WOW the best experience best knowledge and best service. i will be back to further my education.

saam is very knowledgeable and thorough when explaining equipment that i'm interested in purchasing. he's very safety conscious when operating his dive boat with students. i highly recommend him and his store/boat for anyone interested in diving off norwalk/stamford. read more

Capt Saam stole money from us. I signed my son up for a pool refresher for his certification and he scheduled pool time pending physician sign off. That week my son had an ear infection and when we went to get doctor approval he was advised not to go under water. Capt Saam questioned my integrity and my son's condition and told us to attend the pool session or there would be no refund. And at a prior session a year earlier my son's instructor working for Capt Saam signed off on required skills that were not successfully completed by my son in violation of the certification protocol (and after Midnight on a school night session which ran way too long). After several emails back and forth, he still has refused to process even a partial refund. I would never go back to him for any scuba training after this experience. I'm sorry I have to write this but he left us no choice and I feel it's my duty to warn people. From reading the other comments below, it appears this is clearly a pattern with him. Stay away. read more

All beware he is a crook and now a demonstrable liar...I have the credit card receipt for the credit that he cancelled later that day...so no credit given despite his agreement. I am not the only one who has posted negatively when it came to money. Bad people cannot be trusted...it's more than money, it is also your life when underwater. Steer way clear. read more

As I prepare for my next dive trip, dusting off the old fins and tugging desperately at my old wetsuit (Fit, you expensive son of a bitch! Fit!), I'm transported back to memories of Capt. Saam and his Scuba School. Arr, the day were balmy and tropical, and I were droppin' off my NAUI registration and I found that aftarrr spendin' four or five weeks altarrrnately givin' Cap'n Saam money and sailin' aroun' on his boat to paddle around the nuclearrr waters of the Long Island Sound, dude didn't remembarrr my name AND persistently tried to give me the hard sell on a dive computer I didn't really want or need. And to pressure my dad, who he knew has a high blood pressure/history of heart problems, into dive lessons. Enough with the used-car salesman act, man. The classes themselves were fine--they got the job done. Tim, the instructor, is a pleasant guy who gave me rides to the Norwalk YMCA where pool courses were taught, as I didn't have my driver's license at the time. Saam's boat, "The Silver Dolphin" is fine for its purpose, but seems to be infested with biting blackflies during the summer, which was EXCEPTIONALLY UNPLEASANT AND PAINFUL. However, I believe that Captain Saam is the only scuba instructor in Fairfield County who conducts checkout dives on the Sound. Although the guys at Rex Dive Center are much nicer than Saam, their shop does not have its own boat and requires its students to travel to some crazy dive waterpark in Pennsylvania to checkout. However, if you have the opportunity to do the checkout dives elsewhere, I would totally do the courses at Rex. I found them way more pleasant to deal with. They also sold me my Henderson Hyperstretch at a significant student discount (Capt. Saam does not carry Henderson, but he does, funnily enough, try to hard sell you Bare and Body Glove, ugh). read more

Captain Saam is a verbally abusive jerk. Details will follow as to why and to what extent he is a jerk, but just understand it is important that phrase be your first impression of Capt. Saam. As an instructor, he was fine, but the entire experience was stressful, frustrating, and overall it was a disheartening first SCUBA experience. To start out the pool session of the confined water he physically shoved me into the pool. Mind you, if we were 8 years old and best buddies, this would have been a fine action to take. However, he was supposedly a professional SCUBA instructor and not an 8-year old child, even though he acted that way. Throughout the next two days Saam verbally abused the three students perpetually and was actively antagonistic toward the older student who was working toward becoming a SCUBA instructor giving him a great deal of grief and little information that was helpful. Apparently they had been friends for a while and the poor guy just decided to deal with Saam's petulance. His verbally abusive behavior was particularly pronounced because he seemed to truly enjoy his little power trip over his 4 students. Wow, did it take all your advertising prowess to fill a class less than halfway? Anyway, he managed to scam me out of $565 while making it an entirely terrible experience. Best of luck searching for a qualified SCUBA instructor, but I recommend doing it any way possible that avoids Captain Saam. read more

Saam is the only divemaster I've ever met who seems to hate his job. He's a grumpy bully who pushes his classes around and sells HARD in his shop. Not only does he push the upsell on virtually all of his students, his shop is 100% no-refunds. Ever. On anything. Even though I don't like him, he's the closest shop to me, so I asked whether I might be able to get a refund on a dive knife being given as a gift in case the recipient didn't like it (if returned unopened/untouched). Saam's answer: absolutely not. read more

