, just two of the many movies filmed here.   The northeast corner of the island also includes the Nurses’ Beach and Bali Hai from the musical South Pacific.  Paved roads do not extend around the entire island.  If you go, I recommend you rent a jeep, since some beaches can only be accessed by dirt roads.
Overall this island is much less developed than the other islands in Hawaii, providing a more authentic tropical experience.  Kaua’i is known as the Garden Island for good reason.  Every tree that wasn’t a coconut, eucalyptus, papaya or banana palm seemed loaded with bright flowers.  Many trees are covered in flowering vines.  Hibiscus, bougainvillea, fuschias and ginger flowers provided splashes of color everywhere we went.  The island is also densely populated by wild jungle fowl.  These dark red and black birds are called Moa by the natives, which apparently translates to “stoopid chikin.”  They are a colorful and endearing symbol of Hawaiian life.

Situated directly in the trade winds, temperatures in Hawaii are in the mid to low 80’s year around.  Very brief rain showers blow through occasionally, but never enough to spoil the perfect tanning weather.  The water temperature stays at 74 to 76 degrees all year, and there is no thermocline all the way down to the recreational dive limit.  Perfect conditions for a cold-water averse spouse who wants to try scuba diving.

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt on Po’ipu Beach, mostly because of the number and diversity of their swimming pools, but also because of their five restaurants and world class spa.  One of the largest pools is a salt water lagoon, and it was here that my wife first tried breathing compressed air.  Seasport Divers, a dive shop that has been on Kaua’i for 25 years, offers a free Discover Scuba class each day at the lagoon, in water that is 4 to 7 feet deep.  After a quick introduction to the equipment and basic skills, the certified dive instructor takes participants on a short underwater tour of the lagoon.

My wife’s dive instructor was Meghan, a young veteran of more than 900 dives with a highly contagious cheerful enthusiasm for diving.  She skillfully worked with groups of four participants at a time, some of whom were 10 or 11 years old, and she made sure everyone was having fun.  Watching from the sidelines, I felt confident that my wife received enough training to go on an introductory dive.

Seasport Divers offers introductory dives that do not require certification.  The non-certified diver must be escorted by a dive instructor, and the depth must be 40 feet or less.  Typically the introductory dive package requires a morning training session in a harbor but Meghan signed off on my wife’s readiness to go straight to the boat dives.  The next day at the dive shop we met James, another dive instructor, who was our guide for the day.  In addition to my wife and I, an eleven year old boy named Ben was going for his first dive.  We boarded one of Seasport’s dive boats, along with a separate group of certified divers. Ben’s mom also went on the boat with us, just to take pictures of her son’s first dive.  The plan was to dive at two sites on the south side of the island, but it didn’t quite work out that way.

Although my wife was prepared for the dives, she wasn’t prepared for the boat ride.  Motion sickness from the swells soon made her miserable.  She made it into the water at the first site, and her condition improved once below the surface.  James ensured that both Ben and my wife were safe and comfortable, and under his watchful eye we took a guided tour of the dive site.  Unfortunately, the surge at the bottom got the better of my wife and her motion sickness returned, so we had to cut the dive short.  On the surface her symptoms hit full force and the dive boat made a mercy run back to shore to drop us off before heading to the second site.

It was at this point that Seasport Divers earned my gratitude, respect and loyalty. 

Back at the dive shop, the staff gathered around an obviously full scheduling board to discuss ways to re-schedule our second dive as a shore dive.  It was abundantly clear that they wanted us to have a good experience diving in Kaua’i, and they went the extra mile to make it happen.  Even with a shop full of customers, and every guide scheduled, they handled our situation with friendly professionalism.  Customer satisfaction is the claim of every shop, but to see it in action at Seasport made us feel that they truly cared about our experience.

The next day we went out with Meghan on a shore dive.  It was everything I had waited twenty years for my wife to experience.  The three of us swam out a short distance, dropped down 40 feet and spent 50 minutes exploring the site.  Just like James the day before, Meghan was attentive to my wife’s safety and the quality of her experience.  It was a beautiful dive.  Elk horn and brain corals covering ancient lava flows, the usual menagerie of brightly colored reef fish, giant sea turtles resting on the sandy bottom, moray eels, octopus and even a stone fish, made for a wonderful first diving experience.

I wanted to know more about the diving opportunities in Kaua’i, so I sat down with Marvin, the owner of Seasport Divers, to find out what is available.  There are more than 50 dive locations around the island, including boat trips out to Ni’ihau, the “Forbidden Island,” which is considered one of the premiere dive spots in the world.

Non-certified divers can go to about 12 of these sites. Seasport is affiliated with PADI, so new divers can be certified in three days.  They are also in the process of building a pool adjacent to their main dive shop to help facilitate training.  For more advanced divers, there is a new course for using recreational rebreathers, which will increase bottom times to as much as two hours.  There is enough diversity to satisfy everyone, from novice to technical diver.

According to Marvin, the busy season is the summer months, but the diving is the same all year long.  During our talk, he repeatedly emphasized the importance of helping his customers enjoy their total experience, and suggested activities out of the water as well as in.  He told me he wants his
customers to be happy with their visit to Kaua’i, “we’re going to do everything we can to make sure they can do everything they want to.” My wife enjoyed her scuba experience, and I know we will be repeat customers.

Following the suggestions of the Seasport staff for dry activities, my wife and I went to a traditional Luau, and even found time to hike in Waimea Canyon.  The breathtaking vistas from 4000 feet, looking almost straight down to the inaccessible northwestern shoreline, were straight out of the travel brochures.

The canyon itself is a mile across, and is comparable to the Grand Canyon in Arizona for scale and magnificence.  There are many miles of hiking trails on Kaua’i, as well as hunting (deer, wild goat and boar) and freshwater fishing (trout and bass).  The inland areas of the island would, by themselves, fill a week’s worth of exploration.

If, like us, you are looking for a more authentic experience, with fewer nightclubs and less traffic, I highly recommend Kaua’i.  There are many good resorts, vacation rentals, time shares and even campsites to choose from, something for every budget. 

A week wasn’t nearly enough to enjoy all the sights, sounds and flavors of this diverse island.   We’ll be back for more, and it won’t be twenty years from now.

Thanks to Seasport Divers!