Catalina Scuba Luv

Best diving experience I have ever had! Great equipment and service — make sure you go out on the dive boat for the day if you get a chance and reserve ahead of time!

Great refresher dive outside Casino Pointe. Haven’t been diving for a couple years and just wanted to take it easy. These guys took great care of me. Thank you!

The SNUBA is definitely NOT worth the money. I would have gotten the same experience had I just rented a snorkel, mask and fins. REALLY. The employees were nice, but the «tour» wasn’t much to speak of. It was hard to get lower than surface level because we weren’t weighted down enough. We had a weight belt, but not enough to sink the «20 ft» below the surface that they advertise. If you could have sunk, it was only 10 ft anyway.
Fish were beautiful. We saw Garibaldi and some blue schooling fish and enjoyed that, but again, we could have see those with a plain snorkel, mask and fins.

We had such a great time! I do have to admit, the wetsuit made me feel a little anxious, but our guide Chris assured us that it’s all in our head and it will go away once were in the water. And he was right! He was so nice! I like his laid back attitude! And man there were tons of fish! It really was beautiful to look at. And he showed us a abalone shell! So pretty! I recommend this place. The experience is totally worth it!

I booked a boat dive for my husband and daughter three weeks ahead of a planned trip to Catalina, where we are coming specifically so they can dive. A week before the trip, AFTER I have made non refundable reservations for accommodations based on the fact I had paid Scuba Luv the full amount of the CONFIRMED boat tour and booked boat transportation, I get an email saying sorry, rest of party on boat «changed their plans», so they need the extra slots and so they just boot us off the boat!!! Just getting to Catalina costs over $ 200 for a family of 4, plus another $ 600 or so for 2 night accommodation, we planned this trip date coordinating work schedules and it all hinged on the availability of boat dives for my husband and daughter — since there are only 3 providers of boat dives on the island, and the others have private charters that day, we are screwed. If you do decide to book with them, you better get the confirmation in blood — or just book with a more reliable provider!

Friendly service and reasonable prices, but our snorkels were taking in water every third breath. Very annoying. We tried adjusting them every which way, but I think they’re just crappy or broken. The wet suits were nice– I didn’t feel cold at all in the water, so definitely recommend getting one unless it’s pretty hot outside.

Easy going — laisez faire — this a good spot for scuba support on the island. No frills.

I contacted scuba luv prior to coming to Catalina to scuba dive. I booked a boat dive with them.
They assured me that they would have enough people to fill the boat and that I could count on boat diving with them.
When I got to Catalina I checked in with them to get the details of our dive for the next day.
At that time they told me that the boat dive was cancelled.
At first they told me that he dive master for the trip had a toothache. I pointed out to them that they have boat dives scheduled for the next day… would the ‘tooth ache’ be over by then?
They then told me that the wind is going to come up and it will not be possible to boat dive as we scheduled.
The next day,…the day we were scheduled to boat dive… The weather was perfect… Hardly any wind.
So we were forced to dive from the shore and guess who was there running shore dives? You guessed it Scuba Luv with a Scuba Luv dive master.
Their customer service was worse than terrible; I feel like I was deceived by them.
They offered no explanation, no alternatives, no suggestions and no apology.
I would never use them. I will recommend to all my friends who scuba dive (and there are many) to not make plans with this outfit.
I would give them no stars but apparently I have to give them a star to post this.

This last weekend my son and I had a wonderful experience earning our PADI Advanced Certification through Catalina Scuba LUV. From start to finish our experience was first class. The owner, Bob, was friendly and accommodating and provided us with an outstanding instructor, Charles Nash. Nash’s instruction was clear, concise, and founded in his rich history including thousands of dives. He not only taught us and kept us safe, he also provided individualized instruction that was fun. I highly suggest using Scuba LUV and Charles Nash for any of your recreational diving needs. Catalina is the perfect place to get your initial certification, advanced certification or further individual certification. I look forward to bringing my wife and other family members to Scuba LUV to have Nash teach and certify them.

So our group had originally booked a boat dive with another dive shop on the island that canceled on us the night before we left for a day trip to Catalina, screwing us over.
We really wanted to dive (the whole point of going to Catalina) so we crossed our fingers and showed up at Scuba Luv right when it opened. They took care of our group of 4 at the last minute and thankfully our trip was saved, we were able to at least dive in the dive park and spent the whole day diving.
My only complaint was the fins I had (womens short light blue) were terrible and did not realize it til I was in the water, they should just give those to snorkelers only. Also when we called the shop to pick up gear, there was another group waiting too and they took 40 minutes to come despite saying being there in 10 minutes.
Other than that, the staff was friendly, the lady at the front desk was remarkable at multi tasking in getting everyone gear and helping other customers, and the dive master was good. And I am very thankful they took care of our group the day of without reservations.
If you are an experienced diver, you probably won’t need a dive master. We had one for our first dive not realizing how small the park was, when I go back again I won’t hire a guide, the place is real easy to dive IF you are experienced and comfortable with diving.

