I was looking for someone to teach me how to swim which is no easy undertaking when you are 57 years old. The wonderful instructors at Scuba Monkey ( Amber and Tracy) helped me and guided me every step of the way. They are kind,patient,resourceful and can think outside the box which is exactly what I needed. Wonderful people and a beautiful state of the art facility! If you or your kids need swimming lessons, there is no better place. Thank you,Alex. read more

Friendly and knowledgeable instructors. They make you feel like family. Active dive club. Great place to learn and meet dive buddies

I took my open water certification with SCUBA Monkey back in October 2020, and had an amazing experience! Tommy was an incredible instructor, so much so, that I'm considering a trip to Florida when I am ready for my AOW course (currently living in the PNW). I have done several dives since my certification, and have already used so many of the safety skills I learned. Mask flooding at 60 ft? - check! Regulator falling out of my mouth? - check! Buoyancy struggles? - check! We're any of these a major issue? No, because I have been taught well! Having now gone out with other DMs and Instructors, I can confidently say Tommy is one of the best in the business. I highly recommend SCUBA Monkey for your diving needs! read more

Scuba Monkey Dive Center - Sea Turtle - Scuba Diving Near Me - Alachua, Florida

Scuba Monkey is a great place to go for for anything scuba. The knowledge, friendly and professional staff are eager to answer questions, and the store has plenty to clothing choices. The swimming/diving area is more than capable of providing room to accommodate the beginner and the professional. read more

My wife and I took the open water dive course and Tim (one of the owners) was a great instructor. He was very professional and patient walking us through the book work and skills part of the course. We went in a month ago just to get snorkeling gear with the intention of diving "one day." but after talking with Joe (one of the owners) his love of diving was so contagious we signed up for classes later that week and I am so glad we did!!! I highly recommend Scuba Monkey not just for dive gear. They are a full service dive/swim shop with great staff and seriously competitive prices. Go see the Monkey!!!! read more

Scuba Monkey Dive Center - New divers!!!! - Scuba Diving Near Me - Alachua, Florida

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As someone who has always wanted to try Scuba Diving, but never had the chance to try, I was extremely excited to hear about a free event Scuba Monkey was throwing. I was able to try on different types of gear while also getting instructions from the owner of the shop, Tim. Everyone was very helpful and nice. You can tell they are all passionate about diving and diving education. I highly recommend this shop for anyone wanting courses or great diving products. read more

Scuba Monkey Dive Center is a 5 star Mom and Pop Dive Shop, that listened to our needs, and exceed our wildest expectations of customer service. I have been putting off getting my Open Water Certification for a couple years now. There just never seems to be time for a class. I explained my issues, and limitations, and set a deadline for when we had to get this done as we were leaving on vacation that was going to include diving. Scuba Monkey Dive Center busted their ass to meet my technically unrealistic time line, and fixed my crisis created by my own procrastination. With personalized and customized to me training, we got the dives in and everything done, with 24hours of decompression time before I stepped on an airplane that would be in the air for more than 14 hours. They were AMAZING! So I know they are out in the middle of nowhere, in a place where no one even thinks about diving, let alone learning to dive, but they are totally worth the trip if you are serious about getting your Dive Certification. Scuba Monkey Dive Center's customer service and training is off the chart. Oh, and buy stuff from them. That is the only way we will be able to keep them around. Thank you so very much, Scuba Monkey Dive Center. read more

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The most caring, authentic, knowledgeable, skillful, fun instructors particularly Joe! We had the privilege of spending time with him during our visit to Devil's Den. Our whole interaction was impeccable we always felt safe and happy and we couldnt ask for a better team to deal with. Thank you guys well be back! read more

