Tilden’s Scuba Center

Marathon, United States

4.2

13 reviews

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 305-743-7255
Website:
www.tildensscubacenter.com
Address:
Mm 49.5, Marathon, FL, 33050
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Good for Kids
Yes

Today

Today 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Local time (Marathon) –

Business hours

Monday 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Tuesday 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Wednesday 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Thursday 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Friday 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Saturday 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Sunday 8:00 am – 6:00 pm

Description

Specialties

Tilden’s Scuba Center is a full service dive shop serving the Florida Keys. We offer a large inventory of retail dive and snorkel equipment, air tank fills, hydrostatic facility, repairs, rentals, private charters, group rates, courtesy van, instruction courses for certifications from open water, to rescue, to dive master. We are the Snuba Middle Keys franchise. Plus, 2 dive trips each day out to our beautiful Florida Keys’ water. Times for these dive trips: 8:00 — 12:00 and 1:00 — 5:00.

Tilden’s Scuba Center has two boats that provide a safe comfortable ride to their dive destination.

At the Tilden’s Scuba Center, the owners Tilden and Sally Billiter and all crew members, take pride in their customer service and the safety of all on board.

History

Established in 1990.

Tilden’s Scuba Center is located in Marathon, Florida. Tilden Billiter has been diving professionally for over 40 years in a variety of related areas that include salvage, commercial, search and rescue, recovery, stunts, and special effects in the motion picture industry. Sally Billiter has been a certified dive master for over 30 years and an instructor for 20 years. Both Sally and Tilden want you to have the best possible dive experience in the Florida Keys. Tilden’s Scuba Center Dive Shop has a full inventory of scuba dive equipment for sale or rental. This dive shop in the Florida Keys has an air station to fill your dive tanks up to 3000 psi and Nitrox up to 3000 psi. These air fills require the proper certification.

Enjoy what the Florida Keys has to offer scuba divers, snorkelers, and Snuba fun in and on the Fl. Keys’ waters. Please come in our dive shop located in Marathon, Fl.

Meet the Business Owner

Sally B.

Business Owner

Sally is a wonderful person who will make your scuba diving in the Florida Keys an unbelievable experience. From the phone call to stepping off the boat, Sally and her staff at Tilden’s Scuba Center will do everything possible to make your dive trip, well — great. Sally has been in the diving and hospitality industry for over 35 years. Attention to detail, safety, great places to dive to see the Fl. Keys’ reefs, and an experienced crew on the boats is what you’ll find at Tilden’s Scuba Center in Marathon, Fl.

Nearby

Near this location:
1
mi
Bike Marathon Bike Rentals
1
mi
Curry Hammock State Park
56200 Overseas Hwy
1
mi
Dive Duck Key
Mm 61 Duck Ky
1
mi
Panda House Chinese Restaurant
5230 Overseas Hwy
1
mi
Radio Active Productions
1003 75th Street Ocean W
1
mi
Starfish Snorkeling
Mile Marker 47.5 Bayside Marathon

