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!!!

PSD is an outstanding dive shop. Staff are super friendly and they supply you with a container that…read moreneatly packed all of their rental gears. It made it super convenient for me. I signed up for a refresh course and the pool is conveniently located with its own parking lot. I arrived and was promptly greeted by PSD staff and checked in. Jeremiah and Casey were our dive instructors. Both were patient and explained everything in great details. I had a fantastic time. Would highly recommend PSD to everyone.

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.

Truly insane collection of scuba and dive gear. Came here to service my regs as they offered rush…read moreservice and bamboo reef in sf is now closed, and was blown away by the store, service, employees and knowledge of everyone here. One thing that really surprised me was that they helped me remove the dive computer connected to my spg. I hated that thing but it had a clip on it that was attached to a reel. They reattached it without me even asking and it was so kind of them. They also had an amazing selection of fins and had them in the exact color and size i was looking for

A friendly, efficient service, highly recommended for all!…read more (Some shops are not so helpful, only for regular customers, but this shop is always great!)

I highly recommend Diver Dan's for getting your open-water scuba certification. Matt V was our…read moreinstructor, and he had the help of Rob another instructor. Both we fabulous taken care of my daughter and I, with the rest of the class. The staff is so attentive and helpful every time we are in the store and is excellent at providing information about scuba and equipment in a way a new diver can understand. Matt V the instructor for the course was so calming, knowledgeable and fun, but most importantly, he was so incredibly supportive. I was very anxious about the mask removal and replace and they provided encouragement, strategies, and extra praise when I was able to complete this skill. I wish I would have done this years ago but it didn't happen and for my daughter's high school graduation my husband treated us both the getting certified so we could all dive with the manta ray's on the Big Island for her Grad Trip. I can't thank Matt enough for being so patient with me as I am 58 and my daughter is 18....this will make years of memories for both of us! Thank you Matt and Rob & Diver Dan's!!

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!

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

Awesome staff!!! always friendly and stoked about diving with good advice on where to dive.read more

First time diving with this shop. My guide was Jake. Service was great at the shop and Jake was…read morekind, patient and knowledgeable and made sure we had a great time and stayed safe. I'd definitely recommend this shop!

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!

I did my PADI open water dives with Monterey Bay Scuba and, specifically, with Randy Harris. I had…read morea great experience and feel well-prepared.

Amazing personable staff, made Monterey chilly waters a little more enjoyable!…read moreAn experience I'll never forget. We will be back Monterey bay scuba!

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!