Dive Review of Jack's Diving Locker/Royal Kona Resort in
Hawaii/Kona

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Jack's Diving Locker/Royal Kona Resort: "Fun Time in Kona", Jun, 2015, by Leigh Vinzant, CO, US ( Reviewer 6 reports). Report 8262.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We dove with Jack’s Diving Locker for three days while vacationing in Kona. They were a very professionally run operation. The friendly staff at the downtown store was helpful and answered all our questions and the boat crew was extremely competent and safety minded. Our first dive, the Pelagic Magic dive was very well orchestrated. A maximum of six divers can participate in this specialty dive and we had six on our night. After the sun set, the boat motored out three miles to depths over 5000 feet. Weighted downlines were dropped over the sides of the boat. Each diver was attached by a jon line to his or her own down line and could descend to any depth along the line, stopping at the weights on the bottom of the 45-foot long line. The lines allowed the divers to become engrossed in the activity around them and not worry about getting lost due to disorientation. We watched an abundance of strange creatures make their nightly vertical migration to feed. Most of what we saw were tiny, semi-transparent larval forms of sea life. It was interesting and educational. I highly recommend this dive for those who are comfortable in the dark ocean. The next day, we did an afternoon dive followed by the manta night dive. The manta night dive was organized chaos. Our boat had twelve divers, four snorkelers, and five crew. There were at least a dozen other fully loaded boats at the site. Divers were seated all around the main spotlight and scores of snorkelers bobbed overhead. We had nine mantas show up to entertain us for an hour. Although I do not like crowds, this was a dive worth doing. For our third dive day, we did an advanced two-tank boat dive. The sites were far away and along the way, we stopped to watch a pod of pilot whales. The dives were average dives over collapsed lava tubes and through some interesting arch formations. If you don’t expect much in the way of color, coral, and fish life, then they are fun dives. You have to remember this area is fairly new and the reefs are just getting established. Spinner dolphins showed up during our surface interval and we saw a hammerhead shark swimming at the surface during our trip back to the harbor. Jack’s provided transportation to the boats, as well food and drinks on board. We never felt rushed and had lots of bottom time, with each dive lasting more than an hour. We stayed at the Royal Kona Resort and chose it because it was across the street from Jack’s. The resort was comfortable with large, clean rooms that could use a little updating. The food at the casual bar was delicious. The pool was a little small, but we never had a problem getting lounge chairs. The staff was friendly and the on-site luau was entertaining.
Websites	Jack's Diving Locker Royal Kona Resort
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Micronesia, Bonaire, Roatan, Bahamas, Caymans, Mexico
Closest Airport	Kona International	Getting There	Daily flights on United; some non-stop from major cities
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy, no currents
Water Temp	77-78°F / 25-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	The dives were with a guide, so we needed to stay within site of him or her. We dove computers and watched our limits. We headed back when our individual air got low and did not have to return as a group.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	> 2
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	N/A
UW Photo Comments	The boat had a dedicated table for cameras which included a GoPro charging station; dedicated rinse buckets

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Dive Review of Jack's Diving Locker/Royal Kona Resort in Hawaii/Kona

Jack's Diving Locker/Royal Kona Resort: "Fun Time in Kona", Jun, 2015,

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 Diving Locker/Royal Kona Resort in
Hawaii/Kona