Warm water diving. We’ve all seen the vibrant pictures of scuba divers floating in exotic clear blue tropical waters around the world in magazines, on TV, the movies or may have even had the good fortune of experiencing the sheer beauty of it all in real life. The breath taking experiences of warm water diving in areas such as the Caribbean, the Red Sea, the Great Barrier Reef or Southeast Asia transport new and experienced divers into a world only few will ever discover.
One feels much anticipation during his or her journey to exotic dive locations. The plane ride for me to Kauai, in some ways, felt like eternity but I knew at the end of the day it was well worth the time and distance. Descending into Kauai is like arriving in Paradise – green lush rainforests carved by majestic cascading waterfalls. The rainforests, in turn, extend into the long clean remote sandy beaches of Kauai - all surrounded by the warm inviting waters of the Pacific Ocean. Ohhh, life doesn’t get any better than this!
Up at 7am the next day I was to ready to go. My first dive was a shore dive off Kukui’ula Beach – a shallow reef with an easy entrance/exit near an abandoned wharf. The long running reef extended for several meters, parallel with the shoreline and I was finally introduced to the sheer wonder and beauty of Hawaiian diving. Kauai’s reefs teem with colorful marine life in every shape and form. Scores of beautiful fish were everywhere - blue stripped snappers, cream and white butterfly fish, blue and green parrotfish, yellow tangs, long slender white and yellow truppetfish, rainbow wrasses – all dotting the landscape and creating images of multicolored wall paintings under the surface.
Hard corals, more so than soft corals, abound off the shores of Kauai. Although slightly modest compared to the coral reefs of Micronesia, the South Pacific and the Caribbean, Kauai’s reefs are just as enticing. They teem not only with beautiful fish, but also with green solitary sea turtles, reef sharks, numerous species of eels and fascinating invertebrate marine creatures. One of the most interesting is the banded spiny lobster, which occurs only in Hawaii. The legs of this lobster are dark, purplish-blue with faint stripes running across its length while its tail is bluish. Colorful knobs and spines adorn the carapace (upper body) of this indigenous lobster like crown jewels. Many coral gardens in Hawaii are accessible only by divers, but snorkelers can view lush coral growth in shallow water along several Hawaiian coastlines.
A two-day boat dive awaited me on my second day of adventure in the underwater world of Kauai. Our days’ boat dives were at Sheraton Caverns – a mile or so off the Southern coast. Much of this shoreline is composed of lava rock, typically forming low cliffs that plunge into the sea. On gentler coasts of Kauai, tide pools dot the shore, while further out shallow, wave swept platforms may drop dramatically, forming underwater cliffs and canyons riddled with holes and ledges. Below, the bottom is often strewn with great boulders, torn from the land by winter surf. The result was the creation of several “swim throughs” in our journey at Sheraton Caverns. Exploring caves and swimming under, over and between immense underwater rock formations was one of the highlights of our dive. Several shark sightings were made – a few white tips and grey reef sharks slowly cruised the caverns looking for a good meal. Although coral may be sparse on such exposed coasts, algae do grow abundantly – creating food for a mind-boggling number and variety of fish and other sea creatures. Good for us too!
Our last day of diving consisted of a combination trimaran sailing trip off the East coast of Kauai up to Na Pali coastline – one of the premier hiking trails in the world. Jumping off the boat, again with only my spring suit was a sheer pleasure compared to donning my usual 7mm full California wetsuit with hood, gloves and a lot of lead! Just the spring suit this trip. Underwater, the East coast is reminiscent of a lunar landscape – craters, riffs, swim throughs and small caves everywhere on the bottom creating a very fun dive for our party. More wrasses, butterflys, surgeonfish, rockfish, scorpion fish and several dwarf eels were sighted throughout our dive. A few sea turtles as well. Turtles are found in many dive and snorkeling spots in Hawaii and are beautiful to watch as they glide effortlessly through the warm waters. Munching on coral and a few unlucky invertebrates, the sighting of turtles in our journey created a sense of awe and reverence, which permeated our dive group.
After diving in any exotic location, one should always explore the other beauties of the surrounding area. In Kauai, we enjoyed many local dishes and drinks, including local roast pork, fresh mangos and papayas, and of course, caught-the-same-day mahi mahi tuna. Yumm, yumm. Other adventures of our trip included kayaking up the Wailua river stopping to view grottos and waterfalls, hiking through the spectacular rainforests of the Na Pali coastline in the cooler and greener North side, relaxing on long remote sandy beaches near Poipu, swimming in cool pools created by long towering waterfalls, and exploring the “grand canyon” of Hawaii found in Waimea Canyon State Park on the East side of the island. After this vacation, I was ready for another!
Dive Destination – Paradise in Kauai 
A two-day boat dive awaited me on my second day of adventure in the underwater world of Kauai. Our days’ boat dives were at Sheraton Caverns – a mile or so off the Southern coast. Much of this shoreline is composed of lava rock, typically forming low cliffs that plunge into the sea. On gentler coasts of Kauai, tide pools dot the shore, while further out shallow, wave swept platforms may drop dramatically, forming underwater cliffs and canyons riddled with holes and ledges. Below, the bottom is often strewn with great boulders, torn from the land by winter surf. The result was the creation of several “swim throughs” in our journey at Sheraton Caverns. Exploring caves and swimming under, over and between immense underwater rock formations was one of the highlights of our dive. Several shark sightings were made – a few white tips and grey reef sharks slowly cruised the caverns looking for a good meal. Although coral may be sparse on such exposed coasts, algae do grow abundantly – creating food for a mind-boggling number and variety of fish and other sea creatures. Good for us too!