My friend did a quick refresher for her PADI Open Water, and I did the PADI Enriched Air certification (did my online stuff beforehand then finished the practical bit at the shop). We did two shore dives at Casino Point. Fantastic, friendly shop staff sorted us out with rental gear too. Chris was a great dive master and guide. Highly recommend!

Sadly, this was one of the worst adventures/​tours I have ever done. We opted for the snuba dive tour — a cross between snorkeling and scuba diving.
Tip: Do not book tours through Catalina Tours. They charge you more than if you booked directly with the company. And they don’t give you all the necessary info. We booked the snuba dive through Catalina Tours, instead of directly through Scuba Luv. And we paid $ 10 more a person and didn’t get any details and when or where to meet the tour. When we arrived on Catalina, I called Scuba Luv and was told to meet them at their booth as Descano Beach Club 10 minutes before the tour starts.
When we arrived at their booth, we were handed a waiver to fill out and then the staffer left and never returned. Another staffer came in and asked why we were there. He seemed quite confused. Then he told us to go to the side of the booth to get our wetsuits and equipment.
They didn’t have a wetsuit to fit James O., so he was stuck in one that was too small for him. Most companies ask your height and weight when you make a reservation so they can be sure to have the proper equipment for you. Not here. I was then handed a wetsuit by Christopher, our apparent guide, without anyone asking me about my clothing size or weight. I did hear another staffer ask this of the other 2 girls on the snuba tour with us. My wetsuit was about 2 sizes too big and full of holes. No instruction was given as to how to put on the wetsuit, unlike other tours I’ve done. James O. was struggling to get his on. Mine went on way too easy as it was too big, but no one cared or checked the fit (also unlike other tours I’ve been on). Ditto on all the other equipment — no checking for fit on the masks, fins, etc. And big ditto on the weight belts. Christopher didn’t seem to factor in at all the different weights of folks on this.
It was rather chaotic and we didn’t really know what was going on. It took awhile for the other 2 girls on our tour to get suited up. It was about 25 mins after the tour start time before we walked down to the beach. We then had to navigate rocks and swim out to a small floating platform. We then boarded that and received like 30 seconds of instruction. Our guide really didn’t seem to care at all and was just thoroughly annoyed by any sort of questions or hesitancy. As this tour is advertised as only needing to know how to swim and good for beginners and kids, it was crazy that our guide seemed to expect us to all be experts.
After we got in the water, I was struggling and it didn’t seem like my regulator was working. Christopher was annoyed beyond belief and blamed it on me not being able to do it. After 10 mins or so, he finally went to the float and swapped out my regulator. And, of course, I was then fine. But then I struggled to get below the surface. I tried just being upright and floating down, which worked for James O. because of the weights. That didn’t work for me. I tried turning upside down and diving head first. That didn’t work either. I literally couldn’t get myself to sink. I was so frustrated. I’m sure it didn’t help that my wetsuit was too large and ballooning with water. And there had been absolutely zero tips or instruction on how to «dive». And then about 5 minutes later, it was all over. I finally was able to get underwater and breathe, tried and failed to get further down, and then it was all done. It felt like no time at all in the actual water. And everyone’s hoses kept getting tangled. Shouldn’t our guide have done something to help keep this from happening? Or offered some tips and instruction on keeping it from happening?
We then boarded the float thing, took everything but the wetsuit off, and swam back to shore. When we got back to the booth, it appeared to have been only 45 minutes since our start time, not an hour. And as we talked to the other 2 girls, they had just as frustrating of a time. And they also were really disappointed in our guide, or lack thereof. One of the girls had asthma and both were inexperienced. And both felt like they were yelled at and talked down to by Christopher.
This was such a complete waste of money. We paid almost $ 90 each to have a miserable experience! We then walked over to the main office (not the booth) to talk to a manager. She was very nice and took notes as we told her what happened, but left it with a «I’ll talk to him and get his side of the story.» As if we were lying or weren’t legit upset customers. And when I pointed about my bright red legs with a rash, which wasn’t there before putting on their wetsuit and had never happened with any other wetsuit, she was all «yeah, that happens». But at least she was nice-​ish and did give us rental equipment for free to go snorkeling. It was this that makes this review 2 stars instead of 1.
In short, I would not do a tour with this company. At the very least, make sure Christopher is not the guide for your tour.

Was debating between Snuba, snorkeling with a tube that is attached to an oxygen tank or Sea Trek, wearing a weighted helmet that is also attached to an oxygen tank placed above water. The biggest difference between the two is that you don’t need to know how to swim to do the sea trek while snuba is just like snorkeling but you can stay under water as long as you want. Ended up doing snuba instead since I wanted the ability to swim and go back up above water to talk to my friends and for $ 84, why not.
I must say that I was a bit hesitant doing this based on some of the reviews here about bad customer service but I didn’t experience any of that. The lady at the front desk was clear in her communication and was also apologetic that we had to wait an extra 20 minutes because the last group showed up late. After we were fitted with our wetsuit and got some simple instructions, our «guide» took us out to shore and simply allowed us to explore up to depths of about 20 feet. He didn’t really guide us or gave us a tour per se, we were just exploring wherever we wanted to go. So as long as your group was willing to venture off into the same direction, then you are solid. The overall experience felt like it went by extremely fast but that was only because we were having a great time, i estimated that we were out at sea for about an hour, which is about what they advertised on their site.
Definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to snorkel but aren’t experienced swimmers. You are able to go deeper into the ocean and not have to worry about holding your breath.

