I signed up for my Advanced PADI course through SF Scuba Schools and ended up with John from Carmel…read moreBay Divers. We spent the weekend in Monterey with a cozy class of 3 students. For the Advanced course, Saturday was a long but low-stress 8am-10pm day, and Sunday was 8:30am-3pm -- including time for meals and chillaxing. -Before the course:- I was nervous about various things including buoyancy skills, night diving, not getting enough attention from the instructor, getting too cold in the freezing Monterey waters, and falling behind everyone else in terms of skills. By the end, I wasn't worried about any of the above. -About the instructor:- John was insanely helpful, attentive, and experienced, and made me feel at ease the entire weekend. His down-to-earth attitude and humor definitely kept me going through the difficult sections of the class. -Before each dive:- John made sure that we understood exactly what we were going to do. He was always happy to answer my overly-abundant questions, and gave excellent instruction on what to do underwater, from the technical aspects to the emotional/mental ones (Settle down. Think warm thoughts. Fun is mandatory!). -During the dives:- I finally got properly weighted during our buoyancy checks, and IT FEELS SO GOOD! My buoyancy skills improved dramatically over the weekend. John was incredibly patient underwater. When I messed up one of the underwater navigation skills, he helped me through it again and helped me adjust where I went wrong the first time. Night diving was my biggest fear going into the course, and I wasn't even scared going into the pitch black ocean with John at my side. The ocean life is completely fascinating at night, and I'm excited to say that I'm not (as) scared of that crazy dark ocean abyss! -Between dives:- We had plenty of time to warm up, and I never once felt rushed. He even brought a tub of warm water for us to pour into our suits afterwards. -Last thoughts:- If you're looking to take any kind of scuba certification class, John is your go-to guy. I feel so much more confident in my diving skills after this past weekend. Already looking into taking another course with him (probably dry-suit because I'm a weenie when it comes to cold water). Thanks dude!!

WOW - what can I say?? If you are researching places to get PADI certified- GO HERE!!! Stop your…read moresearch now or you'll be sorry! The company is run by John Foxhall, a master diver with over 30 years of not only diving experience, but TEACHING experience. Other places may have similar COST, but they will guaranteed have a sub par experience. John is incredibly patient and compassionate for all his students. He is passionate about diving and ensures you not only have the skills required by PADI, but FUN IS MANDATORY. :) He is very accommodating to personal anxieties (of which I had no shortage), injuries/sore muscles (which i also experienced) and fitness levels (I'm average). He also has excellent equipment for rental and purchase and can explain the differences between bottom shelf, middle and top shelf products. My husband and I used John's course to prepare for a dive in the Cayman Islands and even though we will be "first-time" divers there, we feel confident we could keep up and/or lead among other divers. John has taken our skill sets from zero to extreme confidence in our ability! *****GRAB YOUR DIVE BUDDY AND A COUPLE OF FRIENDS AND GET CERTIFIED HERE.****** Also, if you are looking to take your basic certification to the next level, you want to do it with John. He has too much knowledge to keep all to himself!! Also, if you are averse to cold conditions, John has frequent certification classes further South which is also something the other places will not offer you. Can't recommend highly enough. Thank you John ad Carmel Bay Divers!!!

I've been coming to PSD for a while now, and it's easily the most welcoming shop in Sunnyvale. The…read morestaff actually knows their stuff. Whether you're looking for high-end gear or just need a quick tank fill for a Monterey shore dive.

The instructors are great however management leaves much to be desired and was quite an…read moreuncomfortable experience. Spent over $500 in certification and personal gear at this shop and yet such lack in service, felt treated like a cash cow with disregard to providing a positive experience. They forgot to include my wetsuit in my bin so during my ocean dives in Monterey I had to rent my own wetsuit on the day of my dives. Discussed this situation upon return of equipment and instead almost got charged with $55 for not capping the dust cap back on the regulator. Funny how they DO NOT stress or mention at all upon renting gear - you have to read it in the fine print. Which I feel the owner does on purpose for customers to pay out the extra $55. We ended up "breaking even" despite the huge inconvenience their mistake has brought upon me on my important certification days. Super disappointed with this shop and management. Please bring your business elsewhere.

I really enjoyed starting my PADI journey with this shop! Even with anxiety I was able to learn how…read moreto scuba. I wish I took pictures/GoPro of the pool class. We did their Open Water Pool course with the instructors Mike, Nick and Richard, who are incredibly patient and helpful. It is a very nice dive shop with the manager Brian. They have really nice gear to try on/rent/buy with helpful staff. We have been in contact a lot.

Beginner friendly, well priced... start (and finish) your search for SCUBA equipment and…read morecertification classes here! Any Water Dive Center is an open, welcoming, and encouraging dive shop filled with a great selection of gear at good prices, offering PADI certification (again at a good price)! I visited in November last year, poking my nose in, and asked about classes... the employee I met was friendly and took time to answer my questions, and I resolved to cross this item off my bucket list as soon as possible. Fast forward to yesterday, when I was finally ready. Brian, the manager, was there this time. He's an engaging, confident person with an intimate knowledge of the local (and global) industry. He was friendly and forthcoming about the requirements for the certification class, walked me through the steps, class requirements, medical requirements, the full deal! For those who (like me) are just getting started (the process can seem intimidating from the outside) expect to spend about $1100, all included... this gets your online classes and your hands-on classes (including two dive trips in Monterey). This is all done with an emphasis on safety, so be smart and take the training seriously. My dive class begins in June, so I don't have a full run-down yet; I'll update y'all on the other side!

The customer service here is great. They're not trying to just squeeze money out of you, they know…read morediving really well. You can tell they love it and the enthusiasm is contagious. I had to repair my open cell wetsuit and Jeremy was able to tell me what I needed and how to do it. I typically come here for my diving needs here in San Jose. Highly recommend!

