Catalina Divers Supply

We went with Catalina Diver Supply for our first scuba experience in Catalina. The whole ordeal went well and Jeff was our guide. Having lived on the island for 10 years, he knew Casino Point Dive Park like the back of his hand and we felt very comfortable diving with him. He set up all our tanks and gear. The underwater world at Casino Point is full of life! Kelp, fish, lobsters, eel, oh my! We also saw 2 sail boat wrecks. I heard some of the other divers were lucky enough to see a turtle in November and even some sea lions came out to play! We went down to 70′ max depth, but Jeff will brief the group before the dive to see what everyone is comfortable with. Jeff was always by our side, kept the group together and made sure to monitor everyone’s air supply very well.
I went with my fiancé and his coworker friend and that was our whole group! The guided dive was $ 100 (if you book 2 or more people) and the 2^nd dive is $ 60. Booking is very easy on their website and their prices are less expensive than some of the other competitors on the island.

The good = guide was nice and gear kept us warm in the 64 degree water.
The bad = 10 min. walk that eats into your dive time, then equipment setup took FOREVER! I’m not kidding — our «start» time was 8am and we got in the water at like 9am. There’s no boat, you literally just walk down the stairs into the water and as a customer I expect all that equipment to be setup by the time we get there. That part was pretty absurd. We were in the wetsuits freezing for 30 min. alone.
It cut into our dive dramatically so we weren’t even in the water for 30 min. My bf popped blood vessels in his ear during the dive. Had to stop by the medical center afterwards which put a damper on the rest of our trip.
Would book elsewhere next time.

So the first thing that didn’t quite go our way was we booked a snorkel tour for my best friend and I. I unfortunately have a bad case of bronchitis that wouldn’t allow me to be able to participate as I had hoped. While trying to cancel or reschedule, we were being told there would be no refund or other accommodation. So we said screw it and my friend did the tour anyway while I hung out on the boat. Other than that, everything else was great.
It was a half day tour and they provided lunch for us. The captain was John and Jeff was his mate and they were FANTASTIC. Since I was sick and couldn’t go in the water, both Jeff and John talked to me and laughed while we watched everyone diving and snorkeling. They also gave us some great tips on things to do and try while visiting. Both were super helpful and made the whole experience worth it. They took us to a few different spots and pointed out so many cool things. We even saw a seal flipping a fish around playing with his food. The water was pretty calm and so clear I could see the fish from the boat. Was a completely fantastic trip. I hope next time I get the chance to get in the water.

We had a great trip snorkeling with dive master John and a young lady for our daughter’s first jump into the deeper ocean. They were very informative about the local sea life, safety and provided an awesome lunch. It’s obvious they love their work and it made for an excellent experience for our family. I highly recommend!

We went on a cruise and stopped in Catalnia, Kyla helped us and was super helpful and patient which was great becasue this was our first time snorkling ever.

Capt John and First Mate Lizzie run a great dive boat. Very clean, big, professional, and fun – the boat operation :) They were ready well before we got there. All tanks were in place, plenty of room for us eight divers and probably over a dozen snorkelers. Our turkey avocado sandwiches were great, served with chips, cookies, sodas, and water. I will do this again, and will probably rent diving gear from them too. As for dives, we saw lots of fish, lobsters, one octopus (got lucky), and little kelp. Dive sites were good for snorkelers and divers alike.

Hired some gear and did a dive at the underwater park at Casino point. It was a fun dive, the gear was all in excellent condition. Having all your equipment right there for rent adjacent the dive site made the whole experience very easy. We enjoyed the kelp forest, ship wreck and the GIANT Black Sea Bass! Which were hanging around the stern of the ship wreck.

The staff was very helpful and friendly for the «Discover Scuba» guided dive. I’m a certified diver and was pleased and impressed with how helpful and friendly the dive guides were with my teen daughter on her first underwater adventure. As well, the equipment was in good condition. (The only downside is a 10 minute walk from the pier to the Dive Park, but that’s just par for the course on Catalina.)
Special thanks to Vaughn and his team who were especially patient and helpful in easing my daughter’s anxiety and making this a fun and memorable experience.

This place does a great job. We rode on the Scuba Cat yesterday with Lizzy and Jon and had a great time. They offer a great time and are super helpful!

Bathroom are HORRIBLE!!!
only porta-​pottys available and they are not cleaned or emptied.
Toilet paper waste was piled inside the toilet so high it was coming out of the top.
Dive guide «Jeff» was very very helpful.

