My sister and brother-in-law came to visit me and wanted to go skydiving, and we chose Pacific Skydiving due to their perfect safety record, "ultimate tandem" option, and the price (most bang for your buck). I also brought along one of my friends, making us a group of four. It was an absolutely amazing experience for all of us, and I ended up getting sucked right into this incredible sport. Even my sister, who was initially terrified, ended up having an amazing experience thanks to the top-level professionalism demonstrated by the tandem masters.
I ended up going back shortly thereafter and signed up for AFF. Because a short ground school course and two TAFF (tandem) jumps are required prior to taking the first-jump course and starting the classic AFF instruction (something I really liked because of how it gives the students a jump start on AFF and greatly enhances overall safety), I had the opportunity to meet and jump with two more members of the staff who were both outstanding: I found them to be very professional, knowledgeable, fun, and encouraging. Unlike some people who say that they find some DZs to be stand-offish, I found everyone at Pacific Skydiving to be positive and accepting - they certainly welcomed, embraced, and helped me any way they could right from the beginning, and I am most appreciative of this genuine Aloha.
The impression I received from everyone there was that they truly love the sport and art of skydiving, had a sincere desire to introduce others to skydiving by giving them a very positive experience that they will always remember, and that they are sincerely genuine: keep it real and be cool with them, and you will get all that and more in return. They are no-nonsense when it comes to safety, which (of course) is absolutely essential and should definitely be expected. I particularly liked how everyone was looking out for each other - something that became apparent very early on. The combination of great personality and professionalism made the whole experience one of the best ever.
It should be noted that Pacific Skydiving is very popular, and that a lot of tourists like to go there - after all, skydiving over Hawaii is very unique. With this comes some big crowds and some relatively long waits - not all the time, but definitely at certain times. We planned accordingly and ended up not having to wait at all; we showed up, were given a safety briefing, filled out paperwork, were hooked up with gear, and were soon in awe of the spectacular scenery 14,000 feet above Oahu. I did notice, however, that some people (all tourists so far as I could tell) expected just to show up with crappy attitudes and be treated like royalty. In all honesty, this was about the only negative thing that I encountered, and it was no fault of the DZ. In fact, I was pretty impressed by the level of patience demonstrated by the staff in these trying situations. So while my respect for the staff increased as a result, I was a bit disappointed that some customers had to bring the vibe down for the whole place with their disrespect. My advice is to plan wisely, show up early, and try to embrace every moment that you're there by reminding yourself that this is a very unique adventure that you are about to embark upon. If this is done, I don't think it's a too much of a stretch to say that you are very likely to have a life-changing experience.
