Typing this on my phone is difficult because I'm thrilled about my experience at Aquatic Ventures I…read morejust want to write forever. For 20+ years of living in South Florida, I wanted to get my open water diving certification but every year, life happens. Through friends I found Aquatic Ventures by way of an awesome foundation called Dive4Vets and there began my adventure. Setting up my schedule couldn't have been easier. The staff here are...well, are you old enough to remember Cheers? If you are, it felt like that-as if we've known each other for years. Walking into the shop, there's a great selection of gear but I'm here to learn and learn I did! Classroom and pool day was my first experience trying to breathe underwater which is an odd thing. The following day, we were off to Tigertail Lake not too far away. Note: even though it was close to 90, the water temp was 76! Be prepared. Final dives were again in Tigertail due to uncooperative weather. Through the staffs instruction, I feel confident and comfortable being underwater and they truly care about each individuals progress and success. If you are already certified, check out their gear at great prices. If you're not certified, go! RUN! FLY! To Aquatic Ventures. If you're a disabled vet, give Dive4Vets a look!

I am thankful for the team that helped me get certified. I started off in a 9ft indoor pool with…read moreInstructor Z. He had a lot of patience to work with me due to my disabilities. Z even helped me on my 2nd day of certification in the open water. It was such a nice dive out in the reef. On my 3rd and final day I had Moe and Laura to help me with my final portion of certification. It was a great time as I got to see a turtle and tiny crab that dive. I corkscrew have had a much better experience at this place. Oh I forgot to mention, I drove in from Tampa as I was recommended this Dive Shop. I hope to come back and dive with them on a trip or two they have planned on the coming months.

Jorge A. took my husband out for two days of diving and four great dives via the Goliath. Jorge is…read morean excellent dive guide, did a thorough job explaining what to expect & made sure to point out all the neat things. He was also adept at making sure to document me, documenting our adventures!

Fantastic place to get Dive Certified! Everyone is so helpful and the second you walk in someone…read moreis there to greet you and answer any questions about classes or equipment. Staff is extremely knowledgeable and helpful. Got my diver certification here April 2019 with my brother and they made it has easy as possible and was able to get it in a week between online studying, pool time and 4 dives following PADI guidelines. Rob Davis was our instructor and I HIGHLY recommend him! He was awesome, knowledgeable, experienced, and makes you feel very safe in the water. We were on a bit of a time constraint to get certified and Rob worked with us to get it done as quickly and efficiently as possible. It was a great experience and I would recommend people of all ages to get certified here at Lauderdale Diver.

Had a great time! The crew was fun and engaged with all the guests. Captain Joe and Divemaster West…read morewere very direct and friendly. Great first time snorkeling!

This was a great excursion and better than the beach. It was like swimming in a fish tank! Plus…read moreDylan and Luis made sure safety was a priority. They kept us safe and made sure we saw some really cool fish.

I recently dived with this charter and found the crew to be friendly, competent, and efficient in…read moregetting us to and from the dive site. Unfortunately, several operational policies and equipment limitations made the overall experience less than ideal. Despite being fully trained, equipped, certified, and accustomed to solo diving with redundant gear, I was told solo diving is not allowed due to "insurance." This was disappointing, particularly since literally every other South Florida operator I dived with on this same trip had no issue with certified solo divers. Being forced into an instabuddy situation can actually increase risk if the assigned buddy lacks experience or compatibility. No dive guide is provided, which makes the restriction even more arbitrary. Limited Tank Options. Aluminum 80s are offered. No steel tanks and no Nitrox. On deeper sites (60-100 ft), this significantly limits bottom time compared to charters that offer enriched air or higher‑capacity cylinders. The boat uses plastic tank arms to secure the tanks. When I asked for a bungee, I was told it wasn't necessary for tanks without gear on them. During the ride back, an empty tank broke free and rolled across the deck. This is a preventable safety hazard and shouldn't happen on a professional dive boat. There is no bow‑to‑stern tagline, which makes moving alongside the boat in heavy surface current unnecessarily difficult and requires heavy kicking at the end of the dive to avoid missing the stern line. The stern tagline is tied off several feet away from the "fins-off" ladder, forcing divers to remove their fins while holding the ladder with one hand. In rough seas, this is an awkward, difficult and potentially unsafe process. For drift dives, I prefer to do a negative entry and use my own clutch reel which easily unwinds as I jump in and drop to the bottom. Instead, I was told I must splash first, then surface, and wait for the crew to throw the reel to me, even though I made it clear this was not my preferred diving style. This removes control from the diver and isn't consistent with how many experienced charters safely conduct drift dives. The crew themselves were great, but several policies and equipment choices feel unnecessarily restrictive or unsafe, especially compared to other South Florida operators.

