Update: We had Paul this time and he was wonderful! He made…read moreus feel comfortable and confident. He renewed our excitement for diving! It really is about finding the right instructor for you! Update: Spoke with the owner and another instructor. They were very apologetic and want to make it right. I am very happy with their professionalism and the collaborative nature of all the instructors to turn this around for us! Instructor was impatient, rude, not thorough, and belittled members of our group. Worst experience ever and honestly ruined scuba diving for me and my daughter. Run.

What a great experience! Chris K, and all of the other instructors I interacted with this weekend…read morewere kind, patient, and will to share advice and information. Chris took an overwhelming situation and not only made it manageable, but helped me feel comfortable and now I can't wait to dive again!

Great shop and customer service! My boyfriend and I are new to diving and we don't know much about…read morescuba gear. The workers were a wonderful help, a women spent 2 hours helping up decide which snorkel, mask, fins and boots would be the best fit for us. They knew their stuff and chatted to us about possible trips they recommend! Couldn't have had a more enjoyable time. Highly recommend shopping for gear weeks/month before your dive training in case you need to order gear in different size/color.

I started the basic Open Water diving class through Aquaventure this year after deciding to learn…read morescuba diving largely on a whim; It seemed like it would be a pretty fun skill to pick up for tropical/beach vacations. I did not have a very strong aquatic background going into the class, but after a little initial inertia I think I was able to do alright picking up all the basic skills in the class, and I really did feel like a lot of it started to sink in pretty quickly. The instructor I had as well as the assistant instructors were all friendly/knowledgeable/helpful. I got the sense that they all took my learning as well as the other students learning very seriously, and just in general felt like I was in pretty good hands the whole time. When I made mistakes (I made a lot of mine towards the beginning), they helped a lot with correcting them quickly. Prior to that, the person I had in the gear shop to select my mask/fins/snorkel was also helpful getting me to try out and find the right fit for everything. I guess my biggest critique would be that for Part 1 it feels a bit like the 'fire hose' method of learning in that you cram learning and demonstrating many skills into less than a 24 hour period, which doesn't give you much time to let 'feeling it out' sink in. It's also pretty tiring. Of course, it's also pretty convenient in terms of schedule to get all of that done in a single weekend, and stretching the course out would just add cost to the end-user I'm sure, so it's probably a conscious tradeoff. My second biggest critique is the only option for lunch on the Saturday class is Subway (blech), unless you bring your own of course. I have not done my checkout dives (Part 2) yet, will do that in Spring 2020 at Square Lake and may post updates on how that goes. Some advice/suggestions for others who feel ok, but not ultra-confident in the water and may want to take a course like this: -They really will make you swim 200 yards and tread for 10 minutes during part 1 of the class (in the pool), so make sure you can do this first. This makes sense, as it's hard to imagine being very comfortable with diving if you can't swim at least a little. Since I generally don't ever get to swim outside of family vacations and when I was forced to in grades 1-6 of grade school, I bought some temporary passes to a local gym with a pool to practice this a few times in the weeks leading up to the class. A few sessions of practicing treading and basic strokes and I was more or less good to go! -When you get the elearning class, All the actual dive skills you'll do in the pool are at the slides at the very end of each module. I'd suggest reviewing those slides in particular right before the pool class and studying them intently to rehearse how you'll do the skills before you do them. If you're like me you would make fewer mistakes if you do this. The dives 1-5 they do in the pool do stick to the skills outlined in the elearning modules 1-5 pretty closely, so you can know what to expect basically in order by reviewing these. -They really will make you do stuff like 'sip' the air bubbles from a free-flowing regulator underwater to simulate a broken one, so get ready to feel like Sonic the Hedgehog in one of the aquatic levels. I never would've guessed that this would actually work in real life before I took this class XD

Really helpful and knowledgeable staff. Every time I go they are incredible…read more Website definitely needs to be worked on, very confusing and navigating was difficult. If they modernize their store website would most likely shop there instead of Amazon. A lot of missing opportunities because their site is incredible informative, but navigating is archaic. Recommend looking at evo.com; their site is literally the SME for skiing. Scuba center.com can be the SME for scuba/snorkeling

