You don't often eat Chicken Parmesan and then meet a turtle. This happened to me recently, but it…read morewas a painted sea turtle on a wall who told me his name was Bob. Well .. I pretended he told me his name was Bob, and I pretended that Bob told me to enter the store. Pretend or not, that turtle drove me to the store. Fortunately, I listened to Bob. This is despite not being a diver. But I am a snorkeler! In fact, the next time someone asks me my hobby, I'm going to say, "I'm a snorkeler." I have never heard that before. I bought some snorkel equipment and headed to Florida Springs. You know what kind of fish I saw there? Me neither. I just know they were little colorful ones. I also saw many of Bob's friends, many of which said hello. As far as the shopping experience goes, A+. Very friendly and knowledgeable staff. Highly recommended--even if you only snorkel.

We shopped around and settled on APD. Great selection, top-notch rental equipment, easygoing and…read moreexpert staff are interested in making sure everything is a perfect fit. No pressure or upsell. Regarding instruction, Matt is an exceptional instructor. You will be impressed.

Great customer service and terrific, highly professional experience end-to-end…read more Rob was great to work with in scheduling the certification training and supporting equipment. Chris and Caleb were top-notch dive masters, giving personal attention at every turn. They clearly cared about the success and learnings of every single participant in the dive.

I would not recommend this shop to anyone who is looking for training or certification. I recently…read moretook the open water course here and the amount of things they hid from you until you paid could fill a book. Firstly, this is a dive shop in Jacksonville but the training does not take place in the ocean but a hundred miles away from the shop past gainsville for which you have to provide your own transportation, accommodation, and transport all of the rental equipment as well. Next, the amount of people that they allow to take this course at a time is way too many. For my open water course there was one instructor and ten students. 90% of each dive we were forced to be underwater, cold, not doing anything while the instructor made his rounds to the other 9 students. Not only was the instructor split between the open water students, but he was also actively training advanced students as well on the same days. This means the open water students were constantly waiting for the instructor to be done with the advanced students before we could get our training and go on our dives. What could have been done in 3 hours was stretched to 8 hour days because of the dive shop's greed for more customers. The instructor himself did seem like a good guy but the organization, the lack of shared information, and the fact that twice as many people were allowed to sign up as there should've been made this an awful experience where I was wishing I had gone with any other shop.

As a certified NAUI/CMAS/SSI Advanced SCUBA Diver, I am pretty "particular" with the Dive Shops I…read moredo business with as well as the Dive Training & Excursion Programs - for me it's all about the first-rate quality "experience" and safe/comprehensive instruction rather than the "product-push" centric focus shops I hate having to deal with (kind of like buying cars). So when I connected with Bil Gates (Bil it's one "L" real name no kidding) at Scuba Rite who is both Manager and Instructor of the local JAX Scuba Rite Shop off Belfort Rd, I was so pleased to know that he "gets it" and "gets me!" I love that Scuba Rite is very quality training focused and makes this the primary element of their business model. They are moving away from equipment sales and laser-focusing on their broad training curriculum of Courses towards Diver 1-4, Master Diver, Nitrox Diver and Instructor Diver Level Certifications. Moreover, Scuba Rite provides customers with a "try SCUBA" experience (single and couples) which allows first-timers to "get your feet wet" and safely explore the underwater world without full-certification. IMO, this is a great progression towards the full certification program (Diver 1). The best part of what Scuba Rite offers is the fabulous locations that they use for their training and excursion dives: Troy Springs, Fanning Springs, Blue Springs, Devils Den Springs and my personal favorite Ginnie Springs (where I completed my NAUI Openwater 1 Rec Diver Certification). I highly recommend Scuba Rite if you are looking for Dive Training & Excursion Programs that are first-rate in "experience" and instruction!

This was my first scuba experience ever and it was an awesome one. Bill Gates is an excellent…read moreteacher who know his stuff well. Not only is he very familiar with the dive spot(he's been diving there for over 20 years) but he definitey made the experience more comfortable and easy to learn. He is flexible with the schedule and takes his time going over every skill appropriately. I would highly recommend to anyone in the area.