"BUYER BEWARE. Unless merchandise is damaged Saam's charges a 20% restocking fee. I purchased a spear gun for my on as a Christmas gift. I paid shipping and handling to get it. Then I returned item in perfect condition in about 2 weeks. I shipped it back to seller INSURED at HIS request. His response "So what you are saying is I should eat the initial shipping and my time and investment are worthless?" I lost over $69 for making the poor decision to be a customer of Capt Saam's via AMAZON.COM. My advise to to NEVER buy anything from Capt Saam's. I believe he rude, disrespectful and cares mych more about money in his pocket than customer service. read more

Capt. Saam rocks. I did my basic training with Saam and did my qualification dives in BVI -- my PADI certifying instructor was stunned at the level of prep and i felt totally prepared. I went back and did my Nitrox and Advanced training w/ Saam as well as the qual-dives (must've been 10 of 'em), and would gladly do it all over again. If you want an instructor who actually cares whether his students are prepared when something goes wrong deep, deep underwater in some remote corner of the world (because it will!), go to Capt. Saam. If you want someone to wipe your nose and valet park your car, go elsewhere... I'm just glad I'm not your buddy! Do not confuse grumpy for serious-about-safety and refuses-to-compromise-on-preparation. And jeez, the guy ALMOST convinced me diving in LI Sound is as much fun as the reefs of Cayman (OK, not really, but he really loves local diving and wants everyone else to love local diving). read more

I am surprised at some of the comments on here. I do not scuba but we love to snorkel and I stopped by to tall to him about masks with my son. I was willing to buy 4 new ones as I was having some problems with the ones we had. He explained how to make the fit better and to prime the lenses. He could have sold me expensive masks but he said ours were good ones and if we ever wanted to SCUBA dive he would love us to come back. To me that is a local shop, one that cares enough not to gouge and actually offers help on a product he didn't sell us! read more

I just want to weigh in on Captain Saam's Scuba School; it seems the reviews on This site are pretty outdated. I've been diving for many years but surprisingly never got a certification greater than Basic. So last summer I started working with Saam and his instructors to go for Advanced. Not only in my work with me, but I saw new divers (all ages!) training for their Basic Certification. I've seen a lot of diving instructors all over the world (I'm not kidding!) and I think these guys are about the most professional, safest, experienced dive teachers anywhere. Safety is number one and that is not always the case in places like the Caribbean where it's a race to the bottom. So if you are looking for training to dive somewhere else, train here, not somewhere else. And! If you are a student you get a great discount on equipment! His stuff is top notch too! He doesn't stock a lot but you'll get the best plus really experienced advice from Saam. The other thing that it great about Saam's is that he's got a real dive boat about 7 minutes from his store! You are not going to find that anywhere! Certainly not around here. There are reviews on this site from several years ago. Some are negative. Whatever the case, maybe things have changed up, but take it from this old diver: when you get a C-card from Saam, you'll be the best diver on any dive boat, anywhere. read more

Took my daughter to Capt Saam for her scuba instruction. I was very impressed with the quality of the education and the professional manner in which it was delivered. My daughter took to the instruction, especially the in pool instruction, like a fish to....well...water. The classroom is located right above the shop, which I found to be particularly effective as Saam can therefore teach whenever he likes, without having to get a predetermined number of students. This allows for smaller class sizes and individual attention to student needs. The only negatives are that his jokes are somewhat stale and parking at his shop is limited. I highly recommend Capt. Saam if you want to learn to scuba dive. I really don't understand the negative reviews here. I found Saam to be very understanding, but no-nonsense. You put in the effort, you get great instruction. My daughter is really looking forward to the check-out dives and is even bringing her friend who took instruction elsewhere for the open-water dive. read more

I needed a small Bottle and a 98 cu inch bottle filled with air. A few days earlier I had him fill two small bottles with air, with one of them being less than a week old. Upon returning to have it refilled he told me it was cracked and would not fill it. Fine. So when he noticed that I didn't have an inspection sticker for the big bottle (brand new from box) he didn't want to fill it either. But he was more than willing to sell me a new bottle from his stock. It became apparent that all he wanted to do was sell me one of HIS tanks, which he would fill gladly. With that I decided to be careful when I bent over to pick up my stuff to leave....it would have been nice to have been taken to dinner first, then we can "hook up". Want lots of air? Go elsewhere. If a fool and his money are soon parted then I am a friggin' GENIUS! SO LONG! read more

Saam's knowledge, experience and expertise are unmatched in my opinion. He is 100% about Safety First and is clear with students and divers about this. He trained me and now as an experienced diver, I get to observe him interact with students on the boat and in the water. He listens, explains things in great detail and helps people feel comfortable if they are nervous or do not understand something. read more