When you're on a holiday, you can't find the words to say…read moreall the things that come to you, and I want to feel it too. On an island in the sun, we'll be playing and having fun, and it makes me feel so fine I can't control my brain Well hello there. Ben P. here, back from my first real vacation since shortly after Bush II stole his second presidential election. Yes, no matter what you or my boss my think, I -DO- get to take vacations from time to time. When you're on a golden sea, you don't need no memory, just a place to call your own as we drift into the zone. On an island in the sun, we'll be playing and having fun, and it makes me feel so fine I can't control my brain. And, frankly, what good is it to sleep your nights away in a bungalow built out over the Pacific if you don't spend your days snorkeling in the calm azure waters of a south seas lagoon? Particularly when you have your own private deck and dock from which to launch your nautical adventures. Problem is, for those of us with less-than-perfect vision, snorkeling and diving can be less rewarding than it is for our better-sighted friends (or wives). Enter Scuba Center (several years ago, admittedly). On an island in the sun, we'll be playing and having fun, and it makes me feel so fine I can't control my brain. We'll run away together. We'll spend some time---forever. We'll never feel bad anymore. Prior to my last trip to an island in the sun, Scuba Center hooked me up with a mask with quasi-prescription lenses in it. By which I mean, they're good enough for me to read while wearing, but maybe not good enough for me to needlepoint with. Which is not a problem, since I don't envision needlepointing underwater. Or, frankly, out of the water, either. So now, I'm the same eagle-eyed dude IN the water that I am OUT of the water. Which proved particularly useful when we went diving with humpbacked whales, and I got to watch them underwater and hear them sing. Not too bad for a guy from Wyoming. P.S.: I'd Yelp more of my vacation, but there is no Yelp for this particularly country. In fact, this particular country's internet service blocks access to Yelp. Leading, apparently, some people to speculate about what I've done with myself and (I assume) begin premature celebrations vis a vie my presumed demise. Thus, for the 32 people out there celebrating, the 3 people who felt kinda vaguely sad, and the 6,999,999,965 people who don't give a crap one way or the other, let me paraphrase Little Bill, who said, for awhile, I thought I was dead too, turns out I was just on vacation. Or something like that.

Chris and Nick were amazing! My husband and I needed to squeeze in our training before a mission…read moretrip this fall. They able to get us in and within a week we were certified divers. Chris did our open water dives with us in Lac Lavon nearby. I was terrified because I hate lakes but he was incredibly patient with me and helped me along. He calmly talked me through what we were going to do and made me feel comfortable enough to do it! I highly recommend this place to anyone looking to get certified!

I have been a customer since they open. Always helpful and spot on recommendations. My wife and…read morehave taken classes, traveled, and purchased equipment. I would likely recommend Chris and Nick over other shops in the area.

Took the intro to Scuba class. There really was no instruction, per say. More of a reading of all…read moredisclaimers. We then had a 45 minute wait before pool time began and because they only have enough for half the class to go in at a time, we sat around for 30 minutes (boring). Was fun once we got it, but it bit nasty to have to use a respirator that someone just got done using (they don't clean 'em up after the first wave). Worth trying if you haven't scuba'd before but otherwise, meh.

Absolutely awesome customer service and training. The locations for the pool Dives and Open Water…read moreDives are great and the staff is all friendly and very helpful. Their rates are reasonable and accommodate to anyone. Discounts for students, law enforcement, and military veterans. Charlie is a great instructor and Clarence is extremely helpful. Terry and the guys at St Croix scuba and snorkeling are all Class Acts

What happened to Scuba Center Eagan? It's been quite a few years since I've visited them until I…read morewent back several times last summer. Scuba Center taught me to dive 25 years ago. I loved to hang out there when I was a teen. I went back a few times this past year to escape Covid boredom and look at gear. Very disappointing. The gear selection on the floor is decent, mostly mid- and upper lines. Prices are not too far out of line for brick and mortar. I think Scuba Center has a significant online presence and no longer puts emphasis on its storefront, like many other businesses. I don't think they run trips anymore, either due to Covid or internet travel now being the way to go. The pool looks to be the same as I remember it, which brought a smile to my face. From what I understand, Jerry is gone and retired. A guy named Avary now runs the place and seems to think he knows everything about everything. I know my dive gear and therefore know when someone is blowing smoke up my dress. If this guy was even half as good as he thinks he is, he'd be UDT or EOD. Another guy came out of the back who I think is an instructor despite his obesity. I didn't listen to a word he said due to lack of credibility. I did not see any other employees during my two visits. Or any other customers. I miss the days of Jerry, Reece, and particularly RJ, who was my inspiration to get into professional diving. Now, the place is run by fat and balding gooey dudes. I sure miss the old days. I'm sure business is down a lot, but it's not all due to Covid. Employees trying to act knowledgeable and impress customers will drive away business, too. But what would I know? I'm only a recently retired United States Navy diver of 23 years, so my experience obviously pales in comparison to Mr. Avary's.

