Bubbles Below Scuba Charters, Inc

Amber, Linda and Bahar are just awesome. Chartered a dive day with them for the day and had a great time– Saw 4 white tip sharks, eels, turtles and many different fish. Linda and Amber’s knowledge of the waters and sea life is incredible and made for a more interesting day. Our first dive was to 80′ and I lost my GoPro 4 Black (I don’t recommend using the heard strap mount when diving) couldn’t find it in the reef-​we all took our second dive looking for it-​No go – Amber let the other dive shops know about it and guess what-​I got a call 3 days later, it was found by another dive company!!! They saw Bubbles Below boat on the SD card. Thank goodness for such honest folks. Also did the 3 tank afternoon and night dive (my first) It was AWESOME– I think I would rather dive at night instead of day!!! I would HIGHLY recommend these folks!!!
Mahalo!
Poolman Wes and family
Eau Claire, Wi.

Just got back from diving with Bubbles Below. Many thanks to Linda, Amber, and the whole staff. Had a great time! Very well run shop, professional and fun. As an experienced diver I really appreciated the attention to things like individual max bottom time, and going that extra distance to find just the right dive site for that day’s conditions. M ahalo nui loa!
San Diego Randy

My wife & I were in Kauai recently for a conference. We had quite a bit of time to play as well. We did three organized events with local companies — Bubble Below (
) in Eleele, Kauai Photo Tours (hawaiianphotos.ent) in Kapaa & Kaua’i Back Country Adventures (
) in Lihue. We had a great time with each. I am including all 3 businesses in each review so you can see other things to do.
I pre-​booked with Bubble Below before flying in so I would be assured a spot on their boat for a day of beautiful diving. Linda, the owner was our guide & she is not only a terrific advocate for the underwater flora & fauna, she is a VERY professional guide & instructor. I have been diving for over 30 years & was an instructor so I know of what I speak. While it was quite a surgy day, we still had a lot of fun & saw a large white tip reef shark, a couple turtles, dolphins, eels & tons of little tropical fish. Alas, no Humpys. Next time, maybe. I travelled with no gear but they took my measurements via email so all the gear I needed was ready for me when I arrived at the shop. A good time was had by all 5 divers on the boat — I love small group diving!
Kauai Photo Tours was an unexpected treat. I did not even think about such a tour before seeing their ad after we arrived. I am an avid amateur shutterbug and was thrilled to find someone to take us for about 6 hours all over the east & north sides of the island. Our guide/​instructor was Levi — an accomplished photographer in his own right. He took the small group of us to several locations we would not have found on our own. Mainly beaches but some mountain view areas as well. Also, we had lunch as a group at a small place in Hanalei. The company runs several tours. I was impressed with the photos I took & Levi’s gentle method of helping me get better shots. He also had a few people who knew almost nothing about photography & their cameras. He did a marvellous job educating them. He is pretty darn good with a machete prepping fresh coconuts too! Like the trip with Bubbles Below, I would do another day with KPT.
The last tour we did was the Mountain tube ride. They do ziplines as well but we wanted to do the tubes. We expected it to be hokey but it absolutely was not. Our guide was Ikaika. He was a hoot! The time spent was about 3 hours including transportation. It was a lot of fun, especially going through the tunnels. If you have a GoPro, bring it — too much water for my Nikon. What a fun way to spend the afternoon.

