SCUBA Network — Local services in New York

I purchased a deal through Groupon. I wanted to try scuba diving but since it’s an extreme sport, best to play by the rules and fully understand the dangers of what I am getting myself into. First day when I signed up I stated that I never done scuba diving before and just want to try it out to see where it will lead me to. I was encouraged to purchase the gear instead of using rental. I would lose all the right to receive 20% off once I decided to rent the gear. Mark claimed that they do not profit off the groupon and purchasing gear will support the instructors. He also stated that he included the gear rental part on the groupon to capture newcomers. Mark kept pushing and saying that it’s best to purchase the gear and find the best fit for you. I told him 3 times that I do not want to be carrying all this equipment on the plane and I’m not sure if scuba diving is for me, just want to try it out for now. If I am interested, I will purchase the gear. The rental equipment they provided was EXTREMELY worn out and already ended their life term. The condition appeared as if someone had threw it in the trash and this scuba shop decided to pick it back up and use it as a rental. The shoes given had holes, the flippers would come off during pool session and the goggles would not fit based on face. I never seen such horrific rental equipment condition in my life. I was asked again to either purchase the equipment and or use the broken rental gear. On my first pool session the flippers came out 3 times, water would go into my mask. I am surprised that I was able to complete the 2 pool sessions and I felt like I did a stellar job for broken rental gear. By the end of the 2nd pool session, Ryan pulled me aside and “recommended” me to do an extra class because I appeared to be struggling when I was doing my swimming laps. (I made stops to tighten the flippers) I do consider myself a frequent swimmer and for someone to tell me I cannot finish laps felt insulting. He mentioned that he will give me the next class discounted for $70 and would be able to put me into the class that works with my schedule and Mark originally said was full. I asked Ryan again on which class I did bad on and which skill set in specific, he just said overall I just believe you would need one more class. It did NOT answer my question, why would I need to work on overall? There isn’t something I failed or didn’t follow through on? Then I asked him which class should I take the first or second pool class, Ryan said “either one” I never came back for that extra class since it was recommended but he never mentioned that it was required. I came back to get my book signed that I completed the pool sessions the day before I fly to Florida to do my open water dive. Ryan would not sign my book and said I did not come back for that extra class he requested me to. He told me to do the class tonight, I had no swim gear on me at all. Ryan told me I can just purchase swimwear and join the class for $100, I refused it. He wrote me a letter stating I would need one more pool session and can complete it in Florida. Ryan then said once I completed my open water dives I can come back and pay $10 for the license. This place already required me to purchase a logbook of $16 a defogger for $8 and the license card would be $10 if I wanted a physical copy. When I went to Florida keys for my open water session, defogger was provided to us for FREE, the flippers were not loose or falling off, the mask did not have water flooding in and the license card was also free. I know groupon can sometimes be a bit deceiving but this place is a scam shop, if you have no intention of purchasing their overpriced gear, the service will be terrible. I saw the same pair of goggles that they sell at Scuba Network in the Florida dive shop I went to for HALF the price. This place isn’t even deserving of 1 star if I can rate...

I always wanted to learn to scuba dive, but never got around to it. Last year, I decided to go for it. Researching scuba shops in NYC and choosing a good one was a bit daunting. I visited Scuba Network and signed up for a class that day.

Rishi and Fallon were the instructors for my pool sessions. I was assigned to Fallon and she was great! Rishi was very cool too! I was thinking of doing my Open Water Cert in Florida, but Fallon convinced me to do it in Bonaire this past February.

And am I GLAD I did! It was AMAZING! After getting over my nerves for the firsts of everything: snorkel in open water, jump off the dock into the open water, first dive, first wreck, it was FANTASTIC. I had the best time ever! All the amazing marine life: sea turtles, variety of fishes, seahorses, eels, etc. The people on the trip were awesome as well as the instructors. Brandon, who works out of the Florida shop, helped me so much with my buoyancy and breathing. He's a fantastic instructor! Ryan was a great group leader and took care of everything on the trip. It was so great that I signed up for another trip in the summer!