We had an awful experience at this store from shopping for gear or taking classes. To say that this…read moreplace lacks experience in customer service would be an understatement. They treat their customers with disrespect, the instructor we had was always rude and crabby. He treats people as if he is teaching them rocket science and they are just dumb idiots. Scuba diving is a recreational sport and yet this person makes people feel like they have to compete in the olympics. He is very standoffish and made us dread scuba diving. I have never written a bad interview about any place but this one really deserves it. Response: I was not offered free sessions. In fact, I paid for the extra sessions. I still have the receipts and the information are still on the bank statements. We also paid over $1000 for pool sessions and open water, and we were not able to do anything. My boyfriend refused to continue the sessions as well because he thought that the people are rude and doesn't want to deal with them. I posted my review 7 months later because I had called twice in the past weeks and both people who have answered the phone were rude. I generally don't post negative reviews about businesses and I'm sure there are so many people who have had great experiences at the center. However, we weren't one of those people and we felt that's necessary to share our personal opinion.

I took the Discover Scuba class at the Inver Grove Heights community center with FantaSea scuba. I…read morehad a great time. The instructors were very friendly and helpful. They were very clear about what to do and made it very easy. I feel like the class gave me a good taste of what it's like to scuba dive and I'm excited to hopefully start classes and getting certified soon. The class size was small - I'm not sure what the maximum is, but mine had myself and four other people. They were also very accommodating of the varying skills/age groups. There was a girl who was 10 years old I believe, which was the youngest possible to start scuba (I don't think she can become certified until older though, but I'm not sure). They were extra helpful to her without neglecting the rest of the class. And I had issues clearing my sinuses once we got deeper and there was more pressure, and they took me aside for a quick one-on-one to help me with that issue. They were also really flexible in terms of scheduling. I had a discount that expired, but had to cancel last minute, and it was the last day of the discount. Not only was rescheduling no big deal, they even honored my discount though it had expired. While I really enjoyed going through FantaSea, my only complaint was the venue. I liked learning in a pool and it was nice that they had a deep end. But, we could only use a couple of the lanes in the pool since there were several other people using it. So, after we had gone through the basics, we had time to just be under water and swim around, but with the limited space and not much to see/do, it got boring rather quickly so I actually left the class a little early since we still had an hour of free time left. That was a small issue compared to the overall experience though. Two thumbs up!

From the owner: Fantasea Scuba & Travel is a Family Dive Store. We specialize in Scuba education and training for…read morestudents from eight through Asst. Instructor Courses. We have been teaching for over 38 years & have Instructors that have been diving for 50 years & have logged over 3000 dives, EMT trained as well as EFR Trainer & EFR Instructors. We are a full SSI Dive Center.

Definitely a gem in this little town. The walking trails are pleasant and go for miles. Wear…read morecomfortable shoes. There's a quarry with cliffs to dive from. Parking fee's vary $5 Sep-May and $10 during the summer.

$5 parking (not a state park so passes do not apply)…read more Clean and clear water. You can enter from a latter off the dock, jumping from the rocks, or walking in on the few stretches of shore. Water shoes not a must but I wished I had brought mine. I suggest going early. This is a very popular swimming destination so if you want solitude in nature, this may not be the place for you. Dog friendly! No lifeguard on duty-- jump in at your own risk. I'd definitely go again if I was in the area but I wouldn't necessarily drive from the TC exclusively to swim here.

In the dead of winter, the art shanties are a fun activity at Lake Harriet. Always new and…read moresurprising shanties that come from the creative minds of the artists. You can dance, dress up and sing, learn about what lives below the ice, be a cat, cast a spell with Taylor Swift lyrics, and help aliens understand humans. This event epitomizes how Minnesotans don't let freezing temps keep them from enjoying the lake and expressing their creativity.

Minnesotans really know how to throw events no matter rain, shine, or winter. Reflecting on this…read morepast winter reminded me of the surreal experience of standing on top of this frozen lake having moved from a two season state. If you've never been when it's frozen over I would highly recommend coming during their kite festival which also happens during the art shanty exhibits. If you show up to the kite festival on a whim, no worries, the park will have kites for sale. I would highly encourage coming with footwear that has good traction or added cat tracks to get secure grip on the ice.