Scuba Magic

**Review for Advanced Diving Certification**
After completing my basic Open Water Certification, I was excited to get going on my Advanced Certification. I felt that the follow-​through to help me progress in my scuba diving education was poor.
It seems that Groupon (and other similar deals) brought in quite an influx of beginners to Scuba Magic — not a bad thing! I still stand by their basic Open Water class. However, they were unprepared to take beginners to the next level. As I recall, it took a couple months to book my Advanced dives due to instructor availability. I felt like I was more of a nuisance even though I was a *return* customer that wasn’t using a coupon deal. Regardless, once we finally got out to the lake, it was me, one of the student instructors, and another guy with a military background. Both of those guys excelled at the different skills, and it felt unsafe for me to copycat their moves and hope for the best. At one point, I was left alone in the murky darkness of the lake, not sure which way was up. I slowly brought myself to the surface, visibly upset the other guys practically ditched me to explore somewhere else. I left and didn’t bother finishing the last skill (which I’d already done on a recreational dive before).
The Advanced Certification was ultimately mailed to me but I’ll look elsewhere as I look to become Rescue Dive certified.
**Update from Facebook Page: We have closed the location but are still offering private lessons. Contact via facebook or email
for pricing and to schedule training**

Absolutely horrific experience! If you want to live GO SOME WHERE ELSE! I bought 2 groupons in the beginning of the year to get open water certified w scuba magic. From the beginning it was rushed. Class room time was a power point of highlighted features and Nothing was discussed in detail and lots of sections were skipped. He does not even have a pool. He rents pool time from Legions. Our pool training was scheduled in Feb… very cold time of the year. The rented pools heater was broken but rather than postponing the 8 hour class he decided to make everyone suffer in 63 degree water. wetsuit or not we were all freezing. After being in the pool for over 3 hours i experienced vertigo and almost blacked out under water. He laughed it off and made jokes about it in front of the entire class. Very Unprofessional. i became extremely dizzy and nauseated and decided for my own safety to not continue w the class. Later that evening 2 doctors, one being a DAN doctor stated that Gary, owner of Scuba Magic put everyone in danger by exposing them to such cold temperatures for such a prolonged amount of time. His complete disregard for our safety made us continue with our course and become fully certified with another reputable scuba shop. They even had their own indoor heated pool. Pay a little extra and get properly trained. DONT RISK YOUR LIFE W SCUBA MAGIC! You only live once.

A friend and I agreed to get certified and that was that. Previous to signing up for this beginner’s course, I’d never thought at all about scuba diving and had zero opinion of the sport. I had done something similar with a motorcycle license about two years ago and haven’t done so much as sit on a motorcycle since. Would this pursuit end as nothing more than another dusty license achieved on my quest to become a poor man’s James Bond? Or even worse… James Bond Jr.
The following is not to be used for inspiration. We visited the shop and Gary gave us our PADI study guide/​workbook and dive calculator and told us it was important that we complete the guide previous to starting class on September 4^th. We had two months. Cut to September 3^rd, we’re removing the cellophane from the guide in the car driving home from a music festival in LA with hangovers. We complete 3 chapters. Pathetic.
The class structure is as such:
Week 1, Tuesday: classroom session 6:00 PM — 10:00 PM. (chapters 1 – 3!!)
Week 1, Thursday: classroom session 6:00 PM — 10:00 PM.
Week 1, Saturday: pool session 1:00 — 5:00 PM.
Week 1, Sunday: pool session 1:00 — 5:00 PM.
Week 2, Saturday: Lake Pleasant open water: 1:00 — 5:00 PM.
Week 2, Sunday: Lake Pleasant open water: 1:00 — 5:00 PM.
The classroom sessions were taught by Gary in a way that was not boring. That said, it IS a classroom environment so come alert. Whenever I would start for my phone or a daydream, I found reminding myself that stupidity underwater could kill me was a pretty good way to return to attentiveness. Be prepared to spend around $ 250-​$ 350 on gear. Fins, boots, mask and snorkel are a requisite primer for getting you in the water.
…and in the water is where Gary and Edward really shine. Here the 8 – 10 of us were in the somewhat daunting task of learning a completely new and foreign skill set and feeling pretty good about it. I never felt unclear on what skill we were to be demonstrating. Gary and Edward would describe and demonstrate the skill above water and then perform it underwater. We would follow suit one by one and then head to the surface for constructive criticisms. The two pool days were like this and the two Lake Pleasant days somewhat mimic the pool days but in the much deeper open water setting.
I thought being underwater was so awesome that even dumpy Lake Pleasant (complete with 6′ visibility and nothing to see but the occasional rusty can previously home to some shitty American lager) was a blast.
On Sunday, 9÷16÷2012, we completed the Open Water certification with Scuba Magic. My concerns of repeating the motorcycle experience were laid to rest and I’m happy to report that I’m looking into my first real dive trip ASAP.