Academy of Scuba

My 12 year old daughter and I love, love, love this dive shop! It’s not just a dive shop, but home for divers in the Valley — they do more than get you certified. Erica M. and Dave Stockton were so very patient when my daughter got her open water certification, and we won’t be going anywhere else. We’ve already signed up for several more classes, and eagerly await all of our new certifications! The dive shop also encourages get togethers and bowling nights, so that we meet new people, learn about different dive locations, and just have a lot of fun! Again, these folks are awesome!

David Sexton is a great teacher, he is patient and takes pride in his job. Also very entertaining. I signed up for the Angel fish package and I was pleased with the training and certification process. Overall it was a great experience I recommend you ask for David.

We recently completed our open water diver certification with AOS on Bell Rd. We had an excellent experience. The instructors (Erica, David and Dave) were all knowledgeable, patient and they made the whole experience a lot of fun. We also had great customer service with every visit. I highly recommend AOS to anyone looking to become scuba certified.

I have recently had an on going issue with a damage product from March I have called weekly about this issue and have got no resolve, ending up going to another shop to get the same product again. This pathetic display of customer service has been seriously disappointing. Refusal to get/​give a refund lack of returned calls. Refusal to give store credit. Buyer beware!!! It’s bad enough you have to wait weeks for a special order but then you don’t take care of the customer afterwards???
No thanks!!!

A consistent 5 star operation for Academy of Scuba and Dave Stockton master instructor. I needed a scuba skills refresher before a coming trip and AoS worked with me for a date and time that would work and the perfect and patient teacher to get me up to speed. Thanks AoS!

Did a scuba refresher course tonight. Good classroom talk and then a nice long time in the pool practicing skills. Had a fun time and had good equipment and facilities.

Awesome dive shop, great selection of gear, excellent training and classes. Highly recommend, cool local dive shop.

The instructors are very flaky. Signed up and paid for a class, but received a text the night before the class, that the time was changed. The time didn’t work with my work schedule, so I rescheduled the class for the following month. When the time came, same thing happened, the day before the class I received a call that the class was cancelled! This is for a class that I had already paid for. I also received my open water certification here as well, and that experience wasn’t very impressive either. Great dive shop for socializing or buying dive gear, but wouldn’t recommend taking any classes here. It’s unfortunate, because when you visit the shop, everyone is very friendly. Just wish they’d get their s*** together with regards to their classes and set some standards for their instructors!

Academy is fantastic. You cannot beat their friendly, personalized service. I earned my open water cert. with them about 9 months ago, and I’ve been addicted ever since! ALL of the instructors are stellar! I’ve taken a number of specialty courses (advance, buoyancy, night, and rescue) and I’ve always been impressed with their level of instruction. If I had to pick the best of the best, those whose teaching style I appreciated the most, Tom, BJ Bobbie, Finn, and Kevin all rock. Everyone in the shop is also very helpful with equipment orders and repairs. And most importantly, everyone fosters a great sense of community. Whenever I go in, I usually end up having a fun chat with someone for at least 20 minutes. Everyone there feels like family, and they’ll make you feel like you’re family too.

At first, we were so excited to join this place and learn the adventures of going underwater. However, we quickly began to feel like they wanted our money but didn’t want to provide the services. We have since left (without taking classes paid for) to go to a different shop that made it feel like a community instead of trying to get us to buy everything.

We have done all of our diving with Academy of Scuba. We have had great experiences every time. If you come to Phoenix and want to dive or you are in Phoenix and looking for a scuba family check them out!

I found Academy of Scuba very shortly after I got my PADI Open Water Diver Certification elsewhere and signed up for a local dive trip that they were doing to lake Mohave and was immediately impressed with the friendly staff who had a lot of knowledge and was always willing to help and conducted the trip in a safe, professional and fun manner.
The first time I entered the shop i was welcomed and felt very comfortable with the sales staff who, again were fun yet professional and very knowledgeable in helping me lay out my plans to become a dive professional and showed support and enthusiasm in me reaching those goals. I signed up for the complete diver program which is a very comprehensive training course that includes seven specialties for an incrediblt low price! It was amazing!
When you come into the shop, it is like dealing with family, you can come just visit and chat, ask questions, and just hamg out mad make new friends. The customers servive is great! In fact the Owner John even hand delivered some items I purchased to my house!
The quality of trainng is very high and the student to instructor ratios are very low making sure the students get the personalized attention they need in a safe and comfortable environment. The instructors keep the learning environment fun and make sure that everyone is comfortable and safe both in the pool and the lake.
The trips are amazing and diverse. Well planned and executed with a variety of diving for any level of experience.
The community is awesome and very close with people from all walks of life who come togther to travel, train, and dive together and it does not matter what level diver you are, someone is always willing to help. This is a dive shop that dives! You will often times find, e, bers of the community just visiting the shop to say hi and laughing with the staff or just chatting about gear or telling stories of the last trip they went on.
If you are looking for a great dive shop to do your first class or to continue your trainng… you won’t be dissapointed here!

