Last Frontier Diving & Adventures — Local services in Alaska

I first contacted Last Frontier Diving about their drysuit certification. It took several phone calls for me to get info on pricing and about a month to figure out when they were going to have a class. They told me that they needed to figure out times and it depended on if they got enough people to do the class. I gave them dates that worked for me for the current month and to let me know if they have any openings next month and I could work my work schedule around them. I was asked to constantly call back and finally when I got an answer that they'd e-mail me the information they switched the @gmail to @hotmail apparently so I never got any info until it was far too late. When I finally got a call back on when the classes were scheduled, it was very last minute and I booked with Dive Alaska instead. I give 1 star because of this experience.

My second experience was when I needed to get my Apeks ATX 50 regulator overhauled. I came in with my regulator and all the paperwork to keep my lifetime parts warranty. During my conversation with Emily, I was asking about the span of time Aqua Lung is okay with doing the repairs and we dated it for that day so that it was as close to the purchase date as possible. She told me the regulator would be done by June 27th or 28th at the latest. I was extremely happy with the time because it was much closer than expected. I waited for a call and finally called July 1st and was told that it would be another day or two. I called again on July 3rd and the status at the shop was unknown and they had to check with Emily. She called me that day and said she would come in and work on it and it would be finished that night. I asked what the bill would be expecting about $80 and she told me it was $280. I knew my dad had just overhauled his Apeks ATX 50 regulator AND got his BC inspected for $70 in Idaho. I asked where the cost came from and she started listing off the part prices. Obviously, I had to stop her right there and ask why I was getting charged for parts because I was getting the regulator overhauled specifically because I was keeping my Aqua Lung warranty for free parts. She explained to me that her shop opted out of the lifetime warranty for parts because they sell their stuff "discounted" She initially said she'd split the difference with me because it came as a surprise to me. We had conversed for about 15 minutes when I first met her and talked specifically about the lifetime warranty and not once did she bring up the part where she "opted out" of the program. I told her that I didn't think she was doing the right thing and she agreed to eat the cost of the parts and charged me $90 in the end.

All in all, I will never recommend nor spend a penny at Last Frontier Diving again. The staff is not very knowledgeable and I have serious concerns about Emily's integrity. My business is going straight to Dive Alaska I guess and if I ever need work done on my Aqua Lung products then I will have Dive Alaska...

Last Frontier Diving & Adventures is simply the best! I cannot recommend Emily (Owner) and her staff enough. They are extremely knowledgeable and professional. The selection of gear is top notch and they use what they sell, can’t get a better recommendation than that! My 13yo daughter got scuba certified in January at Whittier AK, her staff was amazing! It was a large class but Emily and Taya (lead instructor) took the time to make absolutely certain that all students (even a teenager!) knew the course material and had plenty of hands on practice before progressing to the next task or skill. As a parent you always worry when your child does any activity but in this case at no time did we thing our daughter wasn’t in the absolute best hands possible. Again, they were simply amazing instructors. I hadn’t dived in 15+ years so I took the Scuba Refresher course and Divemaster Christie ensured that my class knew all the new gear, safety procedures, hand signals, etc. Ensure that each one of us was fully proficient again before we ever got in the water. We have done the dive trips that LFDA sets up; they go out of their way to get the best dive sites and experience possible. If you haven’t done the S/V Juliet with LFDA then you are truly missing out! LFDA diving adventures are simply amazing and Emily and Staff go all out to ensure that her guests have the best possible time. Even the 14yo had a blast and with no electronics! That’s saying something! The attention to detail and safety that LFDA shows is amazing. We have now taken numerous more certification courses through LFDA and cannot wait to take more. They truly make every visit, class, dive and adventure with them a complete joy to experience. Highly recommend you give them a try, you won’t be...

When I was in Alaska for a conference, I wanted to knock out a dive. LFDA's staff was amazing to help coordinate that. Ryan was awesome in getting everything scheduled, ensuring I had everything I needed, and had a great attitude the entire time. Mike was a great guide in the water, as well. Conditions were crap the day we went out, but Mike maintained a pretty great attitude about it all. Hopefully the next time I come to visit will be a better day, so I can get some...