I got scuba gear and certification for my husband as his birthday present this year. My husband is a great swimmer whereas I've always been more of a land mammal, so to say. I can swim and have dove before. And I even partake in the occasional snorkel session on vacation. But my comfort with water is kind of on par with my comfort of eating salads: I avoid it if I can.

I reached it to Phil based on the yelp reviews. He was responsive and instructed me to go pick up some gear and booklets from online Scuba. While at online Scuba, I learned that some of my fear around water could be alleviated with a better (and my own) mask. I bit the bullet and decided to get my own set of gear and give a try at getting certified. The gear and booklets and Phil's lessons all felt super reasonable in terms of cost.

Phil was extremely efficient and easy to work with. He made sure the student to dive master ratios were always less than 3:1 if we went with a bigger group. He doesn't ramble, he explains things clearly, and he is super easy to work with. His semi-retired status meant he knows a lot about everything Scuba related.

We ended up getting certified over 3 days (2 weekends) in October. Phil provided us with thick wet suits and all the gear outside of mask snorkel and fins. We had a fantastic experience - even despite my reservations around being in water that long.

I've recommended Phil to my neighbors and coworkers so now recommending him to all!

Alice Z