Hi! We just had our three kids get certified with Jack's Diving Locker on the Big Island of Hawaii! We were impressed with their thoroughness and safety.
The kids did the PADI eLearning and then we had booked the pool and open water with Jacks for Christmas Break. They had to take a review test and then the instructor went over anything that was missed, to make sure they understood.
We watched the pool diving, they have a pool at the shop and it also has a viewing window in the deep end. Like I said, their instructor, Matt , was very thorough and went through everything once as a demonstration on the surface, then he showed them underwater, and then had them each do it. (there was one other teen, so the class was 4)
Open water dives go off the same boat as the certified divers, so we were able to dive off the same boat on their open water dives. ( Felt a bit bad, our kit was always switched out for us, they had to do all of their own!) Again, super thorough with dive briefings.
They also got to see a lot while they were diving.
All three were so enjoying the diving that we added three more days of diving while we were there. Two shore dives, another morning of boat dives, and the Manta Ray night dive!!( super fantastic night- 17 mantas!)
The staff at the shop were all friendly and helpful and by the end of our trip we felt like part of the family.
We were so pleased, that we came home last week and immediately set about booking Adv Open Water Certification at Jack's for the kids. We have requested the same instructor, Matt B, since he got on really well with our guys. ( we have a super shy 13 yr old who was chatting away with Matt by the end of the first day)