I.b. Divers La Jolla

+nice and friendly staff
+training at La Jolla Shores
+classes good for small groups
+very nice year-​end sales
–slow on the dive card process
I.B. Divers La Jolla is a small NAUI shop near the end of La Jolla Blvd at the corner of Nautilus St. Do call ahead to check on gear, courses, tanks, and save on the drive time to the shop. The course training area is small, with the table, chairs and dryboards in the front of the shop. It is good for a group of four or five, bathroom is in the back, and food and ice cream is next door.
Kyle is a good NAUI instructor and dive master with many moons of dives on the logbooks. A good place to train skills is at La Jolla Shores, and La Jolla Cove for the fish pictures. I.B. Divers has a working relation with the Navy and offers military discounted scuba courses, with initial training at the 32^nd St base pool and at the Shores.
It took a very long time for me to get my certification card, due to the process either at the dive shop or at NAUI. After many moons and emails and phonecalls, I got my card, and stayed with the dive shop and moved on to advanced certification. I minor setback in the beginning, but smooth sailing since. If you are in a rush for certification, be persistent, you may have to call more often. Otherwise, it’s like island time.

I never write reviews, but this place caused such an inconvenience for me I had to write something. I traveled from Death Valley CA to dive in the La Jolla area. I was super excited when I learned there was a dive shop two blocks from my hotel. After my first day of diving (June 14) I stopped by the shop at 5:20, forty minutes before the store closes. My plan was to get tanks filled so I can actually get a parking space at the cove early the next morning.
All I needed was two air fills. The woman working in the shop was helping another client and I waited another ten minutes (not a big deal). When it was my turn to be helped, she wanted me to leave the tanks overnight to be filled. She tried explaining to me how I shouldn’t come before closing to get tank fills, but I came to the shop forty minutes before closing WTF. It appeared that she was more worried about getting ready to go diving after work than actually helping customers. She finally agreed to fill the tanks. I heard the compressor turn on and in the meantime I wandered around the shop. About five minutes go by and the employee comes from the back room and tells me she can’t fill my tanks (Visual and hydro up to date). It appeared to me that she didn’t feel like filling my tanks. She wanted to close the shop down and go diving. She would rather cause me the inconvenience of driving across town with traffic and have another shop fill my tanks.
I have worked in a dive shop for seven years. My request was not unreasonable. The customer service of this shop simply sucks. This place isn’t able to do the most simplest task. While I was leaving the employee said, «Sorry, I’ll catch you next time.» Lady, there won’t be a next time.

Horrible service. We walked in and the service person did not even recognize us in the empty shop. Asked him the prices of the unmarked gear and he just gave vague prices. This is the worst store I have been to.

Good for quick and good tank fills. Inventory is a little thin and staff mediocre but great for basic dive needs.

If I could give this place –100 stars, I would. I really wanted to get certified so I researched a few places in San Diego that offered lessons and certification. When I first spoke to the staff here they seemed alright, but the actual process was beyond a disaster. My first day of the lessons I’m told to drive to the navy base, park my car at a gas station and wait for the instructor. The instructor then shows up about 30 minutes late, instructs me to leave my car at the gas station and when I hesitated and said it wasn’t a parking spot he said, «we do it all the time» and I get into his car with his young child who is eating a burger. Now I realize this is San Diego and a scuba lesson, but a little professionalism wouldn’t kill anyone.
Anyway, the lesson was average if anything (I’ve since had far better), but the kicker is that when I went back to get my car it was GONE — towed away for illegal parking. So much for «we do this all the time», they couldn’t even come up with a decent attempt at an apology. When I called, emailed and tried to get in touch with them about getting a refund for the cost of the towing I got zero feedback. Honestly how some people stay in business is beyond me. So there we have it, I’m out a few hundred dollars because of the towing and the lessons I prepaid for and now refuse to use. Take my advice — go somewhere else!

