Dive Review of Seasport Divers in
Hawaii/Kauai, Ni'ihau

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Seasport Divers: "SeaSport vs. Bubbles Below on Kauai & Ni'ihau", Jul, 2015, by Lori Ann Krushefski, NJ, US ( Reviewer 6 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 8349.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Ben, I am catching up on back issues, and just saw your article about divemasters at SeaSport in Kauai harassing octopus(octopi?) to get them to ink. I just went diving with both Bubbles Below and SeaSport (in July), and my overall experience with SeaSport was better (and excellent). I had previously read about Bubbles Below being great, so I booked with them several months in advance of a trip this past July. I booked two days of diving--one 3-tank trip to Mana Crack, and one to Ni'ihau. I called the day before the Ni'ihau trip to confirm, and Linda at Bubbles Below realized that there had been an error--they had confirmed me for a Wednesday trip, but only ran trips to Ni'ihau on Tuesday. She found the email to me confirming my trips, and saw her shop's error. She was able to get me on a Friday trip with SeaSport--which left me a little short (and nervous) about my no fly time before my flight off the island on Saturday. She was deeply embarrassed and apologetic, but some of the things she said were a bit annoying--like, "I'm so sorry this is happening to you!" as opposed to, "I'm so sorry we made this error, and I will make it right." For a few hours that day, it was looking possible I wasn't going to get to go to Ni'ihau, which was one of the reasons I went to Kauai in the first place. I still dove Mana Crack with Bubbles Below. They had two divemasters for 4 divers--fantastic ratio--and the divemasters were very enjoyable to dive with. The guy who captained the boat solo dove during our surface intervals. He seemed massively experienced, and has likely forgotten more about diving than I'll ever know, but diving without a buddy made me raise my eyebrows. He was an older guy who was diving without a BC. I asked the divemasters how that works, and they told me he uses a lift bag. On his second dive, right as he did his backroll entry, I noticed he'd forgotten the lift bag. He came back safely and whatnot, but it seemed a little unsafe to me. The boat Bubbles Below was using was super old and a lot less comfortable than any other operator's I remember. In any case, I still enjoyed the trip with them, and was treated very well by that captain and divemasters. The trip to Ni'ihau with SeaSport was super luxurious and safe in comparison. I spoke at length with both divemasters, and all of their behavior was very respectful of the sea life. No touching. We saw an octopus sitting out right in the middle of one dive--and it stayed in one spot forever. I was taking some video of him, and then got distracted by eagle Rays. I came back to the octopus--still there, just chillin'. The point is that anybody could have come along and started poking at the little guy because he sat right out in the open giving that opportunity, but no one did anything but watch respectfully. The safety measures SeaSport used were excellent--they took down everyone's depth & bottom time, and made sure we were coming back with 500 psi in the tank. The service was also terrific--there were a number of crew members on board in addition to the captain, and they were all polite, helpful and professional. The boat was well appointed and immaculate. (And the sea life--sharks, Rays, turtles, rare bandit Angels, rare Tinker's Butterflyfish, frogfish, Hawaiian monk seals, triton's trumpet, black coral, and sharks, sharks, sharks everywhere. A true bucket-list dive, IMO. I'd mentioned the snafu with Bubbles Below to one of the divemasters on my SeaSport trip, and he was incredibly professional about it. He told me how well regarded Linda (from Bubblea Beliw) is in that dive community, and he knew about the captain who was diving without a BC and just kind of chuckled about it rather than saying anything disparaging about his competitor. So I just felt like SeaSport was such an A+ experience all the way around. I didn't bother to post anything negative about Bubbles Below, because an honest mistake is a mistake, and they did what they could to make it right. But I feel their overall operation pales in comparison to SeaSport. I agree that the answers you've gotten from the owner of SeaSport are discouraging. Either I got out on a day with a crew that thinks like we do about being respectful, or perhaps SeaSport is cleaning up their act. Either way, I thought you'd be interested to hear it. Lori Ann
Websites	Seasport Divers
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	51-100 dives
Where else diving	Kona, Caribbean
Closest Airport	Lihue	Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, currents
Water Temp	-77°F / -25°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	80-100 Ft/ 24-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Dive your Nitrox MOD, get back on with 500 psi.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters	N/A	Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	They even took my equipment and wrapped it in towels, then put it safely in a bin with a locking kid to prevent it from getting bumped around on the notoriously bumpy ride back to Kauai. (2 hours, and everybody needs meds or else "feeds the fish."

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Dive Review of Seasport Divers in Hawaii/Kauai, Ni'ihau

Seasport Divers: "SeaSport vs. Bubbles Below on Kauai & Ni'ihau", Jul, 2015,

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 Seasport Divers in
Hawaii/Kauai, Ni'ihau