We tried the snuba diving. Over all experience was good. Our instructor was super friendly and patient. My boyfriend couldn’t get the hang of it and the instructor was really patient with him and helped him keep calm. I totally recommend this place

What a great dive shop! The rentals were very affordable, the gear was in good shape and freshly washed. Had a amazing time out at Casino point with Chris one of there dive masters. Lots of sea life! He took his job serious and made sure all the beginner divers were safe and having a good time in the water.

I have been diving all over the world and have been out with many dive crews. This weekend stands out. Amazing friendly people who go out of their way to make sure you enjoy yourself.
If you are lucky enough to be invited (yes invited) to dive with them on their dive «boat» you are in for the experience of a lifetime. It’s not your typical dive boat. It is a 55′ «dive yacht» with only 6 guests allowed. This is truly an experience of a lifetime.
If you are on Catalina, don’t miss the chance to meet and dive with some amazing people and enjoy their hospitality (and maybe a little deep sea fishing on the way back to port).

Friendly, easy going and helpful.
Full of local dive info, ready with all the dive gear we needed to get us out to enjoy the diving of Catalina.
We also used them for air fills each day and the let us use a metal cart for the heavy tanks.
They are ready to give you access to the equipment needed for your diving while away from your regular equipment.
We will definitely come back next time we are on the island for some more diving.

After my second series of dives I wanted to write a great review as a thank you since I first discovered the shop and Unilocal.I absolutely love Catalina Scuba Luv and would highly recommend them if you’re looking for a good dive shop while on the island.
I’m already Advanced certified but when some friends from San Diego mentioned they wanted to get their Open Water, I immediately thought of Catalina Scuba Luv. Diving in San Diego is okay but not not the best for beginners due to the long surface swims and the lack of cool things to see. I recommended they come out to Catalina and they loved it! They did their e-​learning online in San Diego and then completed the skills and open water dives in the dive park.
As for me, I wanted to continue my learning and signed up for the Deep Diver course. Chis Howard was my instructor and he was amazing. Before diving I mentioned that I wanted to work on my descents, especially free descents since I tend to struggle with the first 10 feet. Chris gave me a lot of tips and then after each dive would give me suggestions and ways to improve.
The Catalina dive park is one of my favorite dive spots and it didn’t disappoint this time. Chris knows the park like the back of his hand and I loved exploring some new spots. I mentioned my love for wrecks and he was sure to include swimming by a number of the wrecks in the park.
We even got permission from the Harbor Master to dive the Valiant, which was awesome and worth the long surface swim!
As I continue my diving, I love to come back to Catalina and will most definitely be back to Catalina Scuba Luv, whether it’s a guided tour or for more learning, I love the shop and recommend them to anyone who I know will be diving in Catalina.

II was looking for a place to help me dive catalina but the first place i called would not answering the phone, they only communicated by email. No good! I called scuba luv and they answered, they were super friendly so i made reservations for 2 dives. I show up and Angela was my dive master, super friendly, informative and easy on the eyes is also a plus. I will be back do to the great service. Almost forgot they were 25% less the the other place

We did the Sea Trek, aka «helmet diving».
I have tried scuba and snorkeling, and at the totem pole I would rank this in the bottom of the three. It was adventurous but not my cup of tea.
We got there mid afternoon, signed the waivers and sized up for wetsuits and water shoes. We walked a couple yards to the end of the beach and we had two options to get the raft that was about 100 meters away from the shore. 1. Swim to the raft or 2. Hold on to a small inflatable tube while the instructor drag you to the boat. I am an ok swimmer so I swam while my other two friends were hauled over.
My friends chose me to go down first since we have to climb a ladder in a single file until we were under water. They placed the helmet on top of my head and I was to breathe like Darth Vader. As I descended, the instructor pushed me down fast, maybe since I swam he thought I was comfortable with the water? But what happened next was not to my liking. I was descending down too fast, because of the push I could not equalize fast enough and water started going into the helmet. So I swam up. I knew my friends were watching me so I had to play it off that I’m ok… But deep down inside I was having a panic attack and I knew I would become claustrophobic once they placed the helmet on me again… I did not want to strike fear into my other friends, so I laughed everything off saying it was my problem and not the aggressive push under the water. I descended for the second time. This time he was more gentle. I got down and waited for my other two friends to join me. We walked in a single file and held a rope that led us to a path.
The water was nice clear and warm. But there was hardly any fishes. The instructor grabbed some kelp and popped them, I guess that’s the under water trick.
Overall I can say «been there and done that», but I would not do it again. I felt restricted with the helmet and there was not much to see unlike snorkeling or scuba diving. But who knows, you may have a better time than I and would be lucky to see other things than just kelp.