Jack's Diving Locker — Attraction in Hawaii

Tl;dr - Might be good for already certified divers, but bad place to learn and get OW certified. Two stars not one because their boats/crew were great and their refund policy is generous.

The long story - We (my partner and I) had a two tank dive booked for our third and fourth open water dive, a pool refresher before it and the two tank manta booked after.

Our pool sessions with Elle were great, she was patient and understanding, and clearly wanted us to improve. She was also thorough enough to notice that we had a couple of pool skills missing from our referral and very kindly stayed back after our refresher to finish those skills. It took me a couple of tries to get the free dive skill since I've never tried it before, but Elle was patient and I was very confident with it by the end.

For the open water checkout dives, we were assigned to Anna, who mentioned that Elle was fairly confident in our abilities, which we were happy about. Since this was our first time doing some of the skills in open water (mask removal, CESA, etc) after our pool sessions almost a year ago, we did mention we would be a bit rusty.

As the dive started, we were asked to set up our weights ourselves, which was new and confusing to us - having used a weight belt set up by our instructor on previous dives. Starting from this point, it felt more like we were being tested on skills rather than being taught, which was a bit unrealistic considering our lack of experience. I put in double the weights I was supposed to, which caused me to be overweighted for the CESA, and unable to swim up at the rate I needed to or kick at the surface to orally inflate my BCD. Thankfully, Elle did recognize this and remove my weights before the actual dives, but this was also raised as a reason we did not get the OW certification. I did not get another attempt at the CESA after my weights were corrected.

For the mask clearing skill, we also got one try each and we both kicked as we emptied the mask, which of course is a problem. We would've appreciated another chance at the skill after our mistakes were pointed out. Overall, the dives felt less like a learning experience and more like a skills test where we were expected to be perfect at every skill in a single try. I think this is pretty unrealistic considering we last did those skills in a pool a year ago. And not for a lack of effort on our part - we've been practicing our mask removal in a pool back home for months, which was even more disappointing.

At the end of the first dive, we were told this could not count as Dive 3 for the Open Water and we didn't have the skills needed. We could either choose to practice skills on the next dive (not as a replacement for dive 3) or just do a regular dive. We were told that we were good buddies and good at the basic swimming parts so we could be offered the Certified Scuba Diver certification (which we already got at our previous dive shop). We did do well at a few of the skills like the underwater and surface compass navigation but our dive logs in the training section weren't updated to reflect that. So this entire dive trip was basically no net positive on skills gained towards OW, which was super disappointing to us.

We would've appreciated more instruction with the intent of improving our skills versus simply being tested on them. We ended up cancelling our Manta Dive (offered to us with private instruction on account of not being OW certified) because this experience left us unhappy. We appreciate their extremely generous 24 hour cancellation policy, it shows integrity as a business and we are grateful. We did do the manta dive with a different operator (Big Island Divers).

We also want to mention that their boats are absolutely wonderful and have great facilities, and the crew is warm, welcoming and great to be around. We were very seasick during our dives and everyone on the boat was incredibly kind and helpful to us. We also wanted to say that we were super happy with Elle's pool refresher and that she helped us get...

WORST DIVE OPERATOR I have ever experienced in my entire life. Booked a night Manata Ray Dive/Snorkel trip with Jack's dive locker. Booked for a group of 8 since only a few companies accommodated for divers and snorkelers in our group. When booked was told the MAX on the boat was 18 guests (dive/Snorkeler mix). Boat was a cattle boat with 18 Scuba divers + 10 snorkelers...in addition 4 dive guides, 2 snorkel guides and the captain (35 people!). It was way too crowded. Staff attitude, specifically Captain Jim, Mongo and Maddie started before we even stepped on the boat and throughout the entire trip. Captain’s safety brief could barely hear him, he turned boat engines on right before (Still tied to dock), and didn't notify people on top of boat, but yelled at them to come down for brief...after earlier telling the snorkelers to go up top to get out of way of divers.

We were not allowed to set up our own gear and asked to stay away from it while they were doing it. At the dive site, we were rushed to get our gear on and get in water (5 mins). No time to do full gear check, but found my husband’s weights were not put in his pocket properly. My husband is a master diver since the 1980’s and was able to descend so we thought it dropped out of his unsecured pocket. When asking captain about it when we got back on boat, he said he put it in there, but I watched him put it in for 2nd dive...which confirmed he never snapped it in properly and it didn't get lost in the ocean ont he 1st dice. NOTE: we were the only ones using Oceanic BCs with custom bags different than everyone else. Mysteriously both weigh pouches ended back in our gear.

