Diver Dan's - Santa Clara, California

Eric L.

Did a PADI OW referral course with Deanna here, went great. Jeremy at the shop was also very helpful in picking out gear with me.

Marek S.

I had a great experience with this first 5 star Padi center in Bay Area. My kid did the open water diver course over two past weekends. Dan suggested and fitted the basic equipment for my kid. We got the rest of gear free with the OWD course. Now I have my buddy after waiting 16 years. I recommend Dan’s great - better than internet (as he claims while allowing to fit the mask fins gloves boots haha) - prices. The classes with Matt Vandercook and two Steves were great! My kid had such a great experience. As I am planning on my Dive Master with them next year my kid wants now AOWD, too.

Sarah M.

Diver Dan was great! I’m going snorkeling for the first time and Dan was very kind and helpful. He taught me how to pick a mask and - when I said I wanted prescription lenses - he pulled out several lenses to see if they would work for me. I tried them but still went with order my own prescription due to astigmatism. He’s worked with a great lens maker who can handle many prescriptions. I then asked about getting a rash guard suit and he helped me find the right one for me. Super grateful and would definitely go back 🙂

Robin O.

I cannot recommend getting your PADI certification with Diver Dan's. My husband and 10 yr old daughter attended one Open Water Diver's course and I attended a different one - both at Diver Dan's. We all had bad experiences and didn't realize things could be better until we tried again with another company.

My daughter's instructor at Diver Dan's called us up the day before class to say that he didn't think she could do the scuba class and that we should just cancel it. It turns out, he just had no clue how to teach kids. For example, making her suit up in all her scuba gear (more than half her body weight) and stand there for 30 minutes while he explained what was going to happen in the water. Diver Dan's also gave my daughter ended up with gear that didn't fit - despite their insistence that the youth gear would work - and she couldn't complete the open water portion of the class. We ended up confirming what the instructor told us - she couldn't do scuba with Diver Dan's.

My daughter and husband have since completed their PADI certification with a different company and had a fabulous time. This other company believed in my daughter could complete her certification and didn't place unnecessary road blocks in her way or tell her that she couldn't do it. Diver Dan's classes were a huge waste of our time, money, and emotions.

My PADI class with Diver Dan's had 9 students and one instructor. Our instructor had difficulty dealing with 9 students. None of us knew what we were doing. I didn't feel supported or encouraged. Our instructor was constantly looking for reasons to fail us. Half of our class didn't return for the second day of open water time because of how badly the first day went. I left feeling completely discouraged.

I DO NOT recommend Diver Dan's PADI certification courses.

Gus F.

Diver Dan's has been my dive shop since I became certified in 1997. I've been to other shops and they're not nearly as good. The staff are friendly and attentive. Upstairs they have classrooms where you can take all of the standard PADI courses, and they now have a large pool for on-site practice. If you live anywhere near Silicon Valley, this is the place to go. I'm happy to give five stars to this PADI five star facility.

Jackie G.

For the last 4 weekends a group of Flipper Dippers have been sharpening their dive skills with Padi classes given by Brian Zaugg and Mark Haviek. Great classes, great instructors! We all passed our Emergency first response ,(first aid and CPR,) Emergency oxygen provider,and rescue diver classes. Well worth the time and effort, I learned a lot of skills , I feel very confident in applying my emergency skills if necessary. Our instructors even set up a tour of the Monterey hyperbariac chambers!08

Sasha G.

My first experience with this shop was for the “Discover Local Diving” service. Originally the website advertised this as a guided dive, so most people (many of whom were brand new to diving) showed up expecting a guided dive. At the briefing we were informed that he “guide” is not going to be guiding and will be teaching an AOW class while we’re going to be diving. My buddy, who just had her regulator serviced that Dan’s, had to thumb the second dive because her regulator was not working properly (disappointing as well, because she basically had to drive all the way from Monterey to the shop to get it fixed again). I ended up with a pair of new divers who did not yet feel comfortable in the water without a divemaster or a guide. They basically had to buddy up on the spot at the briefing after we were informed that we are not going to be diving as a group. I emailed a complaint to the dive shop regarding false advertising and asked for a refund, to which they told me “thank you for your concerns, give us a call and we will issue you a refund and explain to you how we run these”. I mean… I literally just experienced how you guys run these. Didn’t bother getting my money back but won’t be coming back unfortunately, despite the great selection at the shop. After my complaint, they changed the description of the service on the website.

Katya G.

My partner and I took the Open Water certification course (accelerated weekend version). We got lots of help selecting our gear and getting fitted. Our instructors and assistant instructors were phenomenal. They made sure we knew what we were doing and also made the experience a lot of fun! Now, be prepared for a physically TOUGH and LONG first weekend of pool dives. There are a lot of exercises you have to do, the class is large, and the pool is not the most fun place to be with all that heavy gear. Tough it out, it will get way better! and all that training in the pool is WORTH it when you get to do the ocean dives the second weekend. It was magical going 20ft under right next to the kelp on our first ocean dive and seeing the cutest little snails, giant starfish, little and big fish, sea anemones, diving birds, and so much more. We felt pretty safe after all that training. The instructors always made sure we understood any of our mistakes and made us repeat exercises if we needed it. I recommend Diver Dan's for the courses or for buying gear. It's a shop built around community made possible by people who are very passionate about safe fun scuba!