Down To Scuba - Scuba Diving & Snorkeling Tours — Local services in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea

Came to this excursion with a group of friends who were interested in snorkeling for the very first time with no snorkeling experience at all. A lot of time was spent going over how to put on gear and how things should work on land, but not so much in the water, almost felt like a race to catch up with the group for those who struggled a bit. I even struggled a bit getting the fins on since we were more so chest high fighting against the currents instead of waist high which would have been more appropriate. The instructor did come back for me to help re-strap my fin since it came off and made it tighter, should have been tight in the first place rather than having a little give to it. I still had to constantly pull my strap up throughout the experience.

The instructors should just have those who has never gone snorkeling a requirement to inflate their vest and even for those who do not want to dive a requirement as well. Testing the gear while in shallow water would have been very helpful for an event of an emergency if needed.

Be warned, there are no breaks out in the open water and will need endurance to keep up with the group, even had to have one of the other participants (not instructors) hoist me out of the water to get salt water out of my goggles. A floatation device is clearly needed by the instructor for those who might want to have a break, readjust gear, or may need life saving techniques out at sea.

Sadly, one of my friends had to swim back to shore ALONE, so clearly she's able to swim 🙂, even before hitting the open water since her gear was coming off and her life vest while a participant (not instructor) did help her get hers inflated by the time she got back to shore it was deflated again.

The instructors should have seen a person struggling and headed back to shore, swam back with them, and made sure that they were safe before heading back out with the group since they are the most experienced swimmers out of all of us. A third instructor would have been nice for those times of need in case of emergencies.

The instructors were very accommodating out in the open water making sure everyone saw interesting artifacts as well as anything cool. They did make sure I saw the sea turtle since I was a bit far back trying to get the salt water out of my goggles which was very nice of them and glad that I was able to witness something so rare as that. Just needs to work on the instructional part of the tour in shallow water and be more attentive for those first timers out in ocean water which is very different from pool swimming and the instructors should have an understanding of that to accommodate those better. It is a lot easier once you are out in the open water not fighting against the currents, but that's if you are able to get past the currents fitting your gear on.

Edit: if any sort of complaint is made, they will come attack you without reasoning or any sort of adult discussion on what can be done better...

If you are looking for unique, one of a kind scuba diving adventures, don’t hesitate to book with Down to Scuba! They are a wonderful organization who do truly value the experience that their customers have. If you need to get Scuba Certified, the company’s Dive Master, Jordan (who is a PADI certified diving instructor) will put you through a detailed, yet easy to understand course that will give you classroom time and water time prior to becoming PADI Scuba Certified. Jordan is an absolutely amazing instructor that truly cares for the safety and scuba practice of his students and divers. I have dived with Jordan now eight times and I can tell you that each time diving with him has been better than the last; from going through the process of obtaining my Scuba Certification with him to having Open Water dives with him once I became certified, Jordan displayed unbelievable amounts of professionalism safety emphasis and good spirits throughout. Again, if you are looking for a very memorable diving experience, go with Dow...

Our tour guides gave us instructions on land before we got into the water. They said we could choose to inflate our life vests, but if we wanted to dive we should leave them as is.

They told us we’d go into the water at chest height and put the fins on, but it was more like neck height, and because none of us had inflated or learned how to properly inflate our vests in the water while fighting the current, it was a very tough experience.

They should have given us more instructions and time to get acclimated to the water, to inflate and deflate our life vests, then once we looked and all felt good, taken us further out.

I also think they should have had a boogie board or something for us if people needed a break while out in the water.

I would not recommend for very beginners or first time snorkelers.

*update: lowered rating because of a very...