tl;dr: SKIP THIS PLACE & GO TO SCUBA LUV. i heard great things about them from other snorklers while in the water & felt regretful about not researching more. CDS’s piss-​poor attitudes at the casino shore put me in an awful mood for the rest of my birthday.
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i really wanted to leave a one-​star but the extra is because the cashiers at the green pier were very friendly to us — but the workers at the casino-​adjacent trailer were another story entirely. like many people on the island, my friend and i aren’t local and don’t know the protocol for many things. i mean, i needed help learning how to inhale and exhale through my snorkel mask. like, very new here.
we purchased a 2 for 1 birthday rental for snorkeling and paid at the pier location, but the kind cashier told us we’d probably see more by the casino shore, and it was no problem to pick up our gear there. we walked over and presented our receipt to the guy handling the rentals and he was noticeably disgruntled. i’m not sure what the deal was (if anyone knows, please tell me) since it was the same company. he said «ugh, they usually don’t…» before trailing off, and i explained what we’d been told minutes prior. «make a phone call?» i said. i really didn’t get it.
he handed us our gear without much explanation on where to go or what to do. this was a time of day that wasn’t very busy and we were unaware of the staircase leading into the water, and when we asked what the safest way to get in was, he just pointed in its general direction without really looking at us. we asked if we could leave our things (backpacks, shoes, clothes) somewhere while we were in the water, and he simply said «put them against the wall.»
of the casino.
the giant casino with many, many wall facades divided by pillars.
i had no idea which wall he meant, so i placed my backpack on a bench nearby the rental trailer. against a wall. again, no direction other than that.
i was helping my friend with her wetsuit and showed her where i put my things when we were done. in the few minutes between my placing my stuff down and my friend doing the same, a scuba class had exited the water and were laying their gear on the ground, close to my stuff. my friend slipped in between their floor mats, where their tanks and masks were lying, to put her stuff down.
a woman, presumably taking the class, sighed loudly & said «you guys are being SO disrespectful.» i looked at my friend & at the lady like, ‘what?’ & she continued. «you’re encroaching on our space, this is our space, and you’re being so disrespectful by being in it.»
okay, first grader?
i tried to explain to her that we were told to put our things against a wall, and this is the one i used, only to get an entitled sigh out of her.
the following is where i have my issues with Catalina Divers Supply.
another woman, likely an instructor, chimed in and said «this is absolutely disrespectful. this is not cool.» i’m not someone who takes kindly to accusatory remarks when i have no idea what the hell is even going on, so i told them both that we weren’t being disrespectful so much as we didn’t know the protocol, but i could definitely BECOME disrespectful if they were choosing to label us as such. all they had to say was «hey guys, be careful — this equipment is very expensive and we need to be cautious around it.» i totally get that! i’m a human being with capacity for open communication and i understand those things. also, i’m only bringing up the expense aspect because the instructor lady thought it pertinent to tell us how many thousands of dollars we were about to ruin, which honestly, only made me want to stand there and ‘be disrespectful’ more. after i said «we’re not from here & we don’t really know what’s going on» the instructor said «nobody’s from here, i work here. i’m telling you you’re being disrespectful. we don’t have any theft issues. you can put your stuff somewhere else.» i’d never even mentioned anything about being concerned with theft, because i wasn’t. where are these people getting their mind-​reading skills from? because they’re awful.
being that she works there, i’m going to assume that she likely deals with and speaks to hundreds of people a week, if not more. that’s plenty of readily available practice to speak kindly to people who are paying for your services and really hone some decency. as i stood there and took my time telling them this, i started to go toward my backpack since they wanted it out of there so badly — out of ‘their space’, which hadn’t even been occupied until i’d put my things there. as i did this, i accidentally knocked over a few carts while retrieving my backpack & they couldn’t even be bothered to ask if i was okay (my foot had been smashed), but i was fine with it after seeing the exasperation and frustration on their faces. worth it & worth the absolutely shitty attitude & poor regard for customers at the casino shore. be less entitled and be a little more open-​minded.

Whomever was operating the Vessel Scuba Cat on 6÷7÷2015 is either extremely dangerous or extremely ignorant! While on a live aboard with several divers in the water we observed this vessel coming uncomfortably close despite our Diver Down flag being up. After awhile our captain indicated that once all of us were out of the water they (scuba cat) were going to drop anchor. They’d worked this out via radio. No big deal. We waited while they got situated and once their divers were in the water we went for our last dive. As we were heading back to the boat we were looking for our boats anchor when suddenly we heard a boat engine either turn on or start and the engine rev or something but it was not comforting since we were in the shallower parts of the reef and it didn’t have the same grumble as our live aboard. We immediately tried to descend when the engine noise got louder and suddenly a larger Boulder only 2 – 3 feet from my buddy started to roll down at him. As he swam away from it, the Scuba Cat’s anchor racked viciously across the path as the engine roared. Had he not swam away or had I been a few feet closer we would have been seriously hurt! As we continued to look for our boats anchor we came across four divers with their companies logo on it. When we boarded our vessel many crewman reported having seen Scuba Cat tossing their anchor overboard with divers in the water!!! So let’s recap… Scuba Cat passes way too close while divers are under before finally asking the Cpt. For permission. Then The Scuba Cat throws an anchor in the water while divers are under and then turns around and rips an anchor up with not only another boat’s divers in the water but with its own divers!!! The next time you think about going on the Scuba Cat watch for falling anchors and keep your eyes open for anchors that may just jump out of the reef and kill you. Bad form Scuba Cat. Very Bad Form.

