Bay Area Pools

Ive been involved in scuba for the past 17 years and I have been diving around most of the world. I came to the Bay Area Scuba Center to purchase gear for an upcoming trip. The owner Scott was a pleasure to work with and was very helpful with all my needs. I would recommend this business to anyone new or veteran diver. I was so impressed with his professionalism I asked for an application as an assistant instructor. By all means please visit - you will not be disappointed! owen Pros: Professional instruction all the way Cons: absolutely nothing more

Great service especially if you have an unusual schedule. Great instructor, very experienced and ready to help on an individual basis. Went through Divemaster, highly recommend. Pros: Small flexible shop more

Six years ago, my 15 year old daughter and I decided to get scuba lessons. We found Bay Area Scuba online, came there the next day and received hands on instruction and training. Since then I have been on hundreds of dives all over the world. Every time I wear my gears I recall Scott - the best scuba instructor. "Safety first and then everything should be easy and fun" and thats the truth. Pros: Instructor’s 100% confidences and support Cons: none more

Scott thank you for such a memorable class for myself and the people of my church. The teaching was great and good prices. Thanks for your patience even with the slow learners. I had gone to another school and your class was much more informative. Pros: Excellent Teaching more

I found out last minute about volunteer work where the diving is excellent. I surfed around and found only one place where I was guaranteed certification by the time I left, for only 2.5 times the going rate. The man who works this joint is a homophobic, radical christian right supporter who talked non-stop about his nightly meetings watching an Evangelical healer in between calls for his other business - Bay Area Fire Arms. His attitude is not all that's warped, he's able to certify, but not for the most common PADI licenses because he won't work up to their standards In addition the equipment is shoddy, they can't fit a wetsuit and he didn't even show up the day before my departure to give me my certification. An A+ looser. Go to Monterrey for all 4 days, you end up there for the 2 days of open water certification anyway, and its definitely a more plesant experience than any time spent with this clown. Pros: they're near the freeway Cons: technically they can be seen from the freeway but are practically impossible to get to, and the rest of my review more

DO NOT, whatever you do, take a scuba course from this store. The quality of the instruction is stunningly, and dangerously, poor. As a multi-year veteran of outdoor sports instruction (including years spent teaching backpacking, whitewater rafting, rock climbing, and sea kayaking) I'm well qualified to review the work of other outdoor sports instructors. Additionally, I'm scuba certified, an experienced diver, and a sibling of a professional research diver. The numerous problems with this store include the following (a small sampling), which were actually experienced by my fiance during her course last weekend (during which, regrettably, I was out of town): * The instructor had my fiance store and transport the scuba tanks in her car for the weekend. There was no mention of the fact that she should be careful to protect the valve assembly from cracking against another tank as the two tanks rolled around in her trunk - because if she hadn't, a broken-off valve turns a tank into a freakin' missile! * The course was scheduled to be about 8 hours of self-guided online instruction from SDI (which was decent, not great) before the pool and classroom work over the weekend, which was supposed to be 4 hours on a Fri night and 8 hours on a Sat of in-person and in-pool instruction - however, the instructor was so disorganized that the class actually did 3 hours on Fri, 4 hours on Sat, and the rest on Sunday! One of the other students was leaving for a diving trip to Tahiti on Sun, and thus could not finish the course! Amazingly, the instructor announced this change of schedule only at the end of the previous day's instruction. * My fiance was a little unclear on the very basic scuba skills of ascending and descending safely - stunningly, though I know these are supposed to be a standard and early part of the curriculum (doesn't every single dive involve both?!) my fiancee had to actually ASK the instructor to teach the class those things. more