If you are an open water diver then this is the place you need to check out. SMDC is family owned/run and cares about their customers. They have everything you need for scuba/snorkeling/lobstering/spearing etc. They carry some of the best brands of equipment on the market and keep it well stocked. They service most makes of equipment and air/nitrox fills are competitive rates. They are one of the few scuba shops who can hydro onsite. SMDC's real strength resides in their training program and instructors. They are PADI certified and offer classes through dive master. If you are looking to get your open water card then this is the place to go. The SMDC instructors are well trained professionals with many successful divers trained. They are adults with families themselves. Scuba diving is a challenging sport which requires a fair amount of skill and attention to detail. The SMDC staff will teach you everything you need to know to be a successful diver and have fun in the process. SMDC also offers some fun dive trips. Locally they hold an underwater Easter Egg hunt in the spring and an underwater pumpkin carving/costume contest in the fall. Both are a blast. They frequently dive Disney as a group and have a once a year special trip to an exotic location. Thanks for the read, take a second please click one of the buttons below and tell me what you thought of my review. read more

Scuba Monkey Dive Center - Scuba Monkey Dive Center - Scuba Diving Near Me - Alachua, Florida

Fair prices, great service, great friendly recreational training. They also have a great selection of masks and fins. Quick regulator and tank service turn over time. They organize a dive club for their store that regularly schedules trips to South Florida and local springs; and organize other novel events like UW pumpkin carving or Easter egg hunts. My only complaint is that my tank fills are commonly 200-300 psi short, and if you have multiple tanks it can be a while for them to all get filled, but that's just me being picky. read more

First Id like to say that the shop is well stocked with a variety of scuba and freediving gear. That the previous times that I have stopped in to get a new mask or little items were pleasant and without issue. I came in with a set of doubles I purchased last year and found I needed a VIP. I admit that the shop that I purchased the doubles from never put a vip sticker on, and I assume since they knew me, they kept filling it. Other shops filled them too, no issues, which wasnt right. I, and the other shops, assumed the sticker under my bands was the vip. They showed me this was not the case and I agreed that they should have a vip. They were combative and questioning about the source of the tanks, and argued that I needed to have nitrox wraps on them, which didnt leave a pleasant taste in my mouth. I explicitly forbade them from putting nitrox wraps on, received a quote for an o2 cleaning, vip, fill, and that they would replace one of my studs. Upon picking up my tanks they had wrapped them all in nitrox wraps and tried to charge me for them. Their manager said that the wraps were explicitly asked for, but would eat the cost. They replaced the stud with a different diameter one, but did not include a new wingnut. So a run to lowes was now requi And now that i am an hour away at a dive site, I find that they assembled the doubles backwards. Which is half my fault for not double checking before leaving, but was not something I paid attention to. Update: After posting this critical review the shop owner has stated they will start warning other dive shops to not service me. read more

Scuba Monkey Dive Center - Poorly assembled tanks - Scuba Diving Near Me - Alachua, Florida

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absolutely love the customer service in the store everyone i have talked to is very knowledgeable and have a great personality definitely making this my new go to shop read more

My daughter got her open water training here and had a very positive experience. Her instructor was George. It is particularly nice that they have their own indoor pool for confined training, so during the rainy Florida summers there is no worry about rain/lightning (for open water there isn't a lot you can do...). Overall we were very happy with the experience and would recommend. My husband, who is a very experienced diver and has gone diving all over the world, found the shop and business to be very impressive. read more

Everything you need to get started or to continue your diving habits. They have a great selection of equipment, awesome services, classes, and an amazing staff who can help with any question. This is my favorite dive shop in the Gainesville area. read more

The Open Water I training performed by this group is carefully controlled, well communicated, and focused on the individual student. The instructor (Joe) has great depth of experience, had trained his assistant well, and came prepared to quickly handle equipment and logistics problems. I would not hesitate to recommend this class to friends and family members as I know they would be well supported. read more

Scuba Monkey was recommended to me to get open water dive certified, but it did not live up to the recommendation. From the moment I signed up for the course, there was a lack of communication and this became a common theme in my experience with this establishment. My first scheduled week to become certified was canceled due to weather. Due to school, I had to schedule another course a few months in advance. A week before my scheduled training week, I called and was informed that I did not have the reservation I scheduled months ago. I was told I would be charged a $25 rescheduling fee for a future appointment. I declined and asked for a refund. I was told I would be called if there was any issue with my refund. I was not called, nor was I informed about all of the deductions that would be taken from my refund. Overall, a frustrating experience. +1 star for the place being clean and the front staff being nice. read more