Dive Review of Jack's Dive Locker in
Hawaii/Big Island

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Jack's Dive Locker, Sep, 2008, by Bob DeFeo, CA, USA ( Contributor 19 reports with 7 Helpful votes). Report 4465.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude	N/A	Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	"Pelagic Magic" Night Dive, Advanced dives, Classic dives performed with Jack's. While all the diving done with Jack's was superb, the Night Pelagic Dive was the most unusual of dives. Three miles off Kona while drifting in the current with a parachute in the water attached to the bow, you descend to 20-60 feet tethered to a weighted line attached to the boat. You are in complete darkness broken only by our dive lights and the camera lights used by the crew. Cost was $165 and well worth it for this extraordinary experience. My dive time on air was 86 minutes, multi-level, wearing a full 3mm suit with 3mm hood and vest underneath with reef gloves and boots. Almost fully protected from jellyfish and nicely warm, I saw creatures that come right out of your wildest imagination. These gelatinous animals are mesmerizing to watch and possess incredible colors and movements. Jack's does a superb job of ensuring diver safety and a once in a lifetime experience. This dive is not for the faint-hearted as it takes some gumption to go into 6000 ft water at night, tethered to a line making you look exactly like bait on a hook to whatever chooses to come by to see what you are. The crew cautions you to NOT URINATE in your wetsuit because they have seen it attract "toothed predators." They also advise you that you will be getting out of the water if any show up...which very rarely happens but has. We saw none but did see a variety of drift fish, box jellyfish, squid, and the assorted and amazing gelatinous creatures. The dive was just cited in the October '08 issue of Sport Diver Magazine for more info. Do it and don't miss it if you dive the Big Island. The adventure dives and classic dives done through Jack's were well-handled by very courteous and well-knowledged crews. We saw large hammerheads(10ft)and five white-tipped reef sharks (4-5ft) as well as very large mantas off in the blue on the advanced dives and Mantas near the shore on the classic dives. Advanced dives were deep to start (110') and drift dives with boat following above in light current south of Kona near the "Red Hills" dive site. Nitrox 32 available at $15 per tank and they are very accurate at 31.8 to 31.9 % O2 with great fill pressures on all air or NITROX at 3100-3000 psi with aluminum 73's, 80's and some smaller tanks. Dive boats are comfortable and well maintained. Crew assembles your equipment for you and rinses it. You stipulate the weight you require and they also load that for you. A well-stocked main and harbor-side dive shop provides you all the essential equipment should you need something or desire to rent your equipment. Jack's also provided a nice dive site map for the "Place of Refuge" and the Two-step entry area for the bay. These shore dives were just plain fun to do with both deep and shallow fish-filled areas with plentiful life and great underwater topography. Great place for beginners with very benign entry/exits. Beautiful colors and life here make it a must dive for all.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Roatan, Caymans, Monterey CA, Channel Islands, Puget Sound, Kauai, Niihau, Texas, Philippines, Sonoma coast
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	82-79°F / 28-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	75-100 Ft/ 23-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	None
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Jack's Dive Locker in Hawaii/Big Island

Jack's Dive Locker, Sep, 2008,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Jack's Dive Locker in
Hawaii/Big Island