What a great place Catalina. When you add in a Disco they call it. Means discover scuba! Wow. I was a bit nervous in the beginning but the caring and attentive staff
really made me feel comfortable. The six of us went «down» with half as many staff. We had to put water in our mask and then take the breathing thing out of our mouth underwater. Yikes. We did it and had time of our lives. Fish big fish little fish. Lobster crab crazy beautiful. Can’t wait to come back to this great place and so it again and perhaps get certified. I can’t believe how calm and professional the staff is dealing with all the people there. They are even nice to really rude people! Five stars at this place for sure. I have to go thank the staff at the lobster trap for finally talking my family into this great adventure. We are over here once a month!

Extremely disappointing… Maybe a bad day?
We booked a same day «guided scuba dive» for the afternoon… pre-​paid the grossly inflated price (okay…it is Catalina and a resort area) and were told to show up 15 minutes before the scheduled time to prep., etc… okay so far.
Planned our entire day around the «dive», showed up as we were told at the Casino Point trailer where they meet and dispatch the equipment. The dive tech guy there «Danny» tells us «I don’t know anything about an afternoon dive, our last dive was at 12:00» Hmmmm maybe we are in the wrong place, nope, right place. Press Danny a bit, his response «I dunno».
At this point we are waiting now 45 minutes for someone to show up for our guided dive. We call the dive shop on the pier where we booked the dive… their response: «wait a bit longer we have the manager coming right over to straighten this out»
Now 1 hour waiting, no manager.
We have only a finite amount of time on Catalina and standing around waiting for some phantom manager was not part of our days plan. We decide to cut our losses and move on and ask «Danny» for a refund.
He tells us he won’t give us refund, but says we can go back to the shop where we booked the trip and talk to them. We then walk back to the dive shop, no surprise, they have closed for the day.
Sum total, 2 hours 15 minutes of precious time wasted, no time to look elsewhere for our dive, no dive and now we get to fight with the credit card company to dispute the charge.
The upside, thankfully we didn’t pay in cash.
If you are considering a dive while visiting, do yourself a favor and choose another dive operator.

My boyfriend and I, along with another couple, snorkeled on Valentine’s Day. It was the first time snorkeling for the three of them and we all loved it! It was beautiful. Thanks to Ruth, our guide! She was so awesome and made the experience amazing!

Birthday Dive! Showed up for a Friday 12:00pm reservation for 3. Booked online the Wed prior, but there was a mixup/​glitch on the website so they didn’t have us down. They set us up for a dive anyway! Thank goodness we were there at 11:30am to find out. Jeff was our awesome instructor — very thorough and sweet. My husband (already a good diver) LOVED him! Be ready for 45 min to get gear on, 45 min of instruction, and 25 – 30 min dive. Gear was nice and new!

I was really disappointed with the quality of rental gear! As an aid diver in San Diego, Bali and Costa Rica, I had better! Times have changed and what place doesn’t have enough gear with a dive computer, better yet, if available, makes you pay extra? My wetsuit had rips in it and was really old! I hate weight belts and love the weights in the BCD, makes for comforting dive! I am light so a weight belt SUCKS! To top if off, the rental was $ 75, gross! I can pay $ 50 for the whole package and new gear in top notch shape in SD.
Casio Point is awesome, but the dive shop here is lacking. The customer service was so-​so. If this place invested in nicer gear, it would make it all!

Amazing service. Convenient and reasonably priced.

Diving the park? Skip the pier, and head directly to their air truck out at the point. You have to love the location, it really does not get better grab and go air fills for divers diving the dive park. Fills are a bit pricey but is it the air or the location you’re paying for? There is a premium to having little to no downtime, and a minimal walk between dives. For those that don’t have their own gear they rent from snorkeling to SCUBA, forgot/​lost a piece of your equipment? They’ll rent it. There are various tanks types to choose from: Steel 72, 77, Aluminum 80, yoke and Din. Decided to take a vacation to Catalina and forgot to get certified? They offer classes and Discover SCUBA courses, get ready to dive in!

We use 2 stars to represent an average quality business. Location is great and the staff were friendly, but in our experience they were annoyingly unreliable.
We had a very mixed experience with CDS using the kiosk at the dive park. Prices were a little higher than their competition but the location is extremely convenient for diving as you can grab your gear and basically jump right into the water. They also rented LP 77 steel tanks (DIN and yolk) which were great for keeping some pounds off the waist belt.
The main issue was that they mentioned the kiosk would be on call the following day, and any time after 8 when we called they would just come down. We started calling around 8am and kept trying and waiting until around 10am with no one answering their phone, then eventually walked back into town and lugged tanks and weight belts back over from Scuba Luv (at additional cost, since we’d already started a 24 hour rental of these from CDS the afternoon before). CDS showed up later in the day and mentioned that the phone forwarding hadn’t worked and that’s why no one was responding to our calls in the morning. We were happy that they mostly offset what we had to pay for renting the additional stuff, but it was still a pretty big bummer when we only had one afternoon and one morning to dive, and lost half of that morning waiting around for them.