Was referred to this shop by my husband to get five certified before we went on a trip so that we could dive together. I went through the week long course. The instructors were great and informative and very helpful when we actually were diving in the ocean. Overall I would say it was a great experience until now. I turned in my test about a week and a half after my class ended to due my busy schedule, which was almost two months ago. I have contacted the shop several times about my certification card and at one point I was told that they couldn’t find my file. My husband called last week again and was told that they were submitting my registration and that we should here back about my certification card in two weeks. It is just a little ridiculous that it is taking them so long to get my stuff sent in.

This place is great. Come in here and get a wetsuit and snorkel gear and head to the cove. Wetsuit and gear is 30 dollars for the day. So much better to go out on your own vs a tour. The tours are a complete waste of money in my mind. Do yourself a favor and visit this place.

Super cute dive shop with friendly staff.
They helped me pick out a mask that fit proper and fetching 8)
Threw in some sea drops too
yipee.

Zack was a TON of help to my scuba buddy and I, as we battled the afternoon of rain and surge. He let us know where to dive, conditions, helped us with rental gear and showed us what to look for underwater. When we came back from our dive he was there to fill our tanks for us right away, and to help us with our gear needs as we had discovered a few missing items from our travels that needed replacing.
Thanks Zack, we hope to return the favor when you come visit us in Kona, Hawaii! :)

I rented gear from here and could not complain about anything. Dealing with Zach was super easy. He was knowledgable about all of my questions and helped out any way he could. I know I’ll be using IB Divers again in the future.

Be careful giving this company your credit card information. They double charged my credit card for a one time scuba rental. When I complained the owner of the company couldn’t be bothered to deal with it. So I never got a refund for over $ 50. Not cool.

Overall I’d say this place is good. They were having conversations with other guests like they were best friends. Took a little while to get help, but they were with other people so what can you expect. They knew what they were talking about when I asked questions. The only reason I took off a star was because they didn’t have anything in the price range I was trying to spend on snorkeling gear. I just started so I was trying to stay under $ 100. Don’t get me wrong, you can get a mask, tube and fins under that, but not by much. I will be back for the spear gun though. Make sure you try and play their game they have set up. Its just a ring on a string and you have to swing it to get on a screw. Makes for a good laugh.

Went here to get gear for 4 people. Took over an hour to get us everything including a mess with the weights and then one of the reg’s didn’t work because it was full of sand. Add another 30 min. The main shop owners were helpful and knowledgeable, but went to service two other groups who had come in after us. Next time, I’ll stay in Laguna.

I haven’t bought much gear here, but they fill air really quick and it this may sound kinda weird, but it tastes better than other dive shop’s air. I even had someone grab my octo once (practicing safety skills) and they said the same thing.
Great prices ($ 30 for a ten fill card) and the staff are very friendly and talkative. The shop is very close to the La Jolla Cove.

