Great family business that knows so much about equipment and areas to dive. I didn't take any…read moreclasses from them, but spent a lot of time talking and getting to know the owners. I enjoyed and will definitely be back.

Underseas was very kind and helpful when I reached out to inquire about a last minute PADI Advanced…read moreOpen Water certification for an upcoming trip. Even though my last few dives (including multiple SSI certifications) were less than a month ago, other local centers told me that I would need to participate in a refresher course either because they didn't 'trust' my SSI credentials or because it was 'required'. One also told me that they wouldn't take me to the quarry because "I wouldn't enjoy it".... Needless to say, Bruce at Underseas came through AND paired me with Johan Raffin who was an excellent instructor for this course... AND I DID enjoy it! The quarry is definitely cold and murky, but it was also a good learning environment. I would highly recommend Underseas for their service quality in the shop (thank you, Bruce!) and the professionalism of my instructor, Johan!

If I could give DJ's 11 stars I would. Unreal customer service. My situation would have been a…read morenightmare for most shops...2 young kids (11 and 12), both play travel hockey (i.e. very little free time), and I contacted them in late January wanting to get both certified for a March 18 vacation to Hawaii. They worked with my schedule more than could have reasonably been expected. Dan and Cindy, as well as John who helped schedule us (and did a great refresher course for my wife and I) are absolutely awesome. And then there's my kids' instructor, Marty. What a great teacher. He even got extra pool sessions for my kids, again around busy schedules, to make sure they completed all of the exercise thoroughly. His dedication is amazing. Because of their willingness to work with our schedule, my kids were able to dive with us in Hawaii. The instructor for their open water referral dives was amazed at how well prepared they were. Again, tons of credit to DJ's and to Marty. DJ's does not rush you through the certification process; they are thorough, professional, and very focused on customer service. I am so thankful to them for allowing my family to have this experience together. They also have a very nice shop and very reasonable prices on nice equipment. I can't wait to dive with them over the summer.

I just had a scuba refresher course with DJ's Scuba Locker, and I think they do a very good job…read more Two friends and I met at the shop, where we met the owners and our instructor, Zach. After completing some forms, we were fitted with shorty wet suits, BCs and the yoke with the hoses for the regulators, BC attachment and air pressure gauge. Zach instructed us review all the equipment as if were at a renting scuba shop, and I found that my regulator's mouth fitting was damaged, and he immediately replaced it. First Zach helped us remember how to set up our gear, while adding many useful suggestions and knowledge to the session. Once we assembled our tanks and BCs with his guidance, he made us do it all again, but by ourselves, only saying something if we were doing something incorrectly. After this, he packed all our gear and we went to a YMCA nearby to do the actual diving refresher. The equipment worked well. He had practice 25 (might have been 28) skills for recertification. He is a very good instructor, meeting each person where they are at and helping with their needs. All the time he kept emphasizing important points and talking about what to expect at our dive shop because of his knowledge of similar places. When we were done, Zach packed everything and we left. He is a very affable, pleasant, and professional young man who knows his subject matter very well. The owners of the shop are also very nice, we had an opportunity to talk to them as well. I bought a mask, which the lady owner had me try several sizes and qualities and helped me decide on one that was very comfortable and very reasonably priced. I give the whole operation, but especially Zach, 5 stars. My friends agreed with this rating. I will be going back there for my diving needs.

if I could give this place negative stars I would. The slapped a used "cleanliness" liner and new…read moretag on a clearly VERY worn and stretched out pool guards suit to sell my daughter as a "brand new" item. There is debris between the liner and the crotch of the suit-so gross. See the pics for yourself-their tag is still attached.

I rented a wetsuit from them that was in led than perfect condition. Upon return they told me I…read morecaused all the damage they had already repaired and offered a "bargain" rate to pay for repairs for damages I had not caused.

Earlier this year, a friend referred me to Donna from Hinsdale Travel. From the first call, I was…read morestruck by her professionalism, efficiency and pleasantness. I enjoyed the process of planning an October cruise with Donna's assistance and quickly felt confident that she was addressing all of our needs/preferences down to the smallest detail. Because of COVID, our cruise has been cancelled. Although I was impressed with Donna for the way she helped plan our trip, I have been ever more impressed by the way she has worked so hard to help us unwind these travel plans, making every effort to minimize any negative impact resulting from the disruption in our plans. COVID will pass and we will start to travel again. And my first call will be to Donna at Hinsdale Travel.

Hinsdale travel arranged hotel, car rental and air travel to our recent trip to Hawaii! Our…read morevacation was fantastic and memorable. Everything fell into place nicely. Highly recommend the personalized service we received from staff at Hinsdale Travel.

My GF and I purchased a Groupon for the Chicago Photo Safari and we chose to shoot at Millennium…read morePark. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes into the session, it started to rain so the group (around 10 of us) fled into the Chicago Cultural Center for the remaining time. I thought the CCC was interesting for about an hour but definitely did not have enough interesting areas to fill up a 3 hour photo shoot. This brings me to one of my complaints-the safari was supposed to be 3 hours, but it was only about 2 hours and 20 minutes. I'm sure it would be a better experience in Millennium Park but if you are planning to make the safari rain or shine, you should have a better back up plan. Also, b/c the CCC isn't brightly lit, this limited the settings people could use while taking pictures. Our instructor - Scott - is a student at Columbia and he had a good personality and did his best to engage the students and help them. I thought it was helpful that he had an iPad that allowed him to pull up a picture that illustrated the concept that he is explaining. He also was knowledgeable re photography. The one complaint regarding Scott is he clearly was out late the night before and still smelled like stale beer. Not a big deal to us, but I can see how that might bother some people. I think this class would be useful for someone that has a DSLR and only shoots in automatic mode or in program mode without understanding what is actually happening in the program mode. I'd say the majority of the class fit into this description. But, if you have a basic idea of how to set the exposure, what depth of field and what ISO are, I'd skip the safari and just walk around Millennium Park. The 3 stars is based on the Groupon price and if you are an absolute beginner. If you paid full price the rating would be a 2 stars.

My Mom and I bought a Groupon and did the Millenium Park daytime safari. I live out of town, and…read morethought this would be a fun way for us to spend time together while I was visiting for the holidays, and it was! The MP safari was beginner level, which worked well for my mom who was borrowing one of my DSLRs for the first time. As a more intermediate DSLR photographer, I got more familiar with my new camera and was able to talk lenses and other advanced topics with the instructor and students with the same DSLR Rebel I had. But the most beneficial thing for me was the fact that we spent so much time photographing the same subject (the Cloud Gate) over and over. Other yelpers lamented that there wasn't enough subject matter to photograph, and although that is true, the real benefit to the repetition is that you can take the same shot over and over and adjust your settings each time. Then when you go home, you can load the shots into the computer and compare the settings for each picture, and try to learn more about what settings work in which conditions. "Setting intuition" is something that I struggle with and having a slow tour through MP has already helped me to better predict how to set my camera for different lighting conditions. I would certainly recommend Chicago Photo Safaris to (1) beginners who own or have access to a DSLR camera or (2) intermediates who are either looking to become more familiar with their DSLR or use the safari as a way to experiment with settings, take home the shots, and critically evaluate them. The MP safari was NOT for folks who (1) want to take a bunch of pictures of different things, (2) don't own a DSLR or other digital with shutter speed and aperture controls, or (3) are easily bummed out by being outdoors on one of Chicago's many less-than-perfect days or indoors in one of our many old, under-lit buildings. As for me, I would seriously consider another Chicago Photo Safari when I'm in town in the future.