Captain saam is a real pleasure. I have been diving with him for quite some time and he is very through in explaining the dive site, puts safety first, help you with broken equipment, everything you can ask for. Plus he is very friendly. I have purchased equipment from him and he is able to answer all my questions, suggests the right equipment for my diving style, and has competitive pricing. I have dived on the boats on Long Island and New Jersey, none of them give you a personal experience like saam. Keep up the good work! read more

After dealing with many dive shops, I am REALLY glad I found Capt Saam's Scuba School. I spent many dive charters on "The Silver Dolphin" catching numerous lobsters, fluke and flounder, clams and oysters to fill my hearts content. Capt Saam even helped me fill out my State Catch report with no problems. Most importantly, the knowledge Capt Saam brings to his dive classes, makes the student feel important and when diving....SAFE. Safety is important to me and I feel comfortable learning from this instructor. He also sends a great email newsletter informing me of local news, upcoming deals and coupons for Classes! Sounds Good To Me. read more

This has been a great experience. Learned to dive. The technical support and knowledge is amazing! There's also a great inventory of equipment to choose from with great advice can't wait for summer to come and do some serious driving. I recommend this place to people who really want to get into diving the right way. read more

This guy is the worst! He is very unhelpful and unresponsive. I had to hire a lawyer and contact his superiors at NAUI in order to finally conclude my certification. Stay away! read more

Saam Greenman, to put it simply, every person who walks through his door is a cash machine, no more, no less. I took my NAUI O/W class there, and from the first minute it was the hard sell. Pushing for the most expensive gear, trying to get me to buy regs, BC, computer, etc... when I hadn't even gotten in the pool yet, and "requiring" that students buy masks fins, snorkel in his shop, at obscene markup or he wouldn't take you in his class. His general attitude is that students are an inconvenience, and he is as obnoxious and condescending a person as I have ever ONCE done business with. Then, the class itself. I had trouble equalizing my ears, even hard to get equalized in the pool, much less deeper, and when asking for suggestions on how to do it better, was told "just equalize" with no actual suggestion on how to do so. Any instructor, in any sport (and I taught skiing for over ten years) knows that when a student is having difficulty with a task, there are tricks and techniques to make it work better, Saam either didn't know, or care to assist. I eventually, much later, figured it out on my own, but my pool dives, and open water check dives were extremely painful.... Which brings us to the check dives. I understand that yes, he has a boat, and yes, fuel is expensive, but, we did all of the dives in the same spot, anchored off the Greens Ledge lighthouse, as close to the harbor as possible, and spent a lot of time sitting in the mud while he dug clams. At no time did we dive deeper than 20 feet, or do or see anything of interest besides a mud bottom and clam bed. Not what I would call a good effort to foster excitement. It seemed obvious that he regarded these trips, which were not cheap, by any means, as an inconvenience, and wanted togo through the motions as fast as possible and be done with it. This brings us to the end, getting my cert card, for some reason, I was forced to make about half a dozen extra trips to the shop to get my card, every one of which was a long hard sell before getting to the business at hand. Long story short, go to Rex's in Norwalk, it's worth driving to Dutch Springs for the dives. read more

Capt Saam is awesome. Since Oceanblue closed its doors, I needed to find another local SCUBA shop and Mike put me in touch with Saam. I'm leaving in a few days for a SCUBA trip, and wanted to test out a new BCD, and Saam was able to get me into the pool for a last minute refresher course. Good thing I did, because both my regulator and LP inflator were not working due to salt buildup since my last dive trip earlier this year. Again, Saam came to the rescue and with less than a week before I leave, he was able to rebuild the LP inflator, fix my regulator, and overhaul the first stage. All stuff I thought was just fine, and if it wasn't for getting into the pool to try out the BCD, I would have shown up at my dive resort with ALL faulty equipment. But here's the thing -- Saam could have easily told me my gear was not worth repairing and sold me an entirely new rig (minus the BCD). But he didn't. So for significantly less cost, he repaired my equipment in a couple of days and sent me on my way. Looking forward to working with Saam for any future SCUBA gear or service I may need. read more

Scuba saam doesn't rock.. He's constantly selling something. Whether it's a class, trip or diving on his boat in Norwalk. It takes him FOREVER to complete anything you drop off to be worked on. You have to do all the following up. He won't call you on any status. Be very careful if you use his shop or buy anything from him and PLEASE shop around! Once he's done selling, he says "who's next" in his shop. Not much of the people person and definitely wouldn't go back. There are other scuba shops in the area.... read more

