I did my open water certification course with them. I had great, knowledgeable, and friendly instructors (Sarah, Steve, and Bill), who all made us feel comfortable and safe in the water. I'd recommend them to anyone looking to get scuba certified! read more

Expect to be asked for your credit card information for a dive that will be canceled at the last minute. Disappointing. They will overpromise, underdeliver and try to upsell you on everything they can. The staff will not hear a word you say because they have zero listening skills. Strongly recommend any other dive shop than this one based on personal experience. read more

Daniel helped us pick out boots for our boys for our upcoming dive trip. Very friendly and great service. Thank you...we will be back! read more

Great shop and location. Staff is very friendly and knowledgeable about local diving and goes out of their way to make sure to explain the dive sites. Store is clean and well organized and they can get pretty much anything you want or need within a few days sometimes same day. Overall a great local dive shop. read more

I really like this place. Greg has been a great source of experienced advice, doesn't try to sell me the most expensive stuff, but tries to sell me what makes sense. this is my go-to place for anything scuba. And, gotta love the shop dog :) read more

Great location, and great staff. Daniel helped me find the right fins and gear I needed. Also very knowledgeable on underwater photography

If you want to learn how to dive Beach Cities is the place to go they have great instructors and for equipment needs they have great prices and the staff is super knowledgeable about the equipment they sell, they are always ready to help you out on obtaining what are you looking for and giving you recommendations Daniel he's a great guy to talk to extremely knowledgeable about Diving and Diving gear and he's always ready to help you out, I have deal with several dives shops and Beach Cities so far it's been good to me. read more

Beach Cities Scuba Aquatic is my go to place for equipment. When I can't find the gear I need, they always seem to have it in stock. It's almost like they are psychic to my diving needs. The staff are always friendly when I talk to them on the phone or In person. They went out of there way to ship gear for me same day so I could have it for my dive! read more

Went into the shop looking for a pole spear, and was talked into a spear gun. Hesitantly made the purchase and hung onto my receipt thinking at worst, I can return it - unused of course. Literally 3 days later, I went back to the store with my receipt and unused spear gun, and was denied a return. Store credit only. Really? I don't dive, I don't need anything from this shop in the sum of $400. The clerk was friendly - and nicely deferred me to the owner of the store, name pronounced 'Hosam'. I literally had to call 12 times over the span of close to two weeks before I finally reached the owner. He said he'd talk to one of the guys at his store and somebody would call me back. A few days later, I got a call and was told I can get a refund, but they'd have to charge me a restocking fee. Restocking fee for what? Putting a brand new, unused spear gun back on the rack? Btw, the spear gun they sold me for $400 was found all over the place for $300 or less. It was priced over MSRP, which is unfair in itself. To be fair, there is a small sign up front that says only store credit for returns, but I think this should be verbally stated to customers, especially when your being up-sold into something you are unsure about, with clear hesitation. Net of it all - staff was helpful, but items are very over-priced, management/owner was unresponsive and very not customer focused, return policy extremely unfair. Shop here with caution. Not recommended. read more

Beach Cities is Great! I originally gave Beach Cities a 4 star, because they are a bit pricey for gear. But they are a small local shop so that's no surprise, and it's good to support local businesses. That being said, I changed this review to 5 stars after talking to several other divers that have been certified from other dive shops/sporting goods stores. It amazes me the lack of basic knowledge that some people have after being 'certified'. I feel like beach cities really made sure we knew what the hell we were doing. We (my wife and I) go to the Newport Beach shop, run mainly by Mike. Mike is awesome he enjoys diving, surfing and drinking beer. As far as friendly helpful people go, Mike is pretty high up there on the list. We recommend this shop and Mike to everyone we talk to that is interested. We were also certified through Beach Cities. Our instructor was Joe Tustison. He was awesome, I can't imagine a better person to get certified with. In fact my brother in law and his wife are getting certified through Beach Cities with Joe as well. We plan on taking our advanced course with Joe. They do both chartered dive boats and they have their own boat 'The Riviera' we have gone on both. The Riviera is a nice boat with a super helpful staff. If you are a diver or want to become one, and you're in the OC area, you should really just go with these guys. read more

Ran in here to grab a couple of things before heading out to the beach dive. It's a cute little shop where everything is retail price. Don't go in looking for a huge deal. If you want to sale go to one of the big box stores. But the staff is nice and knowledgeable about the area. I inquired about the dive masters class and they offered me several options at several different dive store locations. I actually thought they only had one location! Overall, if you need to duck in to a small shop and pick up a couple of things this place isnt bad. read more

