A Little Background. This is the fifth and final segment of a 50-day trip that started in Fiji, continued with an 18-night cruise from Sydney to Honolulu, then diving on The Big Island, Hawaii.
Starting in Fiji, here’s the order of my travels and the trip reports.
Paradise Taveuni, Taveuni Trip Report - Paradise Taveuni-March/April 2024
Volivoli Beach Resort, Rakiraki, Viti Levu Trip Report - Volivoli Resort, Fiji-April 2-11, 2024
Sydney, Australia Trip Report - Sydney, Australia-April 2024
French Polynesia, Papeete & Raiatea Trip Report - French Polynesia via Cruise Ship-April 2024
I’m a single diver/traveler. My dive buddy can only take one trip a year, so I’m on my own for my trips, but she was able to join me in Hawaii for diving with Jack’s Diving Locker (JDL). We’ve been to Kona in the past and had done the touristy activities, so this was a diving vacation versus a vacation with diving.
Getting There. I arrived by cruise ship and got on an interisland flight from Honolulu to Kona and met my friend. Rental cars are plentiful and reasonably priced now that they've restocked the lots post-COVID. We got the rental car and off we went.
Hotel. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites, the only IHG property in Kona, and I used my IHG points. Had we paid cash for the 8 nights, it would have been a whopping $3300, way too much for the quality of this hotel. It was conveniently located downtown and a two-minute drive to JDL. Hawaii has become insanely expensive, so I’m grateful to have used my points.
Jack’s Diving Locker. I have always used JDL, but since it had been a few years since I was in Kona, I shopped the going rates around the Kona area, and JDL was the only shop that wasn’t charging the daily junk fees, i.e., booking fees, harbor fees, conservation fee, in addition to the sales tax. As return customers, we were given 10% off all the diving and only charged sales tax. To my disappointment, since my visit in May, they are now charging the rip-off fees, too. With our 10% discount, we still paid $198 for a 2-tank dive, which included Nitrox at $10 per tank. The manta and black water dives cost even more.
I have always had a good experience with JDL, and they offer concierge diving...my favorite! They set up your gear on the boat and break it down for you at the end of the trip. They rinse everything for you on board during the ride back to the shop. They have nice, big boats with camera buckets, onboard hot showers, drinking water, and lunch included (sandwiches, fruit, and cookies). There are two ladders for a giant stride entry, so two people can get in and out of the water at the same time. Safety is important, so their briefings are very thorough, both about the boat (life jackets, emergency procedures) and the dive sites. Their guide-to-diver ratio is no more than 1 to 6, and they stick to that. They also guarantee 80-minute dives as long as you have the air to last that long. My dives were generally 73-83 minutes. Their staff and guides are very good. They do a fantastic manta night dive and the black water dive. We did each of those twice.
The downside to JDL now is they fill up their bigger boat, the Kea Nui, and it was too crowded. (See attached picture) There was a student group on nearly every trip, and there were up to 14 divers a couple of days. The students had their own dive guide, but that added 6-7 extra bodies on the boat each day. JDL seems to be catering to the student population, which then translates to going to the easy (and over-dived) sites. Then when the students "graduate", they are now diving with the very experienced divers and have no idea what they're doing. The first diver to hit half a tank turns the dive back to the boat. This is a change from my previous experience.
Equipment Failures. While I was in Fiji, my Sea&Sea YS-03 strobe started to malfunction and it would only work intermittently. After a full examination, I found a micro crack in the front lens which had caused water to get trapped, but the battery compartment was still completely dry. By the time I got to Hawaii, it wouldn’t power on. So I only had my video light to use for photos in Hawaii.
When I arrived in Sydney to set up my gear, my Kraken flashlight was DOA. The batteries were fully charged, the battery compartment dry, but it just wouldn’t turn on. Now all I had was my old backup flashlight, a Princeton Tec, which was useless in the zero viz dive in Sydney, but no amount of high-lumen light would have penetrated the mucky green water, anyway. While in Sydney, I reached out to Kraken to see if they would provide a replacement light and send it to JDL so I could pick it up there. I have to give high praise to them, because they sent the light, and it was waiting for me. Great customer service!
