wanting to find shop in Del Mar/San Diego

[broncobowsher]

Disclaimer: So as the friend who dives, who gets the call when researching dive shops? I do.
Trouble is he lives in Del Mar area and I am in Arizona. I don't know the local market at all. I don't even know what all the little town names around there are to know if they are local or not. My cure to this problem, the internet!

So shopping for a dive shop to get a friend certified. Any recommendations for shops? (both good and those to avoid). Any place running a decent deal on training right now? I don't mean the get in the door price, out the door with a card in hand price is what we are interested in. (he will probably do check out dives somewhere nice clear, warm, and requiring a passport.) So don't need anything fancy for now, just a basic open water will do.

Well at this point I asked. Check back in a week or so and filter the responses and see if I can provide some direction. Thanks.

 

[asha]

We did a few dives with Waterhorse Charters last weekend and really liked them. We plan to dive with them again in the fall.

 

[reefduffer]

I don't know of a shop right in or around Del Mar. Ocean Enterprises is in North San Diego, right down the freeway. Google says 13 miles from Del Mar.
See San Diego Scuba Diving Store and Training: Ocean Enterprises - Ocean Enterprises They seem to be running a sale on OW and AOW courses at the moment, I don't know about the class side of a referral, but you can ask. OE is the biggest LDS in San Diego, a PADI shop. I took my Nitrox training there, bought most of my gear there, and took a marine biology seminar there taught by a retired UCSD professor.

There's also a smaller shop in Encinitas, San Diego Scuba Diving | North County Scuba Center
This is an SSI shop. Hmmm. Also seem to be running a sale. My exposure to them was renting a tank once, but they've been around for quite a few years, so I expect they're competent. That would be about 8 miles north.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

If the cost of instruction is an important factor, then I wouldn't recommend doing an OW referral. It is certainly not the most economical way of getting scuba certified. It also splits the instruction across different instructors which may make the training feel a little bit disjointed. Moreover, there's likely to be some lag time between the confined water instruction and the OW check-out dives in a tropical locale -- that's more time for your friend to forget what he/she has learned. Why not just have your friend become fully OW certified here in San Diego? La Jolla Shores is a great training site for cold water diving and is the most likely location for local OW class dives. It would also leave more time for fun dives during the dive vacation.

There are several shops in the area that do scuba instruction. The one I'm most familiar with is Ocean Enterprises, a PADI-affiliated LDS located in the Clairemont Mesa area (15 min drive to La Jolla Shores). I know many of their DMs and instructors personally, and the ones with whom I am acquainted are dedicated teachers. The only problem is that some of their classes (especially during the summer) can get rather large. I don't think that this will be a problem in the winter. OE is currently running a 50% off sale on OW instruction. You might want to look into it.

Sport Chalet in the nearby UTC area also does instruction. Hopefully others will chime in with other recommended OW class options.

For good boat ops, I'd recommend the Marrissa, the Lois Ann, and Waterhorse Charters (the Humboldt). There has been some recent drama on the Marrissa as the management has changed hands in the last year. I hear that the op is still providing good service, though. As for local boat dive sites, I can recommend anything in the Point Loma Kelp beds. It's probably worthwhile to do one or two dives at the Yukon or the RubyE.

Arguably, some of the best local diving is at Scripps Canyon, located just north of the La Jolla Shores Underwater Park. It's an advanced site, though.

If you plan to do any local diving at all, you should join the Divebums.com email list. People post daily dive reports and other things of local interest to the list.

Good luck with everything...

 

[stanky1]

Tell your friend to call or text jesse at 619-850-5752 or email jesse@sandiegoscubacenter.com

You won't be able to match his experience. He certified my daughter about 1 1/2 yrs ago. A lot of dive instructors come and go, and I didn't want her to get a newb. We all know the value of experience in this activity. Worth the extra drive, but most dives are at LJ Shores anyway. He was flexible with our time constraints, offered different options on class size, and best price to top it off.

 

[santafejoe]

When i am out in San Diego once a month i always go to Ocean Enterprises or to the Sports Chalet in Mission Valley.