American Dream Dive Charters is one of the best scuba diving charter experiences I've had in Fort…read moreLauderdale, FL. If you're looking for a safe, professional, and genuinely fun dive charter operating out of Ft. Lauderdale, this is the crew to book with. The crew is outstanding -- knowledgeable, organized, and clearly passionate about diving. Their briefings are thorough and easy to follow, and they do a great job making divers of all experience levels feel comfortable and confident. The atmosphere on the boat is always relaxed, welcoming, and upbeat. The diving has been consistently excellent. Every trip I've done with American Dream Dive Charters has been well planned, smoothly run, and full of memorable underwater experiences. The crew works hard to put divers on great sites while maintaining a strong focus on safety and customer service. I highly recommend American Dream Dive Charters to anyone looking to dive in Fort Lauderdale. I always look forward to getting back on their boat.

I learned to dive with Cordova Diving and earned a PADI Open Water certificate on my recent…read morevacation to Fort Lauderdale. Cordova Diving doesn't wait for large classes to fill, but structures its courses to suit the students' schedules, which resulted in my receiving one-on-one private instruction for less money than I would have paid another dive shop for an eight-student class. It was a mental and physical challenge because I was a novice, but, Michael, the dive instructor and owner, was so patient. He made it fun and interesting too. His confidence in his skills is impressive and well earned--I was constantly amazed how intuitive and observant he was in anticipating, spotting, and correcting even the smallest details of my dive experience. For instance, about the time I was wondering if my dive mask was too tight, Michael asked, "Your dive mask looks kind of tight. How does it feel? Is it too tight for you?" And, then, he helped me make the adjustment. That sort of thing happened more than once. I had an amazing vacation--the water off of Fort Lauderdale was so warm and clear--I got to dive a coral reef, see tropical fish, and I even swam with a sea turtle! I'm already thinking about going back next year and taking the Advanced Open Water course with Cordova Diving.

My family and I (me, my husband, plus 17 and 14 year old kids) traveled from Ohio to do the PADI…read moreOpen Water Diver course with Michael and we just loved him. Michael is a fantastic instructor with tons of experience, a passion for diving, and great ability to explain technical concepts. He is also patient and adaptable, which is important when dealing with inexperienced divers, as well as the unpredictable ocean. We encountered numerous curve balls, but Michael handled them with grace in the best way possible. And above all that, he's just a pleasant person to be around. We are already planning another trip to Florida to dive more with Michael.

Located at the far end of Sportsman's Park and visited today to find a pair of inexpensive diver's…read morebooties. They have a large assortment of booties by two companies - Tusa and Evo. The low cut Evo booties are cheap at $34.99 but the Tusa are pricey. Ordering online is the same price with free shipping with the purchase of two pairs. Actually was impressed by the quantity of angler products in the semi-spacious store. The two employees were available for questions upon entry.

One star. Absolute worst customer service experience I've had with an online retailer.I ordered a…read moreproduct from Divers Direct at the beginning of October. The package was lost in the mail. I called and opened a claim on October 7th. Divers Direct never submitted the required documents to UPS. UPS eventually marked the package as lost, and now Divers Direct is refusing to refund me.When I asked to speak to a manager, I got Rachel. She was extremely rude from the start. She told me she had "nothing to say" to me and that I would only get my money back when UPS reimburses them. According to her, I have to wait until Divers Direct gets their money before I can get mine. That's not how this works when they failed to submit the paperwork in the first place.I asked to speak to someone above her about the way she was speaking to me. She flat-out said no one would get back to me. Completely dismissive and unprofessional.I did everything right on my end. They dropped the ball on the claim, then treated me like the problem when I followed up. Do not order from Divers Direct if there's any chance you'll need customer service. You'll just get stuck and spoken to like garbage.

i thought i lost my tennis bracelet on a dive charter 3 years ago. turns out i left it at this shop…read morewhile trying on a wetsuit i didn't end up purchasing. i went back on saturday to replace dive equipment and they remembered my name when checking out and asked if i left a bracelet behind!!!!! i can't believe they still had it. thanks for your honesty and customer service!!! much appreciated!

