Scubaland Adventures

I have taken 2 courses at Scubaland — and bought gear there. I think, once you get to know everyone, it’s an extremely friendly place. My classes were tailored to the folks in the class and I learned a lot. outside of class, I bought pretty much everything there — mask, fins, BCD, Regulator, and dive computer — and the advice I got was great! They did a great job helping me size my gear and show me how to use everything. When I decided after my AOW class that the mask wasnt working out, they traded it out no question.
My only wish is that there was a nicer body of water to do your certs in Austin — these days — it’s no picnic to do your cert out at the lake. but you cant blame Scubaland for that!

I signed up for Open Water certification after looking at a number of dive shops in Austin. I called the Scubaland South store, and spoke with the manager, Jennifer, who was really helpful and friendly, which mattered since I knew absolutely nothing about diving. From that first interaction, they could not have been friendlier. The teaching was clear and thorough and well-​paced. The classes were small. I went from never having used anything more than a snorkel to diving on a coral reef in Cozumel in three weeks. When I jumped off the boat in the Caribbean, I was absolutely confident of what I was doing, and had an amazing time. My instructor was Robert Gorsuch, and he was patient and really informative. All round, a friendly, welcoming, and really professional operation. I recommend them highly.

Recently took the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver class and was very disapointed on many aspects. Scubaland is quick to point out that their advanced class is the only Lake Travis class that includes a boat dive. What they don’t tell you on the web site is that you have to pay the boat operator an additional fee of 30 bucks. You only place you see the fee is in the fine print of your receipt after you have already signed up and paid for the class fee. They also don’t include the $ 24 for the use of Lake Travis ($ 12 per day) and they fail to mention that there will be an $ 8 per tank fee that you are responsible to refil the tanks that you have to haul to the dive site, keep over night and haul back to the store after the class. About all they provide is an instructor who spends a total of 45 minutes in the «class room» reading off the answers to the five chapters everyone was suspose to do themselves before arriving at the first class.
Now to the diving. I wish I could say it got better but I have to say the instructor did almost no teaching although he was very good at demonstrating his disgust with any student that had to gall to ask him to repeat something. He treated everyone in the class like they were 4^th graders in spite of the fact that several students had been diving for years and had loged close to 100 dives. The topper was on the night dive when he realized at 20 feet under that his well thoughtout dive plan to seperate the class was in violation of standard protocal for classroom night dives and just called off the dive.
On the first day, one of the students in the class mentioned to me that inspite of taking multiple classes with Scubaland instructors, he still didn’t feel ready to go on a Caribbean dive trip. I was blown away at the time by his comment but now after getting a taste, I’m not surprised.
My advice … If you are really serious about dive training take the SSI class. It takes longer but it is real training. 16 or more dives vs 5 dives. My only experience is through Tom’s Dive and Swim which was excellent.

Excellent service, knowledgable staff, great training. Just completed by open water course through scubaland and I have been impressed at every step of the way. Their website is what caught attention, then a phone call to a knowledgable and professional Jennifer sealed the deal. I drove 2 hours to come to Austin two weekends in a row to take te course through scubaland and have no regrets. The staff took a lot of time to ensure the gear I bought fit me perfectly and exchanged my mask for one that was a better fit. The instructors are also professional and friendly and really enjoy what they’re doing. They don’t rush or compromise one aspect of your learning experience… every bit of it is by the book, and really a lot of fun. I hope you have a similar experience.

Thanks to Jennifer A. at the Scubaland William Cannon store. She is always so helpful whenever I go to the store to pick up odds and ends. She goes out of her way to make sure my buying experience is a pleasant one.

I got PADI certified for a trip to Australia/​New Zealand. I really enjoyed the class and the instructors were very helpful :)

There are plenty of reasons to rate these folks so highly… selection, advice, friendly people, the fact that they are a one-​stop-​shop for those who might like to get certified, buy their gear, book a trip, and travel with local friends… scubaland can do it all for you… but perhaps my biggest inspiration is their good, old fashioned ethical business practices… I payed for a certification and scuba gear for my girlfriend, who took one class and quit… but Mike and Vikki were good enough to let me transfer the certification to my nephew, AND exchange all the equipment for gear for nephew, without even charging me a restocking fee or for the one class my GF had taken! THEN, I bought an underwater camera, took it to the phillipines with me, and decided I didnt like it… they took the camera back on consignment, and offered me CASH, or store credit, I opted for store credit and they let me spend my credits even before the camera had sold! Mike and Vikki are SOLID, GOOD people, who are a PLEASURE to travel with, and a pleasure to do business with… like myself in my own line of work, they arent after the dollars in your pocket… theyre after your CONTINUING business, which means they treat you fair, and take care of your needs. GREAT staff, I love just popping in to say hi when I can… I will NEVER go to ANY other dive shop in Austin, why would I, when theres a Scubaland North and South, there will never be a need!

Scubaland offers a great selection of diving gear and has a great program that makes it affordable to buy your own gear. Pick out what you want put down a 40% deposit and pay off the rest in the next 6 months with no interest or finance fees. AND, they match any price anywhere including the Internet!
I first shopped here about 5 years ago for a 100.00 gift certificate for my then sweetie. I recently joined a scuba diving group so I was excited to shop here for myself after remembering the great service I got just purchasing a gift certificate.
The women who work here are very passionate about diving and will pick out the perfect diving gear for you and me.
For such a small store this place is packed with merchandise!

If you live in South Austin this is the place to go for your mermaid gear. The women who work here are very passionate about Scuba and they offer certification for all types of diving and several scuba travel options.