Dive Review of Fathom Five Divers and Ocean Quest/Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa in
Hawaii/Kauai

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Fathom Five Divers and Ocean Quest/Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa, Dec, 2012, by Derek Tan, NY, US ( Reviewer 5 reports). Report 6821.
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
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We arrived at the 7:30am check-in for our 2-tank boat charter only to learn that our captain had no-showed, which is apparently very rare. Tyler was very apologetic and offered us shore diving that day or a 2-tank boat dive on another day. Since we were all ready to go, we elected to do a 2-tank guided shore dive, and he comped our BC rentals ($10pp) and gave us an additional 5% discount off the standard $90pp for the shore dives. Koloa Landing is a short drive from the shop (BYO wheels), and the shop has a small seating area staked out next to their pickup truck, where you can store your gear. One nice thing is that they have a canvas tarp on the ground, so you aren't walking around in the sand and dirt. They brought camping chairs for each of us, as well as some light snacks (soft drinks, chips, chocolates). No rinse tank or showers on site. Our guide, Nick, was a laid-back 20-something from Northern California and a newly minted instructor. We were joined by Tom, a friendly 50ish Brit. Nick did an excellent job getting Tom back up to speed and looking after him in the water. He also found lots of great critters on our dives. Entry and exit could not be easier - walk down the metal boat ramp to the protected cove (very little surge & waves that day), don your fins, then surface swim out about 50 ft to the point where Nick anchored the dive buoy in 25 ft of water. The site is V-shaped and we did our first dive heading out to the left (East) and the second dive on the right (West). As you'd expect, the coral was mostly small, sparse, and scattered, as were the fish, but there were plenty of good critters to be found, including 2 dragon moray eels, a flying gurnard crawling along the bottom, a lionfish, a crown of thorns starfish, a pair of 3-inch purple nudibranchs, and some small red crabs we couldn't identify. Nick was occasionally on the touchier side, picking up knobby sea cucumbers to show us tiny crabs on them and rolling over a rock to uncover a small octopus, which quickly darted to the safety of a nearby coralhead. However, he did remind us that there is a $10K fine for touching a turtle. Happily, we were graced by three green sea turtles on our second dive, ranging from 2-3 feet long and swimming very close to us. Overall, we had a positive experience with Fathom Five, but decided not to do the boat dives the next day because we had only a short time on the island. FYI, the Grand Hyatt is spectacular - one of the best resorts in the US.
Websites	Fathom Five Divers and Ocean Quest Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean (all over), Florida, Australia
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, surge
Water Temp	77-79°F / 25-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	40-50 Ft/ 12-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Koloa Landing shore dive max depth (at the bottom) is about 45 ft. No stated time limit, but our two dives were 50-60 min.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
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]

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Dive Review of Fathom Five Divers and Ocean Quest/Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa in Hawaii/Kauai

Fathom Five Divers and Ocean Quest/Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa, Dec, 2012,

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 Fathom Five Divers and Ocean Quest/Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa in
Hawaii/Kauai