Page 232 - Hawaii: Diving, Surfing, Pearl Harbor, Volcanoes and More

Franko’s Dive Map of Kauai Side 2 drop butterflyfish.
The following are the captions of the flip side of my Kauai dive map. KEY HOLE 0’ - 80’+ Int – Adv. Drift wall dive. Packs of gray sharks,
There are five main sections to side 2. The first is the North Shore, jacks, huge schools of pyramid butterflyfish, black durgon every-
including Hanalei, the second is the East Shore, including Kapaa and where. Tubastraea corals. Pelagic fish.
Lihui, the third is the South shore, including Poipu and Port Allen,
the fourth is the islet of Lehua, off of the north end of Niihau, and the PYRAMID POINT 0’ - 130’+ Adv. Spectacular wall with cracks. Ex-
fifth is the overall view of Kauai and Niihau. This view of Kauai and cellent snorkeling next to wall over stony coral beds. Variety of tropi-
Niihau came out really great! The island of Niihau is seldom visited cal fish everywhere.
by outsiders, but the small straight between Niihau and the 0.9-mile
wide, 702-foot high Lehua Island is often visited by tour boats full VERTICAL AWARENESS 35’ - 350’ Adv. Vertical topography de-
of snorkelers, typically doing a stop after having already been on a scends very deep. schools of tinkers butterflyfish in the deep. Tiny
magnificent Na Pali Coast tour. The remoteness of Lehua is sort of Hawaiian anthias. Oversize blue cravelle (Ulua).
scary, when it comes to jumping in the water. I know of sightings of
tiger sharks there, and even a few whale sharks on rare occasion, and NIIHAU ARCHES 20’ - 50’+ Beg – Adv. Swim-through arches formed
whitetip reef sharks commonly. The main attraction is pristine, clear by swirled lava with sink holes and pinnacles. Whitetip reef sharks.
water, with visibility almost always over 100 feet, and tons of reef fish Vertical wall nearby. Popular with tours for scuba and snorkelling.
on nice collections of rocky terrain and corals. I personally followed
a whitetip reef shark at the dive site called “Niihau Arches” on a dive LEHUA SLOPE 10’ - 65’ Beg – Adv. Tucked in right below Lehua’s
there, which was a highlight, but the dive in general was awesome. steep volcanic slope. Popular place for tour boats to take snorkelers
With 30 or more tourists on my Blue Dolphin tour, there were only 3 and scuba divers. Subject to strong currents. Eagle rays. Pelagic spe-
scubas divers. The rest of them snorkeled, and I’m sure they had fun, cies. Whale sharks.
but to linger in the deeper water to explore the arches and to look into
the deep was a great treat. Lehua, which is the fourth mentioned sec- STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN 50’ - 180’+ Adv. Blue water diving at pinna-
tion of side two of Franko’s Dive Map of Kauai, has a lot of great and cle with large rock step formations. Large fishes, stingrays, eagle rays.
diverse dive sites. In fact one of the captions reads as follows:

NOTE: This area is considered by some to the BEST diving in Hawaii.
However, it is not always accessible due to ocean and weather condi-
tions. Best in Spring and Summer.

LEHUA GARDENS 45’ - 150’ + Adv. Spectacular coral bottom. Spin-
ner dolphins. Gray reef sharks. Many wrasse amongst soft coral. Tear-