Oceanside Scuba And Swim Center

I took a «Try Scuba» class at another dive center in San Diego and one of the skills — clearing my mask — really freaked me out, so my fiancé called a few dive centers in North County to see if I could take another introductory course to see if I would like to pursue Open Water certification. Oceanside Scuba and Swim Center was extremely accommodating and went out of the way to work with our schedule. My instructors were both great, especially Shawn, and after 2.5 hours of going over the basics again, I felt much more confident and was able to clear my mask several times. The instructors here are very experienced, knowledgeable, and make you feel comfortable. I like that their pool is outside too — although it is not heated, so you’ll definitely need a wetsuit — which is standard gear for SCUBA — so no problem there!
+1 Experienced, friendly, and amazing instructors!
+1 Flexible scheduling — will schedule privates outside their standard classes
+1 Pool is standard size and outside
+1 Not the cheapest, but still reasonably/​fairly priced
+1 Conveniently located in Oceanside right off of I-​5 freeway

Great team at Oceanside. Very knowledgeable! The know how to instruct and they know the equipment very well. Jesse was the instructor for my fiancé and myself. Very intuitive and knows what he is doing!!! Each time I go into the shop I learn more.

Outstanding shop. My girlfriend and I did our Open Water certification here and every single person we encountered went above and beyond for us. Our instructors were David Bruce and Shawn Harper, both exceptional instructors. David went out of his way to accommodate our schedules, and arranged for Shawn who was a super nice guy and very experienced to help us finish when our schedules changed. All of the people who worked inside the shop were also outstanding, helping us with gear and scheduling. They even exchanged my girlfriends mask after our last open water dive when she realized it wasn’t quite the right fit. We visited 5ish shops in the area before deciding on this one and I couldn’t be happier with our decision. There’s no reason to look any further for your scuba certification!

Bought a Groupon to Discover Scuba class for my teens. Instructors Mike and Frank were terrific. The kids had a blast and want to continue getting certified. Great vacation experience.

This review is mainly for an employee, i went on a dive yesterday on a local charter company and a dive master david bruce was his name i believe was doing dive 3 and 4 for an open water class. He noticed that i was concerned do to my lack of experience so help me and over saw me to make sure i was set up correctly also showed me a few things even thought that was not part of his class. If that is the level of service you get from this company from a person who is not a customer then i would love to see the service when i walk in there to buy more gear.
Now as for david, he is a passionate diver. He does it for the love of the sport and i believe he is an active duty Marine that dives for the Corps. Thank you david its people like you that make diving not as scary of a sport for newbies like me.

Very nice folks.
I went in to buy some gear to supplement another batch of gear I was looking to buy 2^nd hand on Craigslist.
The staff didn’t try and talk me out of my intended purchase. In fact they praised the deal. Being a newbie, they might have talked me into spending all of my money with them. But they didn’t and I respect them for it. They did get a decent amount of spend from me and will continue to do so in the future.

My fiancé and i finished our PADI open water scuba class today. We both had an awesome experience because of dedicated and fun instructors, quality instruction, safe dives, and a great first time experience overall.
Elliott was our primary instructor and Lisa also helped out with our class of four students total. One thing that really stands out about Elliott is that he really wants to see you master the scuba skills, not just get you through the course. I really appreciated this learning style because I had some fear before going in to it. He also was extremely successful coaching those who had some more trouble getting accustomed to the water and all the equipment. He was also really fun! Lisa also was very confident, fun, and effective instructor. She really cares about the students learning and demonstrating skills thoroughly and making sure we understand; she and Elliott were both really passionate about scuba diving.
Both days of our open water dives were really safe and organized, and started on time and flowed very well. We went to La Jolla Shores for our shore dives and we went off the coast of Laguna Beach for our boat dives with the helpful crew of the Riviera out of Dana Point.
Highly recommend the course!

