AOW on Big Island-recommendations?

[capybara]

We're going to the Big Island in February and are thinking of doing the Advanced Open Water course. (Hoping to see a manta ray on the night dive!) Any recommendations on which company to go with? Has anyone done AOW there? I'm considering Kona Honu or Jack's Diving Locker. CALI68 mentioned DiveTek, but we're not DIR divers. Also looked at Pacific Rim and Dive Makai, but frankly the lack of a head on their boats has me worried (I suffer from TB--tiny bladder)! JDL's AOW is about $100 more than Kona Honu--why? And how come Kona Honu is not listed/mentioned in the Big Island Revealed book? Other suggestions welcome as well. I've looked at the recent thread on Big Island boat ops which was very helpful, but wanted to know if anyone specifically has experience with AOW instruction on Big Island. Thanks!

 

[friscuba]

Dive Tec will service all levels of divers, you don't have to be a DIR diver, they're just the one op here who does do the tec stuff on a regualar basis. Jack's always does a decent job, as do most dive companies here. Kona Honu has only had their boat going out for coming up on two years, they probably have not had a review yet.

The Big Island Revealed is written by a couple of people who rely on thier experiences and those of a couple friends to do reviews of various operations, they can only cover so many operators at a time. Imagine that one or two couples can go on every paid activity, eat at every restaurant, do every hike, and visit every historical building, site or beach on Kauai, Maui and the Big Island between each edition of their books - ain't going to happen. They do a very good job at what they do, but they can't be everywhere. There's something like 25-28 dive operators here now, and I suspect most of us send their divers home happy, every one has their own strengths.

Have fun,

Steve

 

[Wildcard]

Scuba Shack Too, Jay can hook you up.

 

[capybara]

Scuba Shack Too, Jay can hook you up.

Isn't Scuba Shack on Maui?

 

[Wildcard]

Scuba Shack Too...is here, big isle. Im sure there are dozens of places called scuba shack. Jay is a great instructor and has some of the lowest rates around.

 

[gkndivebum]

Just FYI, there's no requirement to be a DIR diver to dive with DiveTEK.

And FWIW I did my AOW course with Jack's.

 

[capybara]

Thanks friscuba, wildcard & gkndivebum. Lots of places to choose from, I'll look into them. Gkndivebum, how was your AOW at Jack's? Was there some classroom time or diving instruction only? What dives did you do and were they all off the boat?

 

[gkndivebum]

[...] Gkndivebum, how was your AOW at Jack's? Was there some classroom time or diving instruction only? What dives did you do and were they all off the boat?

There was some classroom time - PADI knowlege reviews and such. For the 5 required
dives I did UW Naturalist (Fish ID), Photo, Night (with the mantas), deep & navigation.
The diving was set up as 3 2-tank chaters, with the extra dive as a freebie, if you will.

I rented a camera from Jack's. My wife got hooked on UW photography during
the class, and pretty much dives with a camera all the time now. Me? I'm not so
good with a camera....

Overall it was a positive experience.