My son and I live in Virginia Beach, Virginia. We decided to take a trip to Fort Lauderdale to do a night dive with South Florida Diving Headquarters in December 2022. When I made the reservation, I was told that with only my son and myself diving, they would be unable to guarantee are dive unless we signed up for renting all our gear through them as well as hiring a personal dive instructor through their organization. They told us that as long as we spent $500 with their organization, they could guarantee a boat for us and with us flying Allegiant Air and staying overnight, they realized we needed a solid reservation (outside of weather risks). We fly down, drove from the airport the 45 minute drive to where they are located. Upon our arrival they told us that they had decided to cance...
In business it is never how you manage things when everything is fine, it is how you manage a situation when it has gone awry. In my line of business I've had customers personally insulting me and threatening to go to another vendor when their systems are down, and its our fault in some way, only to later have dinner and drinks with me and spend more money with me, never expecting an apology from them because, they're my customer, they put money in my pocket, and they deserve to be upset when the peanut butter hits the fan. At SFDH, this isn't the case, especially when you realize this place is run by, and is, a white trash run operation who simply doesn't want to hear about anything negative with their operation. Its worth noting, you may believe you're in a T-shirt shop instead of a d...
I have been diving for over 5 years. I was diving with John Russell while he was certifying a class. After reporting the following things, he is no longer certified with PADI (put in diver number 40957 at http://www.padi.com/scuba/prochek/Default.aspx):
1) Diving in a restricted area. There were plenty of signs that said the bacteria content was too high too swim. He disregarded my comments that it wasn't a place to go diving.
2) Poorly maintained equipment. My secondary was filled with sand and he would not give me a new one. When we got into the water, I found that my primary had a leak which allowed water to get into my mouth with every breath. I had to leave the group to change it out.
3) Did not meet certification requirements. The maximum depth that the class went was only 12 f...
You will love the folks at Gigglin' Marlin Dive & Swim. They rock!
Terry Nooner (Owner) has a PhD in physiology for starters. 4 of us took a beginner course from him 29 years ago. We referred four other couples to him and two of those people were poor swimmers and frightened by the idea! He was so kind, reassuring and patient with them that they had no trouble certifying and are now avid divers. We've all been on multiple trips with him and his crew (organized by his shop) and everyone has nothing but great things to say about Terry and the arrangements made for the trips. He's honest, caring, helpful, knowledgeable, fun and funny. Everyone that I've met that works for him is cut from the same cloth. I've talked with lots of divers who've used other shops and instructors and I've heard a lot of complaints! Not so for St Croix Scuba. No matter where you...
This operation is nonredeemable, and I mean there isn't one single aspect of this operation for which one could write a positive note when viewed through an objective lens in comparison with other operations along the east coast of Florida. I'll try to break this down in sections, here we go:
Professionalism and operational efficiency: The first thing you'll come to realize is you won't know who actually works for SFDH, no one is wearing a common uniform, and even when you have your gear with you trying to find out where to go, or what to do, people just walk by you without saying a word. You have some people wearing shirts from other shops, yet they apparently worked for SFDH. This is like wearing a Winn-Dixie shirt when you're working at Publix, yet it gets more confusing when you f...
All I can say is wow - Very unsafe, very unprofessional, these guys are more concerned about having a good time themselves than ensuring the safety of the people who paid for their services.
Please if you are serious about becoming a scuba diver and want to know how to do it right and have fun don't waste you money with these clowns 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻
Great prices on dive gear. Usually beats the online shops and has a price match guarantee.
Great training!
Jeff is an excellent instructor! He makes you feel comfortable, explains all the gear so you don't feel intimidated. He has many years of experience and I would highly recommend him for any of your SCUBA needs.
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