I just finished my PADI open water course today. I got a deal on groupon and scheduled my class early because I have a difficult schedule to work around. Due to a scheduling mishap, I never got signed up for that class. So why am I giving 5 stars? I am giving OSSC 5 stars because they had 5 (okay actually way more) stars that helped me make this happen.
1. Jason P.- The training director there who bent over backwards and gave me private lessons to accommodate my schedule until a class opened.
2. Josh and Kelly– Both work in the shop and are super knowledgeable about gear and diving. Both are super low key and not at all pushy. I was never treated like a silly beginner by these guys. I ask ALOT of questions and they were always so kind and patient with me.
3. Gerry S.- In a word AWESOME! Gerry was my primary dive instructor. We had a larger than expected class in the pool with some goof offs but he was so good and kept things safe and fun.
4. Cesally and Emme– Amazing gals that are advanced divers that assisted our class and really understood that diving as a female is a bit different. They were both so helpful to me and I thank you.
5. Elliot D.- Last, but definitely not least is Elliot, who was our certifying instructor along with Gerry for our ocean dives. To say that conditions were less than favorable might be an understatement, but you would’ve never known by the way Elliot led the pack. I felt very confident that I was being led appropriately and most importantly I felt safe in heavy surge and giant kelp.
I highly recommend OSSC if you’re at all interested in learning to SCUBA dive. I felt like I was hanging out with a bunch of friends and I got a PADI cert too! Thanks again for a great experience!

We go here for all our new equipment purchases, tank fills and classes. The staff are extremely knowledgeable, dive often and are helpful. The instructors are very safety conscious and experienced, able to deal with anything that may come up. Great selection of courses and as well a a large certified used gear offering.

I got my open water cert. here using a Groupon deal. The shop staff and Gerry the instructor were all very nice and helpful. Josh spent some time showing me different regulators and computers. Teaching me what to look for in equipment when I get ready to buy my own gear. Much Appreciated!
The only complaint I had was the pool. I took my classes in January and the pool is unheated. The very first thing you’re required to do is swim 6 laps (300M?) followed by a 10 minute water tread in only you swim trunks. Water temp was 60 degrees!
Temp was confirmed by instructors dive computer in the pool.

Great location, but not the best service. I don’t want to sound overly critical, but if there is this one particular guy here, I just shop for a few minutes and then leave. I wish this shop had more to offer because of their location. I find myself frequently driving from Carlsbad to Ocean Enterprises as an alternative, and they have their ego cases there too.

After going to a dive shop on La Jolla and the dive master refusing to rent us gear unless we went out with him I went to Oceanside. Josh was extremely helpful and took time to help familiarize us with the cove and point out where to go and where to avoid. I would highly recommend going here to anyone.
PS — I read the review about him refusing to rent equipment for a girlfriend taking a class. As fall as I am aware it’s against the law to rent equipment to someone for someone else that isn’t certified.

They’re not full of hot air, they fill your tank in a tub of water, that makes them cool.

I went today to rent a tank for a dive class my wife is taking tonight. I have been here probably 60 – 80 times this year. We used them for a long time to get our tanks filled for work. Normally we deal with a girl who seems to always be there. This is the first time I have been there that she wasn’t. Instead I had to deal with a guy who is a huge A$$. He is arrogant and acts like he doesn’t need your business. He was fired from Ocean Enterprises for being bad with the customers and other employees. I will never be going back to the Scuba and Swim Center if he is there. He wanted to give me a hard time about my certification which he eventually looked up. Took him about 2 minutes. That was too much work for him. My work has quit using them because of that. We work in Carlsbad and now drive all the way down to Ocean Enterprises or Sea World to have our tanks filled just to avoid him. I along with all divers at work will be driving way out of our way to avoid this place when he is there. Everyone else there is great and will do anything to make your experience and dive great. There is nothing they won’t do if it is in their power. Where as this guy will make you not want to dive because he makes your day bad just by walking into the store. I asked him if there was another dive shop so I could get out of there before things escalated and I ended up telling him off or posting on here and he told me the only one in North County was on Camp Pendleton. I know that not to be true and looked it up while I was there to prove him wrong. He then didn’t want to rent to me. If it weren’t for the other girl there he would have gotten aggressive, which he has done before. Please avoid this place at all costs if there is a guy working there that acts like he knows everything. You cannot miss him. I think he is from the East Coast as well. Maybe Boston area from the accent. If you go in there you may not get what you need he will only show you what he wants you to have. He also will talk poorly of other dive shops and their equipment. Everything that comes out of his mouth is 50% wrong because he wants you not to buy from others. We learned this on our other encounter with him. Being fired from Ocean Enterprises was the best thing that could have ever happened to Ocean Enterprises. Good Luck on your journey to purchase or rent gear or just get information. Just for clarification I would agree with the other review with the exception of this one guy. Assuming from the last review his name is Josh but don’t know for sure.

This shop is pretty cool. Josh is a funny guy and knows it all when it comes to recreational dive gear, then you got Miranda with the tats shes always smiling or making faces. Then there is Alex hes just a NINJA. This shop has a bunch of amazing instructors, they make getting certified fun. Last but not least amazing with kids everyone there is.