As any businessman worth his pinstripes will tell you, the best customer is a repeat customer. Topside excursions include hiking the Na Pali Coast and kayaking the many rivers flowing from the central volcanic peak of mount Waialeale. The oldest, smallest and least developed of the big four Hawaiian Islands, Kauai is the answered prayer for advanced divers seeking virgin sites and quiet nights. Operators dive southern sites most of the year, at least until summer. That is when weather from the north lets up, and operators start taking advantage of the fresh sites that they've been avoiding.
Most dive operators are independent, and boats depart from any one of the many local harbors.
Your departure point will vary from season to season, so be sure you get directions to the right harbor and don't miss the boat. Novice to advanced Brennecke's Ledge is nearly a mile off shore and is to large a site for even the most ambitious fin flapper to cover in one dive. The centerpiece of the dive is a long wall that starts at 50 feet of water and drops 5 to 15 feet with deep undercuts that are decorated with colorful tubastrea cup coral. There's a lave tube near the dive site mooring, and several whitetip reef sharks frequent the area. This is one of the few dives where black coral is abundant, and nearly every tree is home to a long nose hawkfish.