MikeRDar
Registered
Aloha all;
For our next to last week in paradise (transferring to New Orleans after four years, sniff sniff) we took a trip to the Big Island and Lanai with visiting family. Sorry this is a couple weeks late, but we're in mid-move, staying in LA with sister while waiting for our car to get shipped here. Which also means it will be... concise.
Dates: morning 2-tank boat on 23 May, evening/Manta 2-tank boat on 24 May.
Operator: Jack's Dive Locker, dove aboard their Nekton 40 something, I believe it's their primary boat.
Divers: two newly certified diver renting gear (bro and sis-in-law), one Adv Open (my wife) and one newly certified divemaster (me!).
The shop itself is located in town, large, nice, well-stocked, everything you could need. Really makes you want to stand around and drool over all the nice gear. Shop personnel were very friendly and professional, although checking in on day two was ridiculously long (the woman helping us seemed to be having trouble with the computer and figuring out our bill... took 25 minutes to pay when we were doing the exact same thing we'd done the previous morning). Checked in at the shop and then drove ourselves the 10 minutes to the marina; they also have a shuttle van if you just want to park there at the shop.
Their location in the marina isn't really a shop, just a small facility for all their tanks, rental gear, video processing after dives, etc. No convenient restrooms there, so go before you go.
Gear - the gear our two new divers rented was good stuff, well maintained, weight integrated, with Air2 alternate air sources. Puck style computers were available to rent, which we did, and they attached them to the gauge hose for you. Wetsuits were all 3+ mm farmer john style (2-piece), which I envied as I actually got a big chilled in my 3-mm full. They provide tank lights and nice high power dive lights for the manta dives.
The boat - well laid out, typical dive boat. Camera tables and buckets, tank racks etc. Twin HEATED fresh water showers on the stern which are absolutely luxurious after your night dives. Unfortunately Jack's is still using their stock of AL72's, so ScubaPro style straps like ours have to be adjusted and you'll lose just those last couple minutes of air to find the manta's ;-) . I asked them why they had them and they said they just have such a large stock and 72's used to be the common standard, so they just haven't had a reason to switch all those tanks to 80's. Understandable. Tasty sandwiches between dives, plus cookies, and lemon aid. On our first day we only had perhaps a dozen divers, leaving tons of room. For the manta dive though we had at least 18 divers plus a group of snorkelers. A bit crowded, but they manage it well by spacing out your dive gear/seat by groups, so no one next to you is in your group, giving you plenty of room when it's your turn to gear up or return.
Service/crew - the guys/gals were all professional and friendly, really top notch service. They will set up, switch, break down and rinse all your gear, including personally owned gear, which was sweet. We dove with Mike on both days and he was very friendly and chill. Took good care of our newbies, including when my sis-in-law was short a couple pounds... he was right there with a two-pound clip on... well prepared. He wasn't huge on finding small critters, which is a little more important to my wife and I who have been diving Hawaii for four years now, but he was safe, took good care of everyone, had a decent pace, and wasn't overly controlling when I lagged behind for photos. They let you dive your own profile and stay as long as you have air. He also took a great shot of the four of us together with my camera, which I appreciated. They do great briefs for the boat, dive sites, and manta procedures. They are professional, funny, and thorough... if anything, maybe too thorough... I think our first boat brief lasted about 15 minutes or so. One other tiny thing... they don't appear to carry any spare gear onboard, so when we thought our new folks had forgotten their fins on the pier for the manta dives, it was a real concern and could have been a dive ender. Fortunately one of the staff had grabbed them, figured out who's they were, and the fins were stowed right behind their BC's. Great service for sure, but I would have breathed easier while we were searching if there were a couple boxes of spares down below somewhere (maybe there are, but no one mentioned them during the 5 minutes of panic).
The sites (Lone Tree Arch, Garden Eel Cove) were nice, but unremarkable for a Hawaii diver. A lone turtle, eagle ray, etc. Good field of garden eels, which I love (only place I've seen them on Oahu is at the Corsair) The largest "scrambled egg" nudibranch I've ever seen, over 3" long. Quite a few dwarf moray's, which were cool, but not a whole lot else. Of course the manta dive was to be the highlight, but we were stood up. After ~25 minutes a single 5-6 footer made one pass right over us, took a scoop through the lights, and left. Neat to see, but overall a disappointment. That's the way it goes with nature.
Overall we really enjoyed diving with Jack's and would recommend them. Gotta give a shout out to Keller, one of the other divemasters. We didn't dive with him, but in the shop and on the boat he was so enthusiastic, energetic, over the top with cheesy but funny jokes, etc. that he really made an impression. In fact the whole crew was always fun and great to dive with.
