Rating of 5 out of 5 starsNovember 6, 2022 I highly recommend Any Water Dive Center for getting your open-water scuba certification. The staff is so attentive and helpful every time we are in the store, and is excellent at providing information about scuba and equipment in a way a new diver can understand.
The instructors for the course from Davy Jones Scuba (Lance, Nick, Mike) were both knowledgable and fun, but most importantly, they were supportive. I was very anxious about the mask removal and replace and they provided encouragement, strategies, and extra praise when I was able to complete this skill.
Trying to figure out what this Groupon includes/excludes was confusing to me, so I want to share the true price of getting the certification from Any Water for two people:
$385 for this Groupon (used promo code SAVE for additional $50 off)
$775.02 for instructor fees and online course, paid to Any Water
Total: $1160
***NOTE: Purchasing directly from Any Water is a total of $1194, so the Groupon only saves you $34 total. HOWEVER, the Groupon does get you a year of the dive club membership which is $45 per year and gives you a 10% discount at the store for equipment like purchasing your gloves/boots etc., and the Groupon also gets you 1 weekend of free rental gear after completion of Open Water course ($99 value) and $100 trip voucher off any Any Water Dive Center trip.
You will also need to purchase mask, fins, snorkels, shoes, and gloves, here's what I paid:
$95.00 for mask, purchased at Any Water
$97.46 for fins, purchased at Any Water
~$25 for snorkel (I already owned one)
$42.50 for shoes, purchased on Amazon
$25.23 for gloves, purchased on Amazon
The class includes the days of equipment rentals, but it is important to note that you will need to come in prior to the Friday class start date to try on the wetsuit and BCD. The schedule for the class is also important to note:
Pre-class: Go to Any Water to try on BCD/wetsuit & complete online class (~8hrs)
Friday: ~6-9:30PM Any Water classroom portion, load equipment rentals (wetsuit, hood, BCD, tanks, weights and regulators) into your car
Saturday: ~6AM-12PM, but we wrapped up at about 1PM and then needed to go back to Any Water to refill our tanks
Sunday: ~6AM-12PM, and then need to go back to Any Water to refill our tanks at some point before the next weekend (closed Sundays)
2nd Saturday: ~6AM-2PM in Monterey, and then need to refill tanks at either Any Water or Aquarius. You will be tired!
2nd Sunday ~6AM-2PM in Monterey
Monday after: MUST return equipment on this day since Any Water is closed on Sundays.
Other expenses: Of our class of 8, only my fiancé and I chose not to stay in Monterey between Saturday & Sunday to save money, as staying in Monterey can be $300+/night even on AirBnB, but if you can afford it, I highly recommend since we were so tired. Also, parking at the beach was $10/day.
Overall, I loved my experience and am SO happy I chose Any Water. I just want to make sure that other Groupon-ers knew about the true overall cost of getting certified, & about the time commitment.
Rating of 5 out of 5 starsSeptember 27, 2021 The customer service at AWS was amazing, and the staff that conducted the training (Davy Jones Scuba) were fun to work with. Instructions and expectations from the staff were very clear, and the experience exceeded our expectations.
You’ll have one day of classroom review, two days of practicing in a pool, and two days of ocean dives.
Highly recommend this for those looking for certification.