I was hesitant to sign up for open water certification with Cap't Saam based on the negative Yelp reviews and his seemingly disorganized shop. But after completing the classroom dives and the open water dives I can honestly say that I'm really happy with my choice! A couple years back I completed confined water dives in a PADI shop in Manhattan so I thought I knew what to expect with Cap't Saam. I was wrong. I feel like I received a much better education through Cap't Saam's NAUI training than the NYC PADI course. For one thing, his instructors (Brian O was my teacher) were remarkably thorough, knowledgeable, considerate and calm. I learned that many of them are military academy graduates and it showed in their ability to train us in less than favorable conditions (the visibility in the Long Island Sound was around 3 feet). I felt completely safe when I was diving with them. Moreover, I was in classes with a preteen and three teenagers, and the instructors did a fantastic job building the confidence of these kids to help them achieve their certifications. I noticed that, in contrast to the instructor I had in NYC, these guys weren't there to brag about themselves and the number of dives they've completed. They were there to have a good time and guide us to safely do the same. Highly recommended. read more

I was excited about going to the classes here with my brother (a gift from a relative who wanted to support bonding between myself and my brother who was living abroad and was rarely in the US) and the owner seemed to be reasonable up through swiping my credit card. About a week after paying for the course (still 2 weeks before our scheduled course) for my brother and I had to return to ask for a refund. The reason was that my asthma resurfaced and I needed more time get my lungs scuba-ready and as my brother wanted to take the course with me he wanted to wait as well ... plus as neither of us lived in our childhood hometown near CT we weren't sure when we could get back to the area to take the course... thus the refund. When we asked the owner for a refund and explained the strange but unfortunate situation, not only did he deny our request but he verbally abused us for 'taking advantage' of his business, supposed lying on the course form (ie - my asthma), etc. Then when I filed to my credit card to stop the payment due to the lack of services rendered, the submission he gave them to explain the situation from his point of view contained many lies and different quotes than what he had told us in person. It was an unfortunate circumstance that came up but the owner handled it horribly and doesn't seem to understand ethical business practices. Hopefully you can learn from my mistake and hundreds of many dollars lost - avoid getting your certification or purchasing merchandise here. read more

If you want to become a skilled, safe and well informed diver, Capt Saam's is the way to go. His class is comprehensive, covering everything you could imagine, and he goes above and beyond to prepare you for open-water diving. After receiving my NAUI certification and doing my 5 qualification dives with him on the Silver Dolphin (a very pleasant experience), I enjoyed my dive vacation so much that I decided to come back and get my NAUI Advanced and Nitrox done with Saam. His gear is top notch quality, his staff is wonderful, and prices fair. Overall, awesome experience that really opened up the world of diving for me. read more

Caaptain Saam knows what he's talking about, sure, he might get a little angry sometimes, and yell, but that's because he finds safety really important. He knows how to make the trip safe, and he knows where to go diving. You can't find an instructor anywhere who can teach you more. read more

I really enjoyed learning how to dive here. The instructor was very knowledgeable on everything scuba related and really went out of his way to make sure that I felt that I was ready to dive. He was very flexible with me when I had some last minute things come up before the class. He is very big on safety all the time which made me feel very safe in the water. I definitely plan on doing some other courses here. read more

Let me set the record straight, after reading all the reviews on this page. I've been learning, diving and buying from Captain Saam Greenman for over 20 years. I also volunteer to maintain (and crew) the Silver Dolphin. So, I write from long experience and perspective. Captain Saam wears many hats: teacher, dive leader, boat captain, safety coordinator and businessman. He's honest, meticulous, level-headed and completely trustworthy for getting you into-&-out-of the water and back-to-dry-land safely. He's also demanding, authoritative and yells loudly: these characteristics are necessary for maintaining control and communication in an open-water environment. If you have any further questions about Captain Saam's reputation, ask any of the marine police officers, firefighters, EMS and Coast Guard who've known and worked with him over the years. They'll confirm my evaluation. BTW, I'm a licensed psychologist who's pretty good at sizing people up and telling it like it is. read more

This guy is a complete cheat. Signed ip for his class and went into the shop o get my books sign the waivers. One of his staff was there and i asked if i could bring my own gear. Was told okay as long as i brought it in earlier to have it inspected. Went out and bought my gear from snother shop. Went back to captain saams shop and Saam was there and was told i had to buy the gear from his shop. Fed me some story abput his insurance company requkring ALL gear had to be bought fom his shop. Told him his staff said it was okay that i brougjt my own gear. Was told didnt matter and I had to return the gear i bought elsewhere and come back and buy it from him. saam told me the dive shop in Norwalk where i bought the gear from was reputable and would take returns ...which is kind of ironic since he absoluteky refuses to take returns of any kind. I told him i woulfnt as i was using gear that was new and was given the okay from his staff to use.....lomg story short, ended up not taking the class from him (and couldnt get a refind fom the credit card company as he wrote them a bunch of lies on what happened)....do not take classes from this guy..read all the reviews....there are more reputable and enjoyable dive shops in the neaby area tnat will give you a more enjoyable learning experience... read more