SCUBAfy Dive Center

Scheduling system sucks… They don’t respond to emails or calls… buyer beware!!! Another Boulder city bust!!! Look else where my friends!

Get yourself ScubaFY’d with Charlie and Nick, you’ll be glad you did. Just got certified and can’t say enough about what a great experience it was. Holly was extremely helpful during the whole process, and was able to work around our crazy schedules. The dives were fun, informative, and affordable. Get the equipment from the shop too, they’ve got great prices. I’ve recommended them many times to friends who are thinking about getting certified. You never know when you’ll have an opportunity to dive, and you’ll be glad you are certified when you need it! Where else can you dive with Elvis?

This place and the owners and club members are pretty awesome. Recently went on a dive trip with them and it couldn’t have been better! They put on a camping trip that was fantastic! Charlie and Holly couldn’t have been more accommodating and helpful. The food they served was terrific. They really know how to camp in style. I have a little special needs situation that limits me from carrying and putting on the heavy gear involved. Holly Eric and Miranda helped me with these things and made the trip possible for me. I couldn’t have asked for better buddies and guides. This scuba shop is a class program run by great people. They will do everything in their power to help you get WELL trained not just trained. Even though they are out in Boulder City which is a twenty minute drive from Las Vegas they are well worth the extra effort to get to them because of the level of their quality and caring approach to personal service. Couldn’t recommend them more highly!

This was one of the best experiences of my life. I had been told in the past by someone that I wouldn’t be able to learn how to scuba dive so I went into it with some personal doubts. Those were quickly dispelled. Charlie who is the owner and has been diving for 20+ years is not only an excellent classroom teacher but is relaxed and safe in the water and that transfers to his students. I had a little bit of a tough time getting through my first set of skills in the open water class because it was during the month of November and December and the lake was freezing. I don’t do well in the cold water. But Charlie was so patient with me and told me that I could take the class as many times as I needed in order to feel comfortable with no extra charge. What you pay at the beginning is all you pay. This always includes standard gear rentals during the course of your training. (B.C., tank, regulator, weights, wetsuit.) It was so reassuring knowing that everyone learns at a different pace and as long as the student never gives up, Scubafy will never stop teaching you. I got my open water certification in March and then I just completed my advanced open water certification with Scubafy last week. It was such as awesome experience! The dive masters, Eric and Miranda, become like family as does Charlie and everyone gets so excited each time a student passes another class or overcomes another challenge. Everyone gave me a big hug and a high five when I completed my advanced certification and it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Charlie is so thorough. He teaches underwater natural navigation as well as compass navigation which is a skill that is invaluable to a diver. If you are considering learning how to scuba dive, please check this place out. You will not be sorry. They will give you the individual attention you need just as they did for me and now I feel like I have dive buddies forever.

If you’re new to SCUBA diving and looking for certification, you might not realize that all training is not created equal. I’ve talked to several friends who have gotten there certification elsewhere, and I now recommend SCUBAfy exclusively. Certification through them is not nearly as fast as certain dive centers you might visit while you’re on vacation — and that’s a *good* thing. They really take the time to make sure you understand academics of diving, as well as the physics, physiology, and climatology involved in SCUBA before you ever set foot in the water. Rather than just knowing that you should or shouldn’t do something, you will also learn exactly *why* you should or shouldn’t do it. They are, first and foremost, committed to educating you thoroughly in order to ensure that you are a SAFE diver. Having been through their open water and advanced open water programs, I now feel comfortable not only diving in any open water situation, anywhere in the world, day or night; but also feel confident that I could assist in a search and rescue situation in the event of a dive emergency, and would be able to help another diver in distress. These are invaluable skills that you simply won’t pick up from a one day class.
Granted, if you’re looking for the big, corporate dive training experience with mass-​produced training materials and dozens of instructors, this might not be the place for you. Despite the fact that they have a very large number of students, they are still a relatively small operation, with only a few employees. This creates a strong sense of community among past and current students. I’ve always been impressed that from my first classroom session, the employees all remember me, and know not just my name, but what size dive equipment I need, and what my strengths and weakness are as a diver. More often than not, when we go out on dives with a class, we’ll encounter former students who are out diving for fun, and they will sometimes join us. And Holly occasionally organizes dive trips, which past students are invited to (a group camping trip to La Jolla is scheduled for next week).
They’re also very good about working around your schedule. I work two jobs and travel out of state a lot for business, and I’m also in the final stages of planning a wedding, yet somehow they still always manage to find a class I can fit in (including, in one case, scheduling an entire class around my availability). They run classes and dives day and night, seven days a week, so as long as you have a little bit of lead time, they can get you in (just don’t expect to sign up and get all your classroom and dive sessions done in the same week).
Charlie and Nick are both excellent instructors who know their stuff inside and out. They never move you faster than you are comfortable with, and won’t move you from the pool to open water unless they are comfortable that you can do so safely. And while pool and lake dive groups can get quite large, they always have enough divemasters and/​or divemaster candidates with us to ensure that someone has their eye on you at all times. I’m a bit baffled by the review that complained about being paired with another student as a dive buddy on their lake dive — you *should* get trained at diving with a buddy, and learn to be a good dive buddy. Again, I’ve never been on a dive where there wasn’t at least one divemaster or divemaster in training for every three or four students, so it’s not as if you’re out there all alone, and the instructors in open water classes always double check your equipment, in case there’s something your buddy missed (which, again, helps you learn to be a better dive buddy).
For your actual dives, Nick is fantastic. He’s a little strict in the water, but you quickly learn that’s just because he is laser focused on making sure that everyone is safe. He always knows when something is wrong with a student, usually even before the student himself. And as soon as you’re out of the water, he’s a total teddy bear (warning: he’s a hugger). I was even on a dive where a student diver lost his wedding ring in 25′ of water at near zero visibility. Somehow, Nick was able to dive back down and find it (as soon as all of us were safely at the float)! Can’t say enough good things about him.
All-​in-​all, I’ve been extremely happy with the training I’ve received through SCUBAfy, and wouldn’t consider going any place else.