The Team at Academy of Scuba is Awesome! They make every effort to make sure you are comfortable and completely safe while learning how to scuba. From the initial FREE trial to the completion of your check-​out dive they make sure you are their top priority. The feeling in the shop is more like a family get together, and there is no pressure to purchase anything. From anyone wanting to try scuba all the wave to the five masters, Academy of Scuba has you covered.
–CJF

Fantastic group of people. I just finished up my open water with a couple different instructors (i had personal issues that caused me to have a gap in the middle of my training) and they were both very good. I can’t think of having a better experience. Thanks Dori & BJ :)

I rented dive equipment here today. What a great staff! They were so helpful and kind! They helped me get what I needed for my dive this afternoon. I had my 3 year old with me and they all helped out entertaining him and talked to him like a person! I hope all get their dive needs here!

Just about one year ago, I took a scuba refresher here after 20+ years out of the water as a diver. The class, taught by BJ, was thorough and helpful and encouraging. BJ’s great sense of humor and fun also made what could have been a bit nerve-​wracking much more relaxing and fun. I then went on to dive the Great Barrier Reef this last Summer and felt prepared and confident and had a great dive. At the same time I was doing my class, my husband got his Open Water Certification – Casey was his instructor and he was so cool and so encouraging, helping my husband when he got nervous and helping him reach his goal – we got to enjoy the Barrier Reef together because of this!
This Spring I decided I wanted to keep going – the dive bug had bitten again. I signed up for and took my Advanced Open Water with Erica – talk about a great instructor – calm, patient and a quieter sense of humor, but a great ability to laugh in spite of it and she helped me complete my class feeling great (and we found my lost earring that fell in the lake the day before – what a TRUE Search and Recovery dive!
This last week I started in on my classes for my Complete Diver Certification through the shop – this program offers a significant discount on class pricing and allows you to customize what you want to learn about. I had Ryan as my instructor this weekend – he’s new but don’t let that fool you! By the end of the weekend of diving, Ryan got to deal with a panicked diver (me) with calm and grace, and he helped me fix that issue, weighting buoyancy issues (hey, its not every day a girl gets to move 6 lbs from her bottom to her top!), helped correct some bad habits I was developing and helped me feel confident that I actually could dive in more sensitive areas of the world and not destroy sea-​life or sit on a scorpion fish.
I am looking forward to many more classes through AOS and a lifetime of diving fun.

I’m a big fan of AOS. My girlfriend and I did our open water certification here after purchasing a Groupon. As I understand it, Groupon keeps half the money. So for about $ 200(after Groupon’s fees) for both of us, we got all classes, materials and check dives. That’s really a stellar deal considering how much time/​effort it takes to certify someone. It also means that AOS probably doesn’t make much money on the deal. Despite this, we were treated exceptionally well by Kevin, our classroom and open water instructor. We’re looking forward to booking a scuba trip with them in the furture, and are happy to give them future business based on our past experience.
P. S. I’m a member of their virtual dive club on Facebook, all the admins are super helpful and very quick to answer any Scuba related questions.

Experienced staff, but lacks administrative follow through. You find yourself chasing things down…

This IS the scuba shop that DIVES! From beginners to advanced this shop will have a trip for you. My friends started diving here when their son’s Boy Scout troop did classes at the shop’s heated pool. They are very careful and follow good dive safety standards so even the couple of not-​so-​brave boys were diving at Lake Pleasant before long. I’ve been on several trips with them and loved every one, currently planning a trip with them for June to Cayman Brac. Can’t wait!

Academy of Scuba Rocks!!!
All the staff and instructors at PV and Metro are helpful and knowledgeable, Dominic, David, Marsha, Mark, John, just to name a few. My son, boyfriend, and I just started diving this year. I bought my own equipment after I got my open water certification. So I have a lot of questions. Everyone is more than willing to help and don’t mind me picking their brains for information.
There is such a family atmosphere whenever I have gone into either shop and also at the scuba socials that that we have attended.
Academy of Scuba has been a positive experience in my new found love. I will be diving for years to come.
Thanks Academy!