My dad used to be a regular diver, and swore by Laguna Sea Sports (now one of the other BCS locations). So, now that I'm getting into Scuba, he's showing me the stores and what to look for. I was highly impressed by the in store locations. Mike Kelly (I hope I remember the name right, I know the last name was Kelly) was a lot of help. Between myself, my father, and him, we had a lovely conversation about the changes in technology and gear, as well as approaching costs from a reasonable level. He never tried to upsell me on anything. I gave him a rough budget, and he stuck to it, including a high and low end, just in case. My only problem with BCS, is the online. The online store feels neglected, because I learned that they have update the inventory very infrequently, so items on the site may not actually be sold. (particularly ones that are not available by manufacturers anymore, like the Aeris line). If you absolutely need to buy online, then go ahead and specific via email, otherwise I definitely suggest an in-store purchase or inquiry. They're employees are quite excellent, and easy to talk to. EDIT: I took my PADI Open Water course through BCS, and it was AMAZING. My instructors were knowledgeable, and very helpful. Especially to Kristina and (ironically because of my name) Gregory. Kristina was excellent, because she was patient and helped me on my boat dives when I needed extra time descending due to my stubborn ear pressure at the time. As far as the lessons go, I DEFINITELY suggest taking their classes. You get what you need and more, and I couldn't have asked for a better experience at learning! read more

I have been thinking about getting into scuba diving and decided to wander into the store. They had so many options and Ken tried to talked me into signing up for classes. He was very nice and even shared some of his dives with me. Great customer service!!!! read more

Clearly no onsite owner taking care of his customers and business. Employees are dreadful, store is filthy, products cheap. I don't trust them. read more

I drove all the way over specifically to go to this particular Beach Cities Scuba in Newport Beach. Greg helped me out and he was a huge help and a really nice guy. Very knowledgeable. This store has just about every brand you could possibly want and I found exactly what I was looking for so I'm a happy camper and I will definitely return and recommend this place to everybody. read more

Beach Cities Scuba - New Aqualung Hotshot travel dive fins - Scuba Diving Near Me - Newport Beach, California

Came in here for a quick purchase. They were very helpful. I'm definitely coming back.

The staff is extremely unfriendly and completely unprofessional. When asking questions about what was needed for scuba certification classes, Mike at the Cypress store was condescending and made me feel like an idiot for asking questions. I was very specific about my time frame for certification since I was leaving for my honeymoon and wanted to know if it was feasible. They said yes and let me know that it's wasn't possible after my first class. I decided to finish what classes I could since I paid. The confined dive was a horrible experience. The instructor rushed critical points and would sigh and act annoyed when asked to explain further. He said we were running behind so didn't allow a break, not even for water. After all day in the sun with no water I became ill. I went to the urgent care and had to be treated for heat exhaustion. Stay away from this place at all cost!!! read more

I think I need to comment on this. I waited for four and one half days for someone to call me. No one did. If you are a diver, consider this: You had two separate regulator set ups serviced by these folks. BOTH came back with the high pressure port not working. I gave them FOUR AND ONE HALF DAYS to respond to me and no one called. Finally I took the regulators to another dive shop. However, DJ is partially right; had they offered to fix the regulators, I probably would have refused. They screwed up TWO regulators! How am I supposed to trust they would get it right? I really didn't want to find out once I'm 50' under water that they didn't do their job... read more

SOOOOOOO Shady! My guess is all of the positive reviews are written by their own staff! They push the most expensive unnecessary equipment on you. I have been diving for years and they told me my equipment wasn't adequate for scuba. . . . than why did I buy it for and been using it for scuba for so long without ANY issues . . .? Beware experts always trying to sell you the most expensive gear! read more

I am a professional diver with 18 years experience, and over 6000 dives all safely executed. I have to say these one-timer reviews are sooo whiney.. I've been getting air, dive gear, and services here for over 10 years and I know everyone here. The staff are human, and very helpful, knowledgeable, and sometimes very busy, and the air quality is perfect and dry. You can ask for a deal and get a deal on high quality gear. Not everyone is an instructor, but they are all helpful and very knowledgeable, and carry the nicest gear to keep you safe and warm. Safety first !! Plan your dive and dive your plan !! read more

I just got off the phone with this Company trying to figure out a dive shop with scuba out of Orange County. I spoke to a gentleman by the name of Bryan and he was very helpful I would rate him 20 stars with all the questions I asked. He told me told me a lot of things that other shops I called and didn't want to really help. I called about 4 shops and it looks like I found the right company to do my open water scuba off a boat with Beach Cities Scuba. I am from Texas and I am willing to spend any amount of money, but the other shops seem like I am just asking questions to waste their time and mine. If I call your company I expect you to explain the beaches and boat dives instead of telling me on the phone that I have to go while asking questions. Thanks Bryan for helping me out and I think your boss should give you a raise. read more

Beach Cities Scuba - This is the company website go check it out. Good service and the place where you will feel comfortable - Scuba Diving Near Me - Newport Beach, California

Nice shop with knowledgeable staff. I think like with any brick and mortar store, you're seeking the service and knowledge vs. the pricing.

Did Advanced Open water with DJ a Few years ago and will never forget how great this shop treated us, Helped us become better, more comfortable divers. Thank you Beach Cities yall rock! read more