I recently was certified through Scubafy and it was a great experience. For anyone looking for a very thorough, hand’s on certification course then this is the one. The classroom instruction was very nice considering the online world that we live in. I especially appreciated being able to take extra time to remediate and practice pool skills without an extra charge. Charlie and Nick are great. I can’t say enough about Nick, who «talked» me through a panic when I inhaled some water during my first lake dives. I thought for sure that I was going to bolt but he got me through it safe and sound. I would recommend this course to anyone!

I think if you have not been educated in scuba diving Scubafy would seem like a wonderful experience. I have been fortunate that I am married to a dive master.
I do applaud that they have classes multiple times a day and have their dives frequently making it easy to work your way through the process.
I think they are extremely nice people but the capacity they are at (due to the low prices) have created a large amount of chaos. When I went through the classroom process the classes were small (which is nice). When I did the pool it was a large amount of people with people randomly showing up through the process. We got kicked out of the pool due to being in it late and it was just… chaos. The instructors just leave you there to figure it out and remember, this is the first time USING the equipment. The instructor (s) kind of bark at you and make students feel stupid and uncomfortable. Watch out for Ron. He hasn’t been doing this but for a minute but he treats and talks to you like he came out of the womb a diver.
Once you get to the open water you have people that have all done a different amount of dives and the getting gear process can take over an hour. I’m not going to complain that they do have gear for you as most places don’t provide it to you. They have you buddy up with someone in the water which doesn’t make me feel comfortable to have someone watching my back that doesn’t know what they are doing any more than I do.
I made an appointment to take my final test one evening as Charlie or Nick need to be there to go over the test with you. When I showed up Charlie had left for the night and as Holly said, ‘he’s not coming back.’ Great. By the way, Nick is a phenomenal instructor. He does get a little uptight but who wouldn’t dealing with all us? I took my test, received my temporary ID card and here we are over three months later. I have my temporary card that is now expired and I’ve had to call and continue to bug them to get my actual card. I also did not receive all the gear I had purchased. When I requested a refund they told me they had been there for months and made it sound like it was my job to find out if they had them in.
It is just such a disorganized mess. I could go on and on about all the issues. I know places like Sports Chalet are more expensive but I really think it is more worth it to spend the extra cash. The one person I did become ‘friends’ with said he would be going through PADI as he didn’t feel completely confident in what he learned.
They may dog PADI for being money hungry but there is a reason they are successful down to receiving an actual educational book rather than inkjet printings.
Side notes:
— Don’t let them up sell you on products. You are just starting and you don’t know what products will make you happy until you have had some experience. Buy the cheap package and go from there once you have done your lake dives.
–Don’t let them manipulate you into believing that the difference in products is a label. There is a difference between Scubapro, Dacor, Aqua Lung, and cheap brands.

If you want to learn to SCUBA dive, this is the place to go. Charlie and Nick are awesome instructors, and the prices are reasonable and soo worth it ! Just FYI classroom sessions do tend to go past 9pm though, so plan accordingly. They also are starting a SCUBA club and plan out diving trips from time to time, so check up with them every week !
If your just looking for equipment to buy or rent, Holly who basically runs the store/​scheduling is amazing and will definitely help you out ! Nothing but good vibes here.

SCUBAfy provided all the training and equipment needed for the fella and I to get certified. There’s plenty of opportunity for remedial training if needed, both the classroom portion and the actual diving part. They have a pretty full schedule, which is updated on their calendar — book early!