Favorite Northern CA dive shop

[sillygrendel]

Frank at Anywater is awesome. He has saved my butt fixing gear on short notice quite a few times. Great shop.

 

[bbianchi]

There are two Aquarius Dive Shops in Monterey, one on Del Monte and one at the
Breakater. Different ownership. I think there's a guy named Rod who works at the
one on the Breakwater.

ah Aquarius II. I dont go there as I hear they can be liberal with filter replacements at times. Also I had a bad experience trying to buy a tank there and was threatened to be sued. All I wanted was a refund because after a month I still didn't get it but was quoted 2 weeks. I was told that I should have known there were no refunds but nothing said that. Once I told him I would share my experience that's when the threats of legal action flowed. Great customer service indeed.

 

[Anti-Hero]

Dolphin in Sacramento is where I go to spend my money. I've done all my PADI related training through them and have no regrets!

Andy's Scuba world is a nice, friendly shop, but they can't match Dolphins selection and price.

 

[bc08]

I like AWS (San Jose) and Blue Water (Sunnyvale). They are not pushy
and knowledgeable about the gear they sell.

I agree with some of the earlier posts about Diver Dans. Seems like
their goal is to pump out as many students as possible. Their sales
folks seem to follow the mantra "X is more expensive than Y. Buy X.
Y is crap.".

 

[SoCalAngel]

For online purchases, Scuba Toys is wonderful!! I can't say enough good about them. They ARE a local dive shop as well!

Steve

Which Scuba Toys are u talking about? The one in Orange County was brought out by Beach Cities Scuba and is no longer affiliated with the LDS. It is just online now.

I've been having issues finding a shop I like in Monterey. I live about an hour south, with no dive shops between me and Monterey. I had my reg serviced at Aquarious on Del Monte last summer. The exhale port was broken and the outer cover was starting to break. I left my reg there for two weeks. They replaced all the internal stuff, but mickeymoused the exhale port and didn't replace the outer cover. When I dropped off the reg WITH the owner, he said he would take care of these items. I picked up my reg three days before flying to invasion in FL. WHen I showed the owner the two unfixed items, he said to leave it for another week. WHen I told him I couldn't, he said "well, thats your problem then." He charged me full price, didn't offer to fix it after I got back from my trip or anything. I will NOT be going there again.

I've had tank fills by Aquarious by breakwater and MBDC. Everytime I go in those shops, I don't get the comfy welcome feel I used to get at Laguna Sea Sports in SoCal. There's little to no conversation and they both give lousy HP air fills.

So, where is a diver chick to go???

 

[JustinW]

I remember when I first saw this thread when I was new to Scubaboard, funny to see it still going.

I've had tank fills by Aquarious by breakwater and MBDC. Everytime I go in those shops, I don't get the comfy welcome feel I used to get at Laguna Sea Sports in SoCal. There's little to no conversation and they both give lousy HP air fills.

So, where is a diver chick to go???

Keith and the guys at Bamboo Reef have always been really nice to me. I guess its hard in monterey because those shops get so much more foot traffic than an average dive shop, makes it hard for the experience to be as personal.

 

[blewgrass]

Which Scuba Toys are u talking about? The one in Orange County was brought out by Beach Cities Scuba and is no longer affiliated with the LDS. It is just online now.

Scuba Gear and Scuba Diving Equipment - Discount dive gear (Cheap online!)

Go to the "contact us" page and click on the press hat. There is a reason they are getting the attention of the WSJ and other publications. I wish it weren't so but dealing with the local clowns has forced me into this situation. Read for yourselves.

They are located in Houston TX. They treat me like I'm their neighbor more so than most of the locals. I have yet to experience other shop outside the North Bay.

 

[Brewski]

I'd like to echo BrianM's comments about Dolphins service. I have had experiences where I walked into the service area with a concern and Jan or Sean would stop what they were doing and take a look at it right away. Now sure I do teach out of Dolphin but if you think that affords me special treatment, let me tell you I've seen others do the same thing as I was in the shop, with the same response. Just genuinely nice people there.

 

[SoCalAngel]

Keith and the guys at Bamboo Reef have always been really nice to me. I guess its hard in monterey because those shops get so much more foot traffic than an average dive shop, makes it hard for the experience to be as personal.

Yeah, I spoke with the Sherwood rep at the SCUBA Show and he recommended Bamboo Reef as well. I will be going there first thing on Saturday.

 

[Ben_ca]

Now if they could just fix the parking issue at Bamboo it would be perfect...

Another vote for AWS