Dive Review of Jacks Diving Locker/Fairway Villas - Waikoloa in
Hawaii/Kona

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Jacks Diving Locker/Fairway Villas - Waikoloa, Nov, 2003, by Martin Raffauf, CA, USA . Report 843.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Jack's Diving Locker is one of the cadillacs of dive operations. Service is great. You meet everyday at the dive shop which is about 3 blocks from the pier where you board the boats. They take and setup all your gear for you. Each diver has a numbered bag which is controlled by computer, so they know each day what boat (if you do multiple days) your gear goes to. When you get to the boat, gear is already setup. They shuttle divers to the pier with vans. On the boat, which is well setup, you basically go to the back, they put your gear on for you, and you jump in. After the dive, they take your gear and setup new tanks, at the end of the day, they wash it all for you and take it back to the shop for storage. Plenty of good scubapro gear and wetsuits are available for rental. The nicest thing about the two large boats, is HOT showers. both large boats have hot showers, and onboard heads. They supply lunch on the two tank dives - good sandwiches, plus drinks and fruit juices. The advanced trips have breakfast fruits and pastry as well. The brand new dive shop is well setup for training. They have their own pool on site for the pool work. The staff is very freindly and helpfull. Keller Laros takes some great digital video, and Doug Farr takes digital still photos which they sell after the dives. They are well setup and staffed to do shore dives, we actually did a guided shore dive to check out our gear onthe first day - something Jack's readily supported, wheras some other operators did not. Water temp in early nov was 78-80. Visability was excellent - 100ft+ on some dives. Most of the sites are close in shore, so boat rides are short, as there is no real shelf on Kona side, and it gets very deep, close to shore. We saw sharks (white tip reef), one manta, plenty of turtles, eels, jelly fish, normal tropicals etc. Dive guides are very good at pointing out all the critters, and briefings are thorough and informative. the guides are very familiar with the fish life of hawaii. Diving in Hawaii is expensive though - as is everything. $95 for two tanks, $135 for advanced. Jack's gives discount if you do multiple days with them. We stayed in a condo in Waikoloa resort that was excellent, called Fairway villas. Food wise, most restaurants are very expensive, especially the hotels north of the airport,as you are basically a captive audience. If you are in a condo, shop at the new costco and you can save a bundle on food for a weeks stay (as opposed to eating at hotels every day).
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Cozumel, Hawaii, Palau, Solomon Islands, Australia, Bahamas, Cayman, Bonaire, Fla Keys
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	78-80°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	75-150 Ft/ 23-46 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Dive own profile with computer. 3 min safety stop
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	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Kona has very good visability, excellent for photogs. Jacks boats all had camera rinse tanks. Infact the dive staff took video and digital stills on every dive.

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Dive Review of Jacks Diving Locker/Fairway Villas - Waikoloa in Hawaii/Kona

Jacks Diving Locker/Fairway Villas - Waikoloa, Nov, 2003,

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 Jacks Diving Locker/Fairway Villas - Waikoloa in
Hawaii/Kona