Aug 9, 2024
Diving here! - Great address! Diving with Mariano on Dirty Rock and Nipples. No cores but a crowd of fish and 3 sharks. So much underwater life has become rare these days! And along the way, "icing on the cake", whales!!!
Comfortable boat, stabs and wetsuits OK. Some small leaks without gravity on some hoses!
Small treats served between the 2 dives.
Very competent supervision of dives. I highly recommend it.
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Jul 30, 2024
Great dives that did not disappoint! - This was a great diving adventure with a very friendly and helpful diving guide. We dove two amazing sites with an abundance of life: whitetip reef sharks, eels, octopuses, starfish, rays, and of course a plethora of schools of fish. As we dove he noticed I was clearing a lot of water from my own mask and offered me an extra one he brought. We stopped at a local produce stand on the drive back to the shop which was a nice bonus. Within a short turnaround he was able to send me pictures and videos of our dive so friends at home can believe what I saw! I hope I can make it back to Tamarindo to dive with TamaDive again... maybe to see bull sharks :o
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Jul 7, 2024
Great experience despite gyre conditions - Water conditions were not perfect due to the gyre conditions causing 4-6 foot swells from the SW, which worsened on the trip back to Tamarindo. Shout out to our experienced captain who navigated the big swells on the back. But they still went out, dropped us off on the inside, protected side of Isla Santa Catalina. Not able to do El Clasico, but did North and South Point. Was a fun, enjoyable trip despite some sea sickness. The vis was between 40-60 feet, with underwater topography mostly volcanic rock with some small areas with coral. Warm water and dove with a 2 mm shortie. KK was very good at spotting octopus (saw > 12), moray eels, and South Point has white-tip reef sharks that congregate at a warm, sandy spot. We had a mixed group of 3 divers, 1 discover scuba, and 1 snorkeler--except for some sea sickness, everyone had a blast. Very professional and experienced staff. Thx to Davide and Sebi (discover), Lily (snorkel guide), Enrique KK (DM), and our excellent captain!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jun