To be continued...
Starting in Fiji, here’s the order of my travels and the trip reports.
Paradise Taveuni, Taveuni Trip Report - Paradise Taveuni-March/April 2024
Volivoli Beach Resort, Rakiraki, Viti Levu Trip Report - Volivoli Resort, Fiji-April 2-11, 2024
Sydney, Australia Trip Report - Sydney, Australia-April 2024
French Polynesia, Papeete & Raiatea Trip Report - French Polynesia via Cruise Ship-April 2024
I’m a single diver/traveler. My dive buddy can only take one trip a year, so I’m on my own for my trips, but she was able to join me in Hawaii for diving with Jack’s Diving Locker (JDL). We’ve been to Kona in the past and had done the touristy activities, so this was a diving vacation versus a vacation with diving.
Getting There. I arrived by cruise ship and got on an interisland flight from Honolulu to Kona and met my friend. Rental cars are plentiful and reasonably priced now that they've restocked the lots post-COVID. We got the rental car and off we went.
Hotel. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites, the only IHG property in Kona, and I used my IHG points. Had we paid cash for the 8 nights, it would have been a whopping $3300, way too much for the quality of this hotel. It was conveniently located downtown and a two-minute drive to JDL. Hawaii has become insanely expensive, so I’m grateful to have used my points.
Jack’s Diving Locker. I have always used JDL, but since it had been a few years since I was in Kona, I shopped the going rates around the Kona area, and JDL was the only shop that wasn’t charging the daily junk fees, i.e., booking fees, harbor fees, conservation fee, in addition to the sales tax. As return customers, we were given 10% off all the diving and only charged sales tax. To my disappointment, since my visit in May, they are now charging the rip-off fees, too. With our 10% discount, we still paid $198 for a 2-tank dive, which included Nitrox at $10 per tank. The manta and black water dives cost even more.
I have always had a good experience with JDL, and they offer concierge diving...my favorite! They set up your gear on the boat and break it down for you at the end of the trip. They rinse everything for you on board during the ride back to the shop. They have nice, big boats with camera buckets, onboard hot showers, drinking water, and lunch included (sandwiches, fruit, and cookies). There are two ladders for a giant stride entry, so two people can get in and out of the water at the same time. Safety is important, so their briefings are very thorough, both about the boat (life jackets, emergency procedures) and the dive sites. Their guide-to-diver ratio is no more than 1 to 6, and they stick to that. They also guarantee 80-minute dives as long as you have the air to last that long. My dives were generally 73-83 minutes. Their staff and guides are very good. They do a fantastic manta night dive and the black water dive. We did each of those twice.
The downside to JDL now is they fill up their bigger boat, the Kea Nui, and it was too crowded. (See attached picture) There was a student group on nearly every trip, and there were up to 14 divers a couple of days. The students had their own dive guide, but that added 6-7 extra bodies on the boat each day. JDL seems to be catering to the student population, which then translates to going to the easy (and over-dived) sites. Then when the students "graduate", they are now diving with the very experienced divers and have no idea what they're doing. The first diver to hit half a tank turns the dive back to the boat. This is a change from my previous experience.
Equipment Failures. While I was in Fiji, my Sea&Sea YS-03 strobe started to malfunction and it would only work intermittently. After a full examination, I found a micro crack in the front lens which had caused water to get trapped, but the battery compartment was still completely dry. By the time I got to Hawaii, it wouldn’t power on. So I only had my video light to use for photos in Hawaii.
When I arrived in Sydney to set up my gear, my Kraken flashlight was DOA. The batteries were fully charged, the battery compartment dry, but it just wouldn’t turn on. Now all I had was my old backup flashlight, a Princeton Tec, which was useless in the zero viz dive in Sydney, but no amount of high-lumen light would have penetrated the mucky green water, anyway. While in Sydney, I reached out to Kraken to see if they would provide a replacement light and send it to JDL so I could pick it up there. I have to give high praise to them, because they sent the light, and it was waiting for me. Great customer service!
To be continued...