On the Dive, Mongo was oblivious to keep track of the group and didn't assist in missing weight issue as my husband swam sideways and showed him. We rented Regs to use, and when Mongo was giving demonstrations on how to use it, he told us to step away since we weren't renting all the gear and would explain to us later on computers. When I asked him later how to use the computer, he was annoyed and rudely told me to push buttons. Mongo's attitude on the boat was that we were all annoying him. He only gave attention to some local lady who always dives with them. Overheard her even say Mongo gives her special attention since he doesn't like to deal with the "other" people.

Had an older aged man with us snorkeling who has lots of experience under water. He was telling me he saw a sea horse, and I could hear Captain Jim mocking him and saying that wasn't true and referred to him as a moron. Maddie eventually jumped in a rudely told the older man that he was very wrong. Another snorkeler in our group told us Maddie yelled at her for jumping in when she told her she could. On the 2nd dive, the older aged man's daughter asked Maddie to check if his hearing aids were out before entering the water. The daughter reconfirmed with Maddie prior water entry, and Maddie's responded with major attitude that THEY ARE OUT! NOPE...They went into the ocean!

Maddie was more concerned with flirting and her appearance. We saw 3 outfit changes on the boat into 3 different bikinis. Maddie tied up another tour zodiac boat to the back of the boat on the 2nd dive causing what I felt were safety issues making the ladders not clear and safe. Captain Jim yelled at Maddie for doing so, yet the tied boat remained in the way of entrance and exit of the water.

I feel this is not a safe diving company. The staff was rude, arrogant and berating, and when issues arose, it became a blame game.

After the trip, we spoke with many locals and other dive operators about our experience. Sadly, they told us that is well known that Jacks Diving Locker are greedy and only in it for the money and not the safety of the customers.

Luckily the manta night dive was amazing, and we got some amazing footage. But to pay $250 a person and be treated horribly on an overcrowded boat...I'd book with someone...

Dove for three days and a night manta Ray Dive with Jack's Diving Locker on January 25th, 26th and the 28th. Our first two dives were with the Manta Man himself, Keller Laros, (GO BLUE), Chris L, Carlos B and Boat Captain Bob J who was a fantastic Captain. He caught the waves perfectly, this definitely wasn't his first surge rodeo. On day two we dove with Mongo and Mel C. and boat Captain Bob J who did the same wonderful job. Unfortunately on our second dive our guide was doing an advanced certification with a diver. In comparison when we did our Advanced Certification on Roatan, we paid to have a solo instructor and unfortunately that wasn't the case and took away from our dive. It felt that there was more attention paid to this individual than the other divers in the group but that's me, I'm a prima Jimmie, but would suggest that any certs that take place in the future that they, (JDL,) have a dedicated Instructor for that individual divers certification. Maybe I'm just expecting too much? I would like to point out that Mel C was extremely helpful with one of our divers on that same dive. He hadn't dove in over thirty years and had a refresher course before he went to Hawaii. As we know, a pool and a surging Ocean are two different worlds. He had difficulty dropping down. She immediately went to him, added weight, instructed him on how to deflate his BCD, breathe out, helped him drop down and he was extremely grateful for her help. Thanks to her efforts, he will dive again and did the night dive on Sunday. On the night dive with Mel C, Simone M and Keller L, this time with our exceptional Captain Greg L. The Manta Dive. Our boat showed up early and we secured a prime launch spot and the late afternoon dive was ok. The reef was pretty covered up with the powerful surge compliments of El Nino and the unusual wind pattern. We got the chance to see where we were going to be for the night dive and get familiar with the dive location. The night dive was out of this world. OUT OF THIS WORLD. We experienced a Hawaii sunset including a Green Flash. Soon after we geared up and dropped into the black water. We all had color coded lights, followed our white fin guide Mel C WHO PAID CLOSE ATTENTION TO ALL OF THE DIVERS. She was extremely helpful as our guide. She helped secure huge boulders to help two of our party members that kept them in place to witness something incredible. We all came out of the water with a lifetime experience, witnessed twenty-seven Mantas, (that was the Keller count.) We will definitely dive with Jack's Diving Locker again as we had our Open Water Certification with them in 2004. Onto the retail shop, it's stocked with great inventory and great brands. Patti C helped us decide on two new BCD Rigs, (the Scuba Pro Hydos package,) which we've received and can't wait to use. We're actually looking into a summer dive now because we can't wait to use them. Onto the other check list: Their boats are exceptional, we were on the 46' custom which was stable in rocking El Nino seas. The quality of the shop and the gear that was rented to our guest, (we brought our own) was all top notch, top quality Scuba Pro BCD and Regs. Oh, the sandwiches they provided were really tasty too. These are really good people, REALLY GOOD PEOPLE, and know what they're doing. I would put my life in their hands on any dive. ...