Highly recommended. My husband signed up himself, my 15 year your old daughter and me for the PADI Open Water Diver course in preparation for our upcoming trip to Bali. I was initially reluctant to try scuba diving, but my daughter really wanted me to join her in the water so I agreed to take the class. The classwork was fine – no problem – but I had a panic attack at the first confined dive/pool session when I couldn’t get through the mask-clearing exercise. I told myself scuba diving wasn’t for me. Brad, the owner, didn’t pressure me, but encouraged me to take some time to think about it, and even said he’d give me an individual lesson if necessary. After some long discussions with friends and family, I decided to give it another try. Luckily for me, Carolyn, Brad’s wife, joined us in the pool to give me additional moral support. Brad also lent me a mask with a nose purge, which enabled me to get through the mask clearing exercise. I am proud to say that I passed the confined dive section thanks to the patience and encouragement of the Divers West staff! Everyone here is very friendly and supportive. We also worked with Nathan and Conrad and they were very calm, confident and excellent instructors. Lucky to have this wonderful dive shop on our side of town!
Christine M.
Tu valoración: 5 Pasadena, CA
I’ve been to several dive shops in the LA area, and none can beat Divers West. The owners are exceptionally caring and knowledgeable, and they can help with anything from certifications to gear to dive trip planning. They also offer many different dive trips from single day beach dives to international trips. Most importantly, when I started doing my dive shopping here, I didn’t just become a customer. I became part of their dive family!
Kristin T.
Tu valoración: 5 Pasadena, CA
I have been scuba certified since 2008, but it had been several years since my last dive. I was planning a trip to Belize and wanted to brush up my skills to make sure I was ready for the dives I wanted to go on. I took the PADI scuba refresher course with Nathan at Divers West and couldn’t be happier with it. Nathan was friendly, patient, and had a great sense of humor that made it easy to relax and remember everything. I enjoyed my experience, and I feel completely confident about my Belize dives coming up next week. I enjoyed myself so much that I’m seriously considering pursing my Advanced certification with them this fall. Two thumbs and a dive flag up!
Rachel D.
Tu valoración: 5 West Covina, CA
I highly recommend this dive shop to anyone in the surrounding area :) This store has only been established for about a year, so it’s better to consider quality rather than quantity when it comes to Unilocal reviews. I had roughly 4 weeks to get my advanced open water certification, and luckily Brad was able to squeeze me in, though the next advanced OW classes weren’t scheduled until after my trip to the Philippines. The entire process went smoothly, from scheduling my pool session, to scheduling my weekend of boat dives, to buying my equipment from the shop, to getting my temporary PADI certification card emailed to me immediately upon finishing my dives. The staff at Divers West does an incredible job of making sure that you, as a student, are prepared. They assess your skills and work on whatever issues you may have. They scramble for wetsuits when you show up to the boat without yours(.oops) and make sure you’re okay when you get super seasick on the boat. They also stress that safety is of the utmost importance. I’ve had several dive masters who are impatient to descend, but I never got that vibe from Bradley, Nathan or Conrad. It’s all about what you, as the student, are comfortable with. A huge thank you goes to Nathan who made the course an enjoyable experience — from being my equipment sherpa to making sure my parking meters were taken care of at our shore dives, etc. Keep an eye out on their Facebook page since they have local(and not so local) trips going on fairly often! Thank you Divers West again :)
Belle Z.
Tu valoración: 5 Pasadena, CA
I am so happy that Divers West opened in Pasadena. I needed a refresher course and had been contacting Sport’s Chalet for months(even stopped in person) to try to set up a class and couldn’t get them to contact me back. I happend to be driving by on Rosemead and saw the dive flag and walked in. They were so helpful and friendly. I was able to set up a class right away. The class portion of the refresher course went well and quickly, the pool portion gave me a bit of trouble. Both Carolyn and Nathan, were amazing and very patient with me. They let me get over my anxiety of being back under water after a five year break with out pushing me or making me feel bad about it. I felt horrible making them stay past my schedule class time but Nathan assured me, he was in no rush and that his priority was getting me reacquainted with my diving skills. I can’t thank them enough for helping me get back in the water. I was able to go diving in Epcot’s Dive Quest the following week and it was amazing! I plan on taking more classes with them! If you are planning on getting your cetification or just need a refresher course, look them up, you’ll be glad you did!
Dan D.
Tu valoración: 5 San Francisco, CA
Divers West is where I will recommend all future friends get certified in the LA area. Led by their divemaster Brad, the team at DW provided a fun, comfortable, informative, and very safe learning environment for my group of ten divers. They were very accommodating to our schedule and worked hard to get us certified at an accelerated rate of about 2 weeks. Brad also gave me a free sticker. That’s what really sold me. ;)
Kelley Q.
Tu valoración: 5 Burbank, CA
Divers West is such a great addition to Pasadena’s family-run small business scene! Pure charm! The Coes know so much about diving and dive gear. Whether it’s in the store or something they’ll order for you, you are so much better off trusting their guidance than going somewhere where they’ll know about as much about scuba as they do hiking/basketball/weightlifting/any other sport they sell the shoes for. No, THIS is the place for ALLSCUBAALLTHETIME! They will set you up just right for your needs! And if you’re looking to get any certifications, you should DEFINITELY hit up Brad. He has lots scheduled, but if you tell him that you’re interested, he’ll keep you in the loop for things as they come up that might interest you. Not ready to commit to new gear? Oh dear Lord, their rental equipment is unbelievable. Top of the line stuff here, folks. We will be renting from them when family comes into town(because we already have our own gear).
Kevin L.
Tu valoración: 5 South Pasadena, CA
Great place to get certified for any scuba classes. Classes are small and semi private and instructors are really helpful. Brad and Carolyn host a couple of dive excursions to places like Bonaire and Sea of Cortez each year and have local dive excursions almost every week.