I highly recommend Scuba Network! The staff there is great and it's a great family/community they have created. The staff are experienced and knowledgeable. They're responsive to emails and questions.

To recap: Staff/Instructors - Awesome! Knowledgeable, friendly, and supportive. This is key especially if you always wanted to learn scuba, but are apprehensive and nervous.

Lessons - The pool and open water lessons were great. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be to do some of the skills. For the lessons, you can rent the gear you need or buy them.

Pricing - Reasonable or maybe even cheaper compared to other shops. With some of the other shops, it was hard to pin down the exact pricing and what was included.

Quality of Store - All your scuba needs are here. You get a discount on gear if you do the open water class with them. I opted to buy my own gear here because you can actually try out the wetsuits, fins, mask, etc. You can't do that online. Did I also mention a discount? The quality of gear is great.

Trips - The trips they offer are amazing and I wish I can do all of them! Especially if they're anything like the Bonaire trip.

Community - The community they've built here is amazing.

Location - The store is conveniently located off 6th Ave on 21st Street near the F, M 23rd Street station and the M55, M7 bus stops at 23rd Street or 20th on 6th Ave (going uptown) and corresponding stops on 5th Ave (going downtown).

Final last words from a novice scuba diver:

Buy vs. Rent - I decided to buy all the personal items first - mask, snorkel, wetsuit, booties, fins because I know it'll fit me since you can try all these items before buying it. Also, if you decide not to continue with scuba for some reason, you can use them for snorkeling.

If you need a prescription mask, it was very easy to order one through the store, just provide them with your eyeglass prescription. They'll work with you to find another mask if the mask you choose can't do that prescription.

I ended up getting my computer from them using the discount because being familiar with the computer allowed me to worry about one less thing to figure out when on a trip.

The BCD and regulator you can definitely rent. I decided to buy mine since there was a deal going on. I actually absolutely LOVE the BCD I got! The Sherwood Luna has the pull out weights and the two dump valves, one in the back and one in the front! Having the one in the front made controlling buoyancy easier for me. Again, I bought them to have two less things to worry about.

Nitrox - Definitely take the nitrox class! After my pool swims, I was pretty tired the following day. I didn't have that feeling when I was using...

I was so fortunate to have wandered into Scuba Network when I did as their staff has been absolutely amazing to work with between finding the right BCD or video/camera equipment down to the trip that I recently went on with them to Bonaire.

From gear and shopping perspective, they have a ton of excellent gear but the thing I've appreciated the most was just the way their team listened to what I needed as a diver and matched up the appropriate equipment. Appropriate being the key word here as they helped me find what would fit my lifestyle and diving style vs all the stuff I picked out from reading blog posts and reviews.

As mentioned, I recently took a trip with them to Bonaire and it was really a transformational trip for me as a diver and just in general. Some of the things I appreciated most from that trip:

They knew the locations, the dive resort and all of the best spots to make sure we had the best possible experience. I spent hours upon hours planning the spots to do our shore dives and they just were like "ya...already had that planned". They have got you covered on the planning front. Just treat yourself and enjoy the ride.

Instructors like Fallon and Ryan LOVE diving and they carry that enthusiasm into finding teaching moments and just really fun experiences every chance they can.

I went into that trip with no real friends in the diving world as I have only gone on one off trips for myself. I now have a crew that I've met for dinner (and I absolutely love hanging with them) and multiple people that I can stay and touch with to talk about diving and life. I see many trips around the world with various people that I met and havent even gotten the chance to connect with yet post-Bonaire.

It was like I was living in one massive dive club for a week. I learned so many tips and tricks from seasoned pro's like Karen and Bill and then got to share some of my own little learnings with new divers (who were well taken care of by the likes of Fallon).

I had the time of my life and had more VALUE out of my trip than any of my trips I've painstakingly planned out on my own.

I cannot wait for many many years of trips with this team and future trainings. I'll add more photos but these are the ones I have on rotation as my background image for my work computer to always remind me of my trip and...