Thanks JDL!
For our next to last week in paradise (transferring to New Orleans after four years, sniff sniff) we took a trip to the Big Island and Lanai with visiting family. Sorry this is a couple weeks late, but we're in mid-move, staying in LA with sister while waiting for our car to get shipped here. Which also means it will be... concise.
Dates: morning 2-tank boat on 23 May, evening/Manta 2-tank boat on 24 May.
Operator: Jack's Dive Locker, dove aboard their Nekton 40 something, I believe it's their primary boat.
Divers: two newly certified diver renting gear (bro and sis-in-law), one Adv Open (my wife) and one newly certified divemaster (me!).
The shop itself is located in town, large, nice, well-stocked, everything you could need. Really makes you want to stand around and drool over all the nice gear. Shop personnel were very friendly and professional, although checking in on day two was ridiculously long (the woman helping us seemed to be having trouble with the computer and figuring out our bill... took 25 minutes to pay when we were doing the exact same thing we'd done the previous morning). Checked in at the shop and then drove ourselves the 10 minutes to the marina; they also have a shuttle van if you just want to park there at the shop.
Their location in the marina isn't really a shop, just a small facility for all their tanks, rental gear, video processing after dives, etc. No convenient restrooms there, so go before you go.
Gear - the gear our two new divers rented was good stuff, well maintained, weight integrated, with Air2 alternate air sources. Puck style computers were available to rent, which we did, and they attached them to the gauge hose for you. Wetsuits were all 3+ mm farmer john style (2-piece), which I envied as I actually got a big chilled in my 3-mm full. They provide tank lights and nice high power dive lights for the manta dives.
The boat - well laid out, typical dive boat. Camera tables and buckets, tank racks etc. Twin HEATED fresh water showers on the stern which are absolutely luxurious after your night dives. Unfortunately Jack's is still using their stock of AL72's, so ScubaPro style straps like ours have to be adjusted and you'll lose just those last couple minutes of air to find the manta's ;-) . I asked them why they had them and they said they just have such a large stock and 72's used to be the common standard, so they just haven't had a reason to switch all those tanks to 80's. Understandable. Tasty sandwiches between dives, plus cookies, and lemon aid. On our first day we only had perhaps a dozen divers, leaving tons of room. For the manta dive though we had at least 18 divers plus a group of snorkelers. A bit crowded, but they manage it well by spacing out your dive gear/seat by groups, so no one next to you is in your group, giving you plenty of room when it's your turn to gear up or return.
Service/crew - the guys/gals were all professional and friendly, really top notch service. They will set up, switch, break down and rinse all your gear, including personally owned gear, which was sweet. We dove with Mike on both days and he was very friendly and chill. Took good care of our newbies, including when my sis-in-law was short a couple pounds... he was right there with a two-pound clip on... well prepared. He wasn't huge on finding small critters, which is a little more important to my wife and I who have been diving Hawaii for four years now, but he was safe, took good care of everyone, had a decent pace, and wasn't overly controlling when I lagged behind for photos. They let you dive your own profile and stay as long as you have air. He also took a great shot of the four of us together with my camera, which I appreciated. They do great briefs for the boat, dive sites, and manta procedures. They are professional, funny, and thorough... if anything, maybe too thorough... I think our first boat brief lasted about 15 minutes or so. One other tiny thing... they don't appear to carry any spare gear onboard, so when we thought our new folks had forgotten their fins on the pier for the manta dives, it was a real concern and could have been a dive ender. Fortunately one of the staff had grabbed them, figured out who's they were, and the fins were stowed right behind their BC's. Great service for sure, but I would have breathed easier while we were searching if there were a couple boxes of spares down below somewhere (maybe there are, but no one mentioned them during the 5 minutes of panic).
The sites (Lone Tree Arch, Garden Eel Cove) were nice, but unremarkable for a Hawaii diver. A lone turtle, eagle ray, etc. Good field of garden eels, which I love (only place I've seen them on Oahu is at the Corsair) The largest "scrambled egg" nudibranch I've ever seen, over 3" long. Quite a few dwarf moray's, which were cool, but not a whole lot else. Of course the manta dive was to be the highlight, but we were stood up. After ~25 minutes a single 5-6 footer made one pass right over us, took a scoop through the lights, and left. Neat to see, but overall a disappointment. That's the way it goes with nature.
Overall we really enjoyed diving with Jack's and would recommend them. Gotta give a shout out to Keller, one of the other divemasters. We didn't dive with him, but in the shop and on the boat he was so enthusiastic, energetic, over the top with cheesy but funny jokes, etc. that he really made an impression. In fact the whole crew was always fun and great to dive with.
Thanks JDL!