My spouse and I have always wanted to do an all day dive at Niihau, and there are only two dive operators that do them. We called up Bubbles Below and found out that they do every Wed and Sat. We booked a Wed one in Aug and when it came to the Sunday before, they called to let us know that there might be an issue due to the tropical storm coming in. Ended up cancelling it, but we signed on for that Sat so that was nice. The prices for equipment rental were reasonable ($ 10/​BC or Reg, $ 5/​dive computer), as was the $ 345 for the trip, plus tax (and boy does Hawaii get their share plus some!). We arrived at 6:30 to load the boat, and that is when we discovered the 36 foot boot had no head, and that was something they might want to warn you about, since you spend almost 8 hours or more on board. Loading went well, tho I wouldn’t want to be the DMs who had to load and unload the tanks from a cargo hold in the bottom of the boat. They put all our gear together and helped you as much or as little as you wanted. You back roll in and climb up a ladder and then step over the back to get in. I asked over the phone about shading on the boat and was told there was some. True, but not enough if all of us wanted to stay out of the sun.
The first site was Pyramid point, and it had a strong current which made the dive a little more challenging, somewhat more than someone could handle, as far as we could tell on the first dive, b/​c after 10 min. we were all brought back to the mooring line to hang out for 20 min while they did something for someone. Then we resumed our dive, but by then, many had used up most of their air. We ended up seeing a monk seal, really cool! but that dive was a bit of a loss and not very well organized. The second and third were better. We did a arch and hold swim thrus on the second, which is always fun, tho one of the DMs kept a tight hand on the divers, and that made photo shots difficult as we were all to stay really packed together. We then went back to the first dive site with less current this time to do a slower and shallower dive with lots of colorful fish.
Coming back the winds and waves were high and strong, almost a Disneyland ride, but the captain certainly knew his craft. It took 1.5 hours out and about 2 or so back.
The other dive shop that does the Niihau trip does have shade on their boats, and may have a head! We did see 2 monk seals, colorful fish and a shark, but feel that the diving should be a bit less herd like, and perhaps a bit more organized in general.

I have so much respect for and gratitude to the great folks who comprise this business that it’s hard to put into words.
I chartered a boat from Bubbles for my three children and I for the purpose of scattering their father’s, my late husband’s, ashes.
From start to finish the folks at Bubbles were warm, professional, helpful and respectful.
Amanda helped me over the phone initially, to help me choose a day and time and whether I wanted an officiant, etc. Then Linea took over and firmed up the details.
When we arrived at Bubbles Linea had a beautiful, fragrant bowl of tropical flowers that she had «picked with love» from her own backyard for us to scatter. She drove us down to the boat, where we met the captain, Earl, and his first mate, Chris. They were both so kind and respectful.
Earl took us to a quiet bay that he thought would be good for the scattering as it was calm. But my husband was a sailor, so we asked if he could take us out to the open sea. Earl said of course, warning us that it would be rougher waters and higher winds. That suited us.
When it was time to scatter the ashes, Earl stopped the motor. Chris had some Hawaiian music (also a favorite of my musician husbands) playing from his iPhone. He helped the kids and I to the side of the boat then stood back respectfully as we scattered the flowers, said our goodbyes, and set the ashes in the ocean. Linea had picked up some biodegradable leis for us and we set them in the ocean over the ashes. Earl then circled the boat as I played a recording of my late husband covering «Wish You Were Here»
When we were ready, Earl turned the boat and we slowly went back to port, flowers and leis following for a bit in our wake. Earl pointed out a rainbow that brightened as we rode to shore.
It could not have been a better experience and I am so grateful for these fine folks.

I had the most awesome day ever with Linda, Amber Jean and Howard. Sharks, Monk Seals and Harlequin Shrimps oh my… Thank you for making my last dives in Hawaii epic!!!

Linda and Amber are the dynamic duo of all things diving! I’ve been on many dives and this is by far the best dive I’ve ever had. I really enjoyed the experience with this company and highly recommend anyone seeking awesome adventures in diving, GET ON BOARD with Bubbles Below!!! Thanks guys and Linda, I’ll be back in February to check out the whales with you!!!
Adrian and Angel

Fantastic crew, incredibly knowledgeable, and fun.
Our dive master Linda was amazing. She is passionate about underwater creatures and knows the best dive spots to see some of the coolest critters around.
She’s incredibly experienced and her positive energy is contagious. She took us on a great two-​tank dive it was like having your own personal guide, she asked the 5 of us what we were interested in seeing and based our dive location on everyone’s wants/​wishes we went to two fantastic spots.
She gives great instruction as well as cares for everyone that she takes into the sea and makes sure everyone is having a great and safe time while doing so.