IB Divers La Jolla Review: November 7−8^th 6924 La Jolla Blvd San Diego, CA 92 037 (858) 459‑1003
A little about myself: Female, 28, new to Scuba (6 dives at the time of rental), adventurous but not a hothead thrill seeker. I did a lot of personal research on different dive shops and made a list of 3 to call up. I have my own personal gear, but needed to rent everything else.
IB Divers seemed like they were worthwhile. I called them from Sonoma and asked if they rented equipment if you didn’t sign up for their classes (several dive shops will only rent to you if you are taking a class). Rental prices were very good. Located in La Jolla, about 10 – 15 minutes from the Cove & Shores.
The Good, the Bad & the Eh:
My dive buddy and I walked in to the owner eating dinner with his girlfriend. He didn’t seem very excited to help us. I think it was because we didn’t know exactly what we wanted to rent. I blame this on a combination of being new to scuba and not knowing the shop and its equipment. I told him where we wanted to dive, our previous experience and it seemed like I really had to push him to get information about the dive locations and which equipment to rent.
He did recommend we use steel tanks which my buddy had used and I had not. I’ll never go back to another tank. I was worried about the extra weight of the tank (being a short female), but it meant I could drop 8−10lbs of weight on my belt. Well worth it. And I thank him for suggesting it. It did mean he upsold the tanks since they cost 6 bucks more.
The shop was sandy, but I think any place in SD is. I was happy when I did not have to bring the equipment back cleaned with soap and water like Sonoma Coast Divers (something I consider a hassle *sorry SCD), but I see why they do it. The equipment we rented, while brand name, was older, more heavily used and not as clean as SCD. My dive buddy’s wetsuit had a slight funk, mine was perfectly fine. The BC had water in the inflator hose which is gross. The regulator had a greyish dried residue in it. We saw him cleaning gear in an antibacterial trough, so I know it was sterile. In general, the equipment was more beat up than the quality that comes from SCD.
My last gripe: the owner kept on arguing with me about rental gear. He claimed that his gear was the best and that in his career, he had never seen anyone rent anything newer or in my words less beat up. Seriously? Worse yet, when we went the next day to get smaller lead weight increments (he gave my buddy hard 5’s & 4’s and me the same with 2−1lb soft weights), he said he was out of 1 & 2lb weights and that he had loaned me out his personal 1lbs soft weights. «No one rents out 1lbs or soft lead weights», he said. When I told him my local shop did, he shut up. Come on dude, just say we don’t do that here or I’m out of those.
Don’t go here if you are new or nervous about diving or have super high standards about gear.
Do go here if you are looking for something cheaper and don’t want to drive too far. It was also easy to return the gear and he was ok with small amounts of sand or seaweed on it. Also, when we came back the second day to refill tanks he was pretty fast.

The shop is kept clean and nice for you to select what you want to buy. The location is great just down the street from La Jolla Shores and La Jolla Cove. I have never been pressured to buy anything more than what I wanted from the staff. Do not get me wrong they do give suggestions but you are not constantly monitored and stalked by the workers here. If you want help they are there to give it but do not act like high pressure salesman like at OE.
I liked how knowledgeable the guy was about the Marine Protected Areas in the San Diego and where and what I could fish/​hunt at different times of the year. As a marine biologist it was very nice to see that at least one or two shops in San Diego care about protecting the marine environment for the future generations.

When I went in, the guy behind the counter was rude to 2 other people in front of me. He was basically treating them like they knew nothing and talking about how he has been diving for 14 years. So what? I have been diving for 19 years and have been an instructor for 13 years. I would never have spoken to people in my shop that way. It was so off-​putting that I made the drive to another dive shop. Your business is only as good as the people you employ. The shops I have worked for would never have been happy with employees like that. The owner should re-​train the staff to be helpful and friendly. I just moved to La Jolla and was looking for a good local shop, but I won’t be going there and won’t be recommending it to my friends who dive. Plus, it is probably not a good idea to diss Scubapro equipment to the public you are in their backyard.

I go here multiple times to rent snorkel gear and I’d like to say that the people who work here are genuinely nice and professional! I forgot his name but his name started with an S, and he’d always inform us where the nice spots to snorkel are at. He was a great help and he was always chill, and actually converse with the people he does service with.
Note: try not to let the ocean win you by losing your gear. The rental is cheap, but repaying lost items was a total wallet killer.

Went here to rent a tank to dive the cove and the dive master who was on duty refused to rent us unless we paid for his services. His exact words were «it’s how I make my living and I won’t give helpful information.» He was extremely rude and unprofessional.

Kyle and one of his students probably saved my wife and I’s lives. Seriously. We were first time ocean kayaking with another dive shop — in an ocean that was very choppy and with strong winds.
For the first time in my life, I had a panic attack — about 200 yards off shore. I was freaking out. Our guides from the dive shop that we had paid to guide us were unwilling to help us back to shore — and I saw Kyle and his student nearby — I called out to them for help. They came over — assessed our situation — and stayed with us for about 20 minutes helping us get back in the kayak, and pushed us through the surf to shore.
Kyle cared enough to make a huge difference. And we are extremely grateful!