Manny's Diving Adventures — Local services in Honolulu

I'd do zero stars if it was an option. We gifted our three teenagers scuba certification as a Christmas gift this year, and they were all very excited to spend the week after Christmas getting certified. This didn't happen because of Manny and his lack of professionalism and it was one of the worst experiences I've had. Manny cuts corners and does not prepare you for diving at all. The week before Christmas we reached out to him to find out how we would access the PADI e-learning and he told us he didn't offer that and it would only be available for an extra $100+, should have been the first red flag. We showed up at Magic Island, and waited for an instructor for an hour, who never showed. Manny, who wasn't on island, apologized and we arranged to try again the next day. At which point, Manny had another instructor from a completely different dive shop, there to fill in. This older gentleman started the morning by informing us that he hadn't slept the night before, and was in a bad mood, the second obvious red flag. His gear was out of date, and in poor condition, he didn't have my kids do swim tests, or fill out any of PADI's medical forms, and just put them in the murky water of Magic Island and expected them to complete the dive skills with little to no instruction. My oldest, who, at 19 is an avid swimmer, surfer, snorkeler, spear fisher struggled to clear his mask completely due to faulty equipment and a lack of instruction. At this point, the gentleman decided to stop the class, told my teens that they could swim around the lagoon and then told them that they had failed the first day and wouldn't be able to continue in the afternoon. This is after less than one full hour. Manny called me and told me that my kids had decided to quit for the day and I would have to pay an additional $150 to continue trying the next day. When I pushed back as to why the instructor hadn't helped my kids or given them additonal instruction on how to clear a mask, and told him that they had not quit, the instructor had decided to quit for the day, Manny told me that my kids were lying, and that most parents assume their kids are exceptional, but that my kids clearly just couldn't handle scuba diving. The situation deteriorated further with Manny being extremely insulting, abrasive and rude the entire time. I asked for a refund, and he told me he would only offer a partial refund because he had already paid for boat seats for that afternoon and would have to pay the instructor. This turned out to be a lie, I reached out to the instructor that afternoon, who apologized for his lack of teaching that day and told me wasn't going to charge anything. It took me days, and multiple awful phone conversations where Manny insulted and gaslit me, to get my refund, who only gave us our money back after we threatened to report him to BBB. Also, the refund was short $150 because he refused to refund what he had spent on the boat seats. No beginner is ready to go out on a boat dive after less than an hour of scuba instruction, and with no learning materials. We decided to go with Dive Oahu after we eventually got our money back and the difference is shocking. For the same price we paid Manny, we had the online learning materials from PADI, which my kids completed before getting into the water. That price also includes three days of instruction in a pool before doing two mornings of shore dives. My kids have had zero problem completing any of the skills and the instructors have been polite, friendly and extremely helpful. Manny makes the small local providers here on Oahu look pretty terrible, which is a shame because we really like supporting local small businesses.

Edit: This was our first time getting scuba certification for our kids. I’m happy to attach screenshots of my text conversations with Manny, including how difficult it was to get a refund and where he tried to threaten not refunding my money unless I promised not to go to BBB or post a...

Terrible experience. Overall, very unprofessional scheduling, impatient instructor, horribly unresponsive communicator, and a gaslighter.

Initially, I wanted to support a local small business as opposed to a big dive shop, and eventually wasted hours of time painfully communicating with him to finally get in hand 1 out of 2 certifications I paid for.

We did our dives in November after paying $850, when he gave me a general idea of 7:30a-230p the first day and 10a-230p the second day. However, he wouldn't text me where/when to meet until 11p the night before the first day and not until the morning OF the second day. Each day was very rushed and ended up being half the time he had proposed, despite us being his only 2 students those days.

During the training, he was very impatient. English is my wife's second language, though she is fluent and did her PhD in the USA. Nonetheless, Manny was very rushed in explaining skills/equipment from the get-go, and when she would ask for clarification or for him to repeat more slowly the jargon-heavy SCUBA skill, he would be very condescending and blame her for not being able to understand immediately.

On the first open water dive, she ended up inhaling salty ocean water at 40 feet deep during the mask clearing skill, which created the sensation that she was drowning. Of course, she freaked out and when we got to the surface, she was shaking and crying. The response from him and the boat captain were literally, "You're so dramatic."

In the end, I completed my 4 dives and my wife only 2. She's scarred from this experience but will still complete her certification elsewhere. From the beginning, he only had me fill out the medical clearance form, sign a waiver, and complete the book exam. When I asked if she would need to sign these forms, he said, "Later." It seems like he expected her to fail before we even started.

Without warning at the end of the 2nd day, Manny said he had to leave, and that we'd have to meet on a 3rd day to finish the final exam. We had plans already and couldn't meet in person, so he said I would have to go to a local dive shop in California to finish.

After I returned, I spent hours on the phone with multiple dive shops explaining this situation, and all said this was clearly not protocol or remotely allowed by PADI. Finally, Manny agreed to schedule a time to do the test by FaceTime. For months, he would ghost my texts, until I finally told him I would submit a Venmo request refund. He then finally sent me iMessage photos of the exam from a book, and I sent back my answers that night. After another couple weeks of ghosted texts and me actually contacting Venmo, he finally processed my certification. To this day though, I do not have the dive logs in hand.

"After I learned to dive, I had the choice to work for the military, oil rigs, or instead be able to watch beautiful tourists in bikinis all day, so the choice was obvious." - Manny, introducing his PADI history to me and my wife.

Combine that with a Yelp reviewer who caught Manny looking through his cell phone, and you have an idea of who you're...

We booked an Open Water Dive certification course with Manny and couldn't be happier with the result. Manny has an easy-going confidence that reassures you that you're in good hands and will be fine. Initially, we started off getting into the gear and doing work in a shallow part of the beach. Some of the skills were difficult and took us a few times to get correct. Manny was patient and focused on getting the skills correct. It’s tempting to move quickly but Manny emphasizes these skills need to be ingrained into muscle memory so you can react correctly if anything were to happen in deeper water.

After our beach practice, we met up again with Manny for our first and second dives. We went on the Snorkel 1 and met an experienced crew that was friendly and unassuming. Even though we were the least experienced members on the boat, the crew was quick to answer questions and helped us figure out things from setting up our equipment to flushing the toilet (the pedal under the toilet). We were lucky and got to dive in a small group with Manny, the two of us from our party, and an experienced diver. We each had skills we needed to practice and prove we could do in the open water. Everything was done at a comfortable pace which was due to Manny’s experience as an instructor. Once again, there was an emphasis on safety and feeling comfortable underwater. Learning how to dive underwater is a difficult skill and it takes a dedicated, thoughtful instructor to guide you through the journey. Manny also works with other instructors who are just as calm and reassuring. We did our third and fourth dives with another instructor who expertly handled divers at several different skill levels.

Over two days, we went from being completely inexperienced to being able to setup and also teardown our own equipment. We felt confident in our skills and could dive comfortably. As we demonstrated our new skills, we were able to go on excursions underwater and were able to observe an entirely new world that most don’t get to enjoy. We saw coral reefs, more sea urchins than you’d ever see in a tide pool, humongous sea turtles napping under reefs. It’s been a great experience and we recommend Manny to show you this new...