Ryan is the perfect mixture of personal and professional. It was amazing how he could jump between…read morehis cerebral side with an absolute wealth of knowledge about spearfishing and freediving. To what felt like a friend pushing you to do your best in the practicals. I couldn't finish this review without mentioning safety. I have been a navy diver for 9 years. Ryan either met or exceeded my high standards for safety during every part of the class. I would recommend any one beginner or advanced take a course at savage diving!!!!

All I can say is Savage diving is undoubtedly unmatched in the industry.The instructors experience,…read moreknowledge, and his ability to connect with people made this course very enjoyable. I can't say enough about it. Seriously top tier! have a friend coming all the way from Seattle just to take one of his courses. Take a Savage diving course if you want the best experience and instruction all while being safe.

Ken is a good guy. Always helpful and friendly. He knows his stuff too. His prices are just about…read morethe most reasonable in the area. He offers just about anything dive related in the shop and if he doesn't he will order it for you. In addition to scuba certification he offers advanced classes, CPR classes, spring dive trips, ocean dive trips, and Disney dive trips. He's got a trip to just about anywhere you want and if he doesn't, just suggest it to him. So book a trip and have fun!

I recently moved to the area and have visited almost every dive shop in the area. I keep coming…read moreback to Idive. I am PADI certified and they are NAUI but that is ok. PADI is becoming too commercialized anyways. The shop is smaller than the larger ones, but the staff and service more than make up for that. Kayley is very friendly and easy to talk to. I have even just stopped by to chat. Their trips are fun and have a family type of atmosphere. I would definitely recommend going on one to meet everyone. I moved from San Diego so the diving in Jacksonville doesn't compare but Idive makes it more bearable. If anyone is looking for a dive shop give Idive a shot. You will not regret the family atmosphere here. It may not be a big box store like Divers Supply but it is a great place.

I did my open water certification here. Never had dived before and had a lot of fun and learned a…read moreton! You can tell JT one of the owners/instructors really knows his stuff and takes safety seriously. Glad I got trained here and plan on taking more classes. Prices are affordable as well.

Nice shop.. conveniently located with everything you could possibly want or need.. picked up my…read morenitro certification here..pleased with the service they've provided so far and I plan on spending some time here upgrading my equipment, and looking forward to doing some diving with these guys

Nice people but the place is in need of maintenance, there are other options that have more…read morevariety. Watch the steps, mossy stone steps of varied heights is always fun when carrying all your gear, a hand rail would be appropriate.

This has to be the clearest water I ever dove. It is definitely in an odd location, I'm fairly…read morecertain it's somebody's back yard, but the dive was amazing. The fossils in the cavern are just incredible. I'm already planning the trip back next year.

Not a complaint I can think of. Michelle and Brian were great especially to a new diver like my…read moreself. All you need is your certification card number and you should be all set. Couldn't of asked for a better first ocean dive! Call ahead to see when they are going diving because they don't dive everyday. Went out of Blue Herron bridge and the visibility was awesome. 80 to 100 ft. At least. Saw a bunch of fish, turtles, sting ray, and eel. About $100-$140 to rent a wet suit, tanks, weight, and anything you need. Great experience and I can't wait to go back and do it again! Thank you!

My daughter 14 wanted to get her scuba certification. I knew nothing about diving. The dive shop…read morewas very helpful explaining to me how the whole process works. I had some concerns because although my daughter is a strong swimmer she can be flighty. Mark her instructor was very personable. He has a calm demeanor about him and jolly at the same time. It is clear he loves to dive and teach. My daughter said he has a special way to explain things that make it extra fun. I think Mark was very patient and he let her wander around and take some time to look at everything in amazement, rather than constantly tapping her on the shoulder to get her back on task. This made her experience much more enjoyable and she is totally in love with the underwater world.

Amazing inventory awesome price costumers service great and amazing knowledge from the employees A++read more

Amazing customer service from Bob. He was very professional, patient, and very knowledgable about…read morediving. He took his time explaining everything in a way we understood especially this being our first time diving. He took his time helping us pick out our diving equipment and explained in depth how to pick exactly the perfect fit for everything. Can't not wait to start this new hobby!