My wife and I have been diving with bubbles below for at least 5 years now and we highly recommend them.
Linda and her staff are first rate. They really focus on the environment and have vast knowledge of the area and sea life. Linda’s enthusiasm is infectious. She welcomes all levels of divers and knows how to take care of the most novice diver to the expert.
Do you self a favor and your next dive trip use Bubbles Below! You’ll be glad you did

The new divers may love it, but I was not impressed. The online registration is hand tallied and errors are common. I signed up for nitrox and din tanks and got neither. The store employee is not a diver, or at least not a knowledgable one. The DM was dragging her gear all over the bottom and decided to ignore her deco stop (from 84 feet) saying that her computer was too conservative.

Did the Niihau dive with rented equipment with this company. Our DM joe was awesome. Saw some monk seals and sharks. Great dives but the only problem was the gear. Both my secondary and primary regulators were leaking. So was my BCD. It didn’t make that much of an impact but I felt like I didn’t get my money’s worth for the gear. Still, all in all, a great company.

My daughter (16) loves the ocean and all the sea life so this trip to Kauai was the perfect opportunity to surprise her and let her try scuba diving. There are several SCUBA companies here on the island and I researched several of them before deciding on Bubbles Below. Although I was certified a long, long time ago I would never consider myself certified anymore so I wanted us both to take the beginner (uncertified) dive option.
Bubbles Below was awesome. Dive Instructor Joe was great and gave us a basic safety class and our «intro» to SCUBA began in a private pool where we could get used to being neutrally buoyant in the water and swimming underwater with no current. My daughter was a natural.
The next day was our real dive trip where we met our Dive Master Linda (owner) who was so awesome. She is extremely knowledgeable about everything. Love her!!!
On our dive trip we had four divers, Joe (our personal instructor) and Linda was the Dive Master. It was like we had our own private experience. Linda treated us like family. She even took my GoPro so she could film me and my kid.
We could not have had a better experience. I’m so happy I chose Bubbles Below for our dive trip. Everything was perfect. Linda and Joe were great. Kid was beyond happy. I will definitely use Bubbles Below on our next dive trip. Thank You so much for making our trip the best.
Dive Safe!

Wow! What can I say? Bubbles Below has the best dive crew I’ve ever had the pleasure of diving with. My boyfriend had spoke to them ahead of time without my knowledge as he wanted to propose on our Nepali trip. They made everything perfect! Captain Earl backed us under a waterfall along the coast right before we were engaged! And Linda snapped pictures of us the whole time. They really go out of their way to take care of all their divers and make it a fun, enjoyable experience. Something you don’t normally think about on a dive trip is the food/​snacks, but theirs is worth writing about! We are vegetarian so they brought delicious veggie pizza, quinoa, and Greek salad! YUM (probably the best tasting lunch/​dinner we had while on the island). We also did the three tank (day, twilight, night) dive trip which I highly recommend. We got to turn off our lights and see bioluminescence!!! Amazing experience. We did the nitrox intro which gave us longer bottom time and left us feeling much better after the dive. All the dives were wonderful. Linda is the most knowledgeable, warm and fun dive master we’ve ever worked with. She points out the smallest little critters including crabs and nudibraches, but doesn’t miss the big stuff like sharks, parrotfish or turtles. I highly recommend Bubbles Below!!! You will be treated like family and have the most amazing dives!
Visited July 2014

My boyfriend and I wanted to try scuba diving. We decided to do it with Bubble’s below and it’s worth it. We did the shore diving in Koloa landing and it was amazing. We saw turtles and plenty of colorful fishes. Moreover my friend had some difficulties to go down under the water and the instructor helped him a lot and took care of him really well. We will definitively come back.

Michael was a great dive master. The weather Was cloudy, but got to see dolphins, whales, turtles, octopus, sharks. Gear was new. Very professional crew, concerned about safety. Would do it again. Not much food, just some water and snacks.

