My husband and I are planning a trip to Kauai May/June '08 and are trying to find out when the beaches on the north shore become safe to snorkel. We were thinking early May but don't want to be too early to miss out on some of the best snorkeling beaches. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Here are a couple of water safety sites you can study for further information....

http://oceansafety.soest.hawaii.edu/?i=kauai

http://www.kauaiexplorer.com/kauai_beaches/

I would just like to say I'm jealous of you two going to Kauai. Never been there and always wanted to go.

I was on the North Shore of Kauai this year from end of April to beginning of May. The waters were still too rough for us to feel comfortable snorkeling on the North Shore. We did see about 2-3 people snorkel Hideaways, but that was it. We were very disappointed that we were unable to snorkel because we had a condo right above Hideaways and had enjoyed snorkeling the previous week on the Big Island.

The South Shore was much calmer during the same week and we saw folks snorkeling there. I was able to snorkel during a catamaran trip, but not from the beaches. Call me a chicken, but the water looked way too rough for me to relax and enjoy!

the largest fish i've evr seen were at poipu beach right off shore. i'm a huge chicken of the sea, but in and out and they were enormous and purple and green and blue!

that was april. at that time of year ke'e was very calm. the trick is go early in the morning if you can. i think we were at ke'e at 10am.

none of the other beaches looked safe at that hour, but honestly only saw the white fish in ke'e. go to poipu.

kerikeri

We snorkeled Ke'e the middle of May and it was great!

Kauai water safety experts recommend snorkeling at guarded beaches only. And confer with the lifeguard before you go in. Meanwhile, beanweb24 put into practice another one of their suggestions: "If in doubt, don't go out."