These guys are absolutely hands down THE BEST dive shop in south Florida. I had a specific dive…read morewatch made by aqua lung that I broke trying to replace the battery (tiny little very specific screws rusted and broke, don't buy aqualung dive watches). aqualung directly was useless and literally refused to help without going through a "dealer". divers direct with their *3* big locations REFUSED to help me as did every other dive shop in the area. The owner at Underseas Sports said he would take it to his aqualung rep for me. it took some time but he had his aqualung rep actually find the last of these watches around and got the screws for me. He then brought the watch to the dive watch doctor who fixed the watch with the screws he sourced then mailed it back to me. They saved a $500 dive watch that the manufacturer refused to support. I cannot thank the team at underseas sports enough. If I could give them 6 stars, I would.

The staff took me and my son on a nice safe and enjoyable dive trip during our recent vacation…read more They are a Padi 5 Star dive shop which demonstrates their commitment to excellence.

Super easy rental for the day. Just wanted to shore dive and the gave me the exact load out I…read moreneeded. Super friendly owner and staff!

Just completed my open water certification with the coaching and guidance of the Divers Cove crew…read more I only have great things to say about them. This is a family business with a focus on safety, learning and education. Natalie and Donovan are the owners and are 100% focused on their business, their clients and their students. Mateo, Julie and Schuck were some of the master divers that supported me in this journey. Had the chance to work closely with Donovan and Mateo and both are outstanding, easy to work with, understanding and supportive, and 100% focused on safety. After all, each of us are putting our lives at risk. If you are considering getting certified, I 100% recommend to go with this crew. It is a family business well run and very focused in providing a great customer experience. I look forward to enjoying the fun doves with this group and potentially and int'l trip at an exotic diving location. Thank you again Divers Cove. You are the best.

Great location in the heart of Davie off the ultra busy University Drive. Customer service was not…read morelacking at this dive shop. The sole employee gave me one-on-one assistance (only customer in the shop) which was appreciated. This was a small dive shop but well equipped with every dive necessity. The Bare brand high top dive boots fit well but thought the price was steep at $89.00 and was not a cheaper boot in stock. Yes, this was a good quality boot but for my needs I would have to go with a $39.00 brand to accomplish the same goal.

KNOW AHEAD OF TIME:…read more * You can leave your purses/bags at the dive shop or on the boat. * You can (and should) just snorkel in your regular swimsuit. I'm not sure if the scuba divers are required to wear a wet suit because I'm not certified, but everyone else who snorkeled brought their own suit. I snorkeled and was for whatever reason convinced ahead of time that I would *need* a wet suit to do it - not true, and they're essentially giant full-body sweaters. Not optimal for sitting on a boat in the sun in like 100 degree weather. I ended up having to buy different swimwear at the shop; they did refund me for my pre-paid wet suit rental though, which was v nice of them. * Bring your own water onto the boat. They have water jugs, but the only thing they provide to drink out of is those tiny little cone-shaped paper cups (one thing they could maybe improve upon.) You will 100% need more water than that with the sun/heat combined with the fact that you're probably going to be taking many accidental gulps of salty sea water. EXPERIENCE: While physically taxing for someone as out of shape as I am, this was super fun. They take you to two different diving locations, and while the scuba divers obviously see more than we snorkelers did, the water was clear enough that snorkelers could still see tons of fish just floating face-down from the top. I believe the first location was around 18 feet deep and the next was around 40. I saw stripey yellow fish, bright blue fish, and lots of other fish whose names, while I do happen to be an expert on tropical fish, unfortunately escape me. The crew is very focused on safety; they do roll call each time everyone gets back onto the boat to make sure they don't leave anyone behind, and they take it very seriously. Don't talk during it or you'll get yelled at. I definitely recommend, although I was very jealous of the scuba divers who got to swim with the marine life up close and personal. Scuba certification has officially been added to my to-do list for the next time I'm in a tropical location.

Great experience with a snorkel excursion trip with my wife. Easy to book by calling or using the…read morewebsite. Dock location was easy to find, and you can pay for parking using an app at a nearby location. There are restrooms at nearby businesses to change, which the crew will point out. Those bathrooms were okay, but not well maintained and not connected to this business. They also DBA as Tarpoon Lagoon Diving Center. You need to bring the main things, gear or rent, food, drink, sunscreen, tip for crew. Crew was extremely great and knowledgeable. Nice boat and well equipped to take out for snorkeling, felt like the middle of nowhere, but once in the water you could see a lot underneath. It is not great for those who stay on top because you look down from 13-15' of water so things are down a bit and you will have to dive to get a closer look. Crew let us stay out the whole time even though most of the other passengers gave up after a brief swim. I went on a different trip into Biscayne National Park where the water was 3-8' and I saw much more. I felt like the bottom of the water at this location was too deep to enjoy as much and was disturbed with less life. Overall a GOOD trip with experienced crew and a great time.