13 reviews of Tilden’s Scuba Center

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Great place! Front of house is friendly and helpful. They keep your fill card on file for you. Have the capability for compressed air and nitrox. And will make your requested mix. They fill tanks quick and are quite friendly about it. Don’t forget to contribute to their drink fund! Totally worth the drive up from Sunderland key.
Place rating: 5
Overland Park, KS
I had the best experience here today! My boyfriend and I have never snorkeled or scuba diver before. My boyfriend was a natural but myself, i totally freaked out. Wayne & Bobby were extremely patient and got me back out into the water! Extremely nice, professional and experienced crew! Thanks Again!
Place rating: 5
Saint Simons Island, GA
My boyfriend and I had two great dives with Tilden’s! They were very professional and made a point to not waste time on the boat to maximize bottom time which we greatly appreciated. The captain and crew were very friendly and tailored the dives to the divers on board. We chose to do 1 lobster hunt off the sanctuary which was really fun. We did not see too many lobsters but it has been a slow season in general for lobster. Our second dive was on the sanctuary and it was absolutely AMAZING! It was probably the most active and alive reef I have ever seen. We saw everything from parrot and angel fish to sharks and barracuda and everything in between. It was only about 30 feet so we had plenty of time to explore the «finger» reefs. I would definitely recommend that dive for anyone from beginners to even more advanced divers just looking for a relaxing but exciting dive!
Place rating: 1
Port Charlotte, FL
Dangerous! When I book with a dive shop I expect to have a master diver with me. Instead, I was paired with two other novices and taken out to Long Key Ledge where they told us to giant step off the back, head east, turn around in 25 minutes and come back in no more than 50 minutes. The girl was so scared she straddled the anchor line getting her courage up. Only one of us had a dive knife and he took off SOUTH, he didn’t know how to use a compass. The dive was only 10m deep, and in the wrong direction we saw mostly sand, not reef. My wife rode as a bubble watcher and she tells me the two staff persons on board didn’t even watch for us. When I pointed the problem out to Timmy at the office, she said most shops in the Keys don’t send out master divers but then I checked with Key Divers in Islamorada and they send a master diver with you.
Place rating: 5
Miami, FL
This shop was amazing! The crew has been some of the nicest and funniest I’ve been with since I have started diving! Captain Pat was super funny and does a great job talking about the boat.
Place rating: 5
Seattle, WA
Thank you for the excellent, professional care from dive masters, Kyle and James. Such good instruction and confidence builders as I embark on the new sport of diving. Like a well oiled machine, they saw to customers and maintaining sensitive dive equipment. Love these guys! Also, the entire boat team, Billy and Dave made for a positive experience. Thank you ! See you again for cert!
Place rating: 4
Streamwood, IL
My girlfriend and I decided that we wanted to try Snuba while we were visiting the Florida Keys. We looked on google and found Tilden’s Scuba Center we choose them because at the time they were one of the only dive shops to offer Snuba. The staff were very friendly when we reserved our trip.
My girlfriend and I opted for the one location because it was our first time and we were not sure if we would like the experience. On the day of our dive we signed in at the dive shop and received our Snuba gear which consisted of the following: mask, snorkel, fins, weight belt, and wetsuit (for jellyfish). Upon receiving our gear we were told to meet our instructor at the docks so he could conduct a safety class. The class went smoothly and was easy to understand not complicated at all.
The boat ride to the site was about 30 min long on calm seas. Once we arrived to the dive site our instructor deployed the raft which contained the air tanks and the air lines which was connected to our regulators. Upon entering the water my girlfriend freaked out and became sea sick so she decided it was best if she headed back to the boat instead of diving.
With my girlfriend back onboard the boat she told me to continue with the dive since it was me that really wanted to do Snuba. The dive lasted approximately 30 – 40 minutes and went well. The dive instructor was able to show me different kinds of sea life and point out the different types of coral formations. Sambarro Reef was very nice. I would love to dive there again.
They have a two dive options available for Snuba the first option is one Snuba dive and the Second is a two Snuba dives. When my girlfriend was not able to complete the first dive because of her sea sickness I asked if I could do the second dive for no additional cost since my girlfriend did not actually dive and they said no so I was out of the $ 100.00. Needless, to day I did not dive again. I went back on the boat and waited for the scuba divers to finish up their open water dives.
Overall, my experience was great with Tilden’s Dive Center. I would return back in the future. I only wish they would have let me dive the second location so I could have got my moneys worth since my girlfriend could not participate.
Place rating: 5
Decatur, GA
My dad and I did the scuba diving certification course. Our instructor (Jon) was great, very knowledgeable and patient. He went over all the skills several times and made sure we understood and knew what we were doing. Our check out dives were great. I have sinus problems and the instructor went down very slowly with me and reminded me to equalize, again very patient. The boat crew were also very nice and helpful. Overall it was a great experience and I would highly recommend them!
Place rating: 4
Bridgeport, PA
Quality outfit with friendly and competent divemasters. Dives are not guided, but clear instructions are given pre dive. Some divers needed extra assistance with equipment and getting on and off the boat — the crew was more than happy to accommodate.
You may want to schedule several dives in advance, we only scheduled our first morning dive. After that dive and our satisfaction with the outfit we tried to schedule more dives and the mornings were all sold out.
All told a truly professional operation.
Place rating: 3
Lansing, MI
Went to do snuba, had a good experience, not great. While we were down, the guide went up a bunch (probably to check oxygen levels, about 4 times) so we spent about half the time waiting for him rather than exploring. Hint, if you are in a boat ful of snuba, go first, so you aren’t delayed 10 – 15 min and miss out on underwater time.
It seemed their were different rules depending on which group you were with. My hubby didn’t go down, so I asked if I could take his turn for the 2nd dive, they said no, we were just out the $ 99, but the other group on our boat transferred when someone didn’t go to someone else. My husbands mask was leaking a bunch of water.
The sombero reef was neat, but very packed with snorkeling and boats. They said they take you to 2 locations, but it was just 2 spots right near the lighthouse.
Years ago I took a scuba resort class in cozumal and I loved it. Great explations about the reef and fish, and took time.
Place rating: 4
CA, CA
We went out with these guys the other day and had a blast! The boat was great and they didn’t overcrowd it the way some operators tend to do. The captain and first mate gave us a very thorough safety briefing and were very clear on where we were going.
There were some newbie scuba divers on board, as well as a couple that had never snorkeled before, and they were very helpful, kind and patient with them and jovial and casual with the rest of us — not casual safety wise, but laid-​back and let us do our thing.
We went out to a couple of reefs, each better than the last. I’ve never snorkeled in the Keys before, and the amount of underwater foliage is absolutely amazing and GORGEOUS. The fish were also plentiful and the water clear and super calm.
If you’re in the middle Keys and want to go out for a trip with some super-​nice guys, look no further than Tilden’s. There are a ton of operators in Marathon, and I’m so glad we chose them!
Place rating: 4
Washington, DC
Tilden’s was great-​from my first phone call to reserve our spot on a scuba/​snorkel trip until the time we got off the boat, tired but happy. My boyfriend’s only been on 2 dives since he got scuba certified, but Tilden’s quickly equipped us with everything we needed (all the equipment was in good, newer condition, dry, and well-​fitting) and there was no «machismo» that you normally encounter on these trips. The boat captain and dive masters described the underwater terrain (shallow reefs, 30 ft., and a good variety of sea creatures off Marathon’s shores) and set folks off on with their dive buddies. One dive master dove in uncharted territory in the Red Sea and at wrecks 340 ft. below the surface in freezing waters, and was happy to share those adventures when asked «what was your best dive», give advice, and encouraged us to really explore the sport. These people love what they do, and it shows. We’ll be back.
Place rating: 5
Atlanta, GA
Great dive outfit in Marathon! We definitely found the shop we will be returning to. They have everything you need for a great dive, snuba or snorkel trip and the staff was friendly and helpful on the boat. The only thing more that they could have done was set my tanks up for me, but there’s not a lot of room on their boat for that :). Already looking forward to the next trip down to dive the Thunderbolt with them!