Our scuba instructor used El Mar Diving Center to take us to Zorro Point, Shangri La cove, and "Seal" Island also known as San Pedro Nolasco to get a variety of dive spots. Of course, being over an hour boat's ride away, San Pedro Nolasco had the greatest visibility, and although San Pedro is nicknamed Seal Island, there are no seals there, just a bunch of fun loving sea lions. Fun fact: Sea lions have ears that can be seen slightly sticking out and their flippers can rotate more compared to seals by seals have ears that are more internally set and cannot rotate their flippers as well since they don't spend as much time on land as sea lions do. The crew from El Mar Dive Center took extremely great care of us! We even had a boat mishap on or Sunday trip and they were able to resolve it and get us to and from Seal Island safely and still gave us many opportunities to explore. They were very helpful switching out tanks for us between dives (of course you still need to double check ;) ), and they cut up fresh watermelon for us to snack on between dives. We would definitely use them again when we return! read more

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Best dive center in San Carlos! I have been on several dives with El Mar and it never disappoints. Tonia is an amazing dive master and everyone else that is on staff from the other instructors to the captain of the boat were all friendly and helpful. This trip my 13 year old son got certified. We will be back again and again!! read more

El Mar Diving Center - Scuba Diving Near Me - San Carlos, SON

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My dive shop!!! We got certified in Mesa through this shop and dive with the San Carlos location while we're down here. My boyfriend and I did our first dive with them and it was truly special. If you're looking for a shore dive, they are SO detailed and helpful on where a good one is. Yesterday, we did a shore dive from the recommendations of their employee and saw lots of cool critters and even a sea turtle! The employees are so helpful (I have been seasick before and also stung by jellies... Lol) and always happy to be apart of the boating experience. My boyfriend and I love you guys! Thanks for everything always. :) read more

We visited all 3 dive shops in San Carlos and compared prices. The largest dive shop in town was twice the price of El Mar, and the smallest was too small to get enough people to even have dive excursions. Additionally, we were impressed with El Mar's shop, staff, service, and their spacious dive boat. We will definitely be going with El Mar again, the next time we are in town. read more

We rented a double kayak from El Mar and had a great time paddling around the bays and estuaries in San Carlos. Jose was extremely nice and accommodating even though I'm sure we weren't the biggest spenders to come in. He offered us an third life jacket free of charge since we had four people of various sizes who would be taking turns. We also got 24 hours free because we rented it on a Monday but they are closed Tues. so did not pick up until Wed. Costs were clear and fair and we felt like we were getting great, honest service. $50 USD for 24 hour rental and $7 extra for delivery, which is not dirt cheap but seemed to be the going rate in town. El Mar also offers scuba dive and boat trips. We will definitely rent from Jose the next time we visit! read more