This review is overdue. We dove with them 2x in the first week of September 2013. The first day of diving was off the coast of Kauai and my in-​laws joined us on the boat for snorkeling. Everything was professional, they had nice equipment, and they accommodated my in-​laws who had never snorkeled before. The diving in Kauai was just OK compared to the Big Island or Mauai/​Lanai (this is not a reflection of the dive shop, just Kauai as a dive location).
The second day we did the Niihau dive, which was AMAZING. We were on the fence about doing it because of the price, but we were so glad we did. It was one of the best days of diving we’ve ever had. Huge numbers of tropical fish, really cool underwater volcanic rock formations, and monk seals were some of the highlights. Visibility was crystal clear. I highly recommend this dive and would definitely book with this dive shop again.

Went out with Mike today ⁹⁄₁₅₁₃. Was the best diving experience I’ve ever had. Mike surveyed every dive site and rejected several to make sure we had the best experience. Great dive master and great company!

LOVE diving with Bubbles! Linda always takes us to the best dive spots and knows everything about the island and the life under water. Best boat set up on the island and they now have a cool dive shop at port Allen. Would highly recommend doing the Nihau trip and the Napali coast trip with them! We always have a great time and can’t wait to dive with them again!

Me and the bf were first time divers, our guide Michael gave a thorough lesson on the guidelines and safety of scuba diving. We were asked numerous questions to test our knowledge of the DOs and DONTs that are involved in diving as it is a dangerous activity.
For a two tank dive per person was around $ 280 not including the nice tip Michael deserved! After a thorough lesson in diving we took a mini true/​false test and both passed. We were then given wetsuits, fins, booties, weight belt, and vest with tank etc. ALL scuba gear included.
After walking into the water you practice for a few minutes with your head underwater and practice getting comfortable with your mask regulator on. Then you individually go down with your guide and practice the hand signals and safety practices. Then off you go exploring the ocean floor. Michael pointed out various sea creatures and was able to communicate with us via magnetic board.
Since we had a two tank experience, we came up and switched tanks and Michael provided us with water, fruit and snacks.
I especially liked the company we chose since I overheard other scuba companies nearby educating there students but not being as thorough or friendly as Michael was. Hooray for Michael! The bf totally wants to get certified now, thanks to Michael! ;] Awesome experience, Michael made us super comfortable!

This update pertains to the customer service/​charter booking side of the business. I went diving with bubbles in may/​june of 2011, their DMs are very friendly, nice, attentive, knowledgeable, and super patient. dive sites are amazing. The captain, Mike, was a great guy also. The owner, Linda, is very black and white, and I can see how she might be hit and miss, you will either get along with her or you wont, she’s the type who tells it like it is… and that’s fine by me.
First off, some of you reading this may have stumbled upon other reviews on Unilocal or tripadvisor that were daunting… such as cancelled trips, inhospitable service, etc. While this did not exactly happen to us, I do not think that the other reviewers were exaggerating (at least not that much) when it came to some of the not so glamorous reviews. As a matter of fact, I can actually start to imagine these situations now. Just a bit of background, bubbles does come highly recommended (second only to Fathom Five) in the Discover Kauai book, some people in the online community have expressed dismay that they are receiving ill-​deserved publicity… you can be the judge of that
This review, concerns the phone service I received when attempting to book multiple dive charters. If I were a business owner, who runs a small business, relying primarily on tourist dollars, and I have a prospective customer who would quite possibly be spending $ 1000 on two days worth of dives, i would hope that the office staff I hired to take the inbound calls and whom is responsible for making and «closing» these bookings, would have the patience to entertain what may seem to be redundant and pointless questions. Do a better job at hiding your sarcasm, try not to sound so impatient, and follow through with customer’s requests for information. Keep in mind that if you were on the other end, you’d probably want your questions answered and concerns addressed before forking over a grand worth of your hard earned money.
Recently, with what seems (and with what I can recall relative to last year) to be an increase in pricing… to match what the competitors (fathom five and seasport) are charging, I do not see much reason to go with bubbles. smaller and older boat, actually malfunctioned on one of our dives… lack of physical store/​dive shop, and most importantly RUDE office staff (maybe not all, im just referring to one specifically)
I was stoked at the prospect of returning to kauai and diving with bubbles… not anymore… will be writing a review of fathom five real soon