Great shop that is well stocked and very knowledgeable staff. Dan is a wealth of information.read more

Tristan was so helpful. I was looking for fins and booties and a hood for a snorkeling trip. He…read morewas so patient and knowledgeable. Highly recommend this place.

Just received a prescription mask that was made and shipped to SF in under 72 hours!…read more and I could not be happier Dexter is amazing and walked me though the whole process after calling and seeing if there was a chance to get a new mask before my trip next week It's rare you get good customer service these days and it's even more rare for "great" I can definitely recommend this place! Thanks again Dexter

Everything met my expectations…read more I wanted to do a 2-tank dive at Point Lobos. I called and scheduled a dive 2 weeks early. The dive shop secured the licenses and permits to dive at Point Lobos, which is a state park. Dive masters are contracted by dive shops so they will have multiple divers diving from their shops. I rented gear from the shop and was assigned Nani as my dive master. The dive shop is conveniently located off the main road and highway. I spent more than usual, because I dove by myself, so I didn't get to split the dive master fees, buts it's all good in 2026, my resolution is to spend more time and experiences, rather than material things... so I finished my dive day experiencing diving in this iconic lagoon, I took lots of GoPro film, and free stickers compliments of the dive shop!

Great gear, very easy rental process and solid prices. Gets very busy on the weekends. Tested…read moreeverything before renting and had two fantastic dives, would definitely rent from here again.

We came in to refill our air tanks and the employee was really chill and helpful, helped haul our…read moretanks over the back wall and bring them inside, then gave us a time estimate of half an hour. While we were relaxing in the car, they got off their shift but saw us and told us our air tanks were done. The guy at the register was also really friendly and chatted with us about today's rare visibility. overall really nice employees and fast service

My partner and I came to this location to complete our open water check out dive, and had a great…read moreexperience. All staff members were kind and answered all questions we had. They set up the rental gear easily, and made sure that we had everything we needed. Mark led our dive, and was patient and charismatic! We were excited to learn from him, and hope to come along on future dives. We are very happy that we got certified with this shop!

The Good: Staff, while sometimes disorganized, was all hardworking and very helpful. I really…read moreappreciated their dedication. The high rating is for them. The Bad: Be prepared to possibly dish out another $85 for a weight pouch if you rent a BCD and it falls out during a dive. It does not matter if your Dive Guide checks over everything prior to your dive. It does not matter that they provide zero instruction on its use (design was different than anything I've used). The owner says you are responsible and reminds you are only paying wholesale. After publicly complaining later, they made it right and I got my money back. The charter boat was very late departing. Losing one rented weight pouch mid-dive caused me only get about 15 minutes under water on dive one. Dive 2 was aborted after about 15 minutes by the dive guide due to rough, murky water.

Tyler (our dive guide) and the staff are so kind! They're good at what they do. Service wise, it'd…read morebe 5 stars. My only complaint is that the wetsuits I rented from them were super old and had holes, and were super leaky. It wasn't just me, I noticed the other woman who also was renting gear had a hole in her wetsuit as well. It felt like the wetsuit didn't do much for me- when I got into the water the cold went right through me- and I've been cold water diving before in Monterey and know how it feels when a wetsuit works and hasn't degraded to this point. Renting gear can be a hit or miss- Monterey bay waters are sooo cold! And comfortability during cold water dives matter a LOT - otherwise you just use up a lot of air and get too cold/shivers. I think it's part of the responsibility of the dive shop to make sure that the wetsuits are still adequate for diving, and to rotate in better condition suits and toss the ones that are ready to go.

Here are three reasons you should choose Pro Scuba Dive Center to get certified, even if there are…read morecloser shops to you. 1. NAUI. The three most popular certification agencies are PADI, SSI, and NAUI. All three, and others, are recognized worldwide. NAUI's training is known to be the most thorough of the big three. NAUI is a non-profit, so they're not interested in certifying as many divers as possible just because it's their business model. PADI is the largest certification agency, but to be blunt they're just not respected. If you look in the right places, you'll find tons of memes making fun of PADI. Not so with NAUI and SSI. Some PADI divers are excellent, but many are not. NAUI will more likely make you a good diver. I'd be reluctant to dive with a random PADI buddy who got certified at a resort, but I'd be much more confident buddying up with someone from NAUI. An analogy: Supercuts gives tons of haircuts, but if you really want something nice you'll probably book a stylist in a salon. You can't go wrong with NAUI. If you cut corners and go elsewhere, you'll probably be jealous of NAUI divers who have better training than you. 2. Scubapro. Pro Scuba Dive Center is a Scubapro Platinum shop. This means they specialize in that one brand. Luckily, Scubapro is a premium brand and you can't go wrong with it. There are other premium brands, and you can get by with non-premium brands too. However, if you're the kind of person who wants high-end equipment, Scubapro should be on your short list. Bonus: the rental gear you use in your class will be Scubapro. Other shops probably won't rent you stuff this good. 3. David and Cheryl. These folks just love diving, love talking about diving, and they really care about the state of the industry. They have high standards and want to do things the right way. Their shop is clean and orderly. They take good care of their rental equipment. They're wonderful people. Bonus: the shop has Corgis! Don't wait until the last minute before a vacation to get certified. That will limit your options. Get certified 6 months in advance and you'll have the best experience.

My husband and I purchased snorkel gear at the Pro Scuba Dive Shop. During our trip to Hawaii we…read morehad some user errors with the gear. This time before we left for Hawaii we visited Dave and his wife and they kindly fit us again for our snorkel gear. Turns our were wearing it a little too tight and causing leaks and discomfort. Thankfully, on our last snorkel trip to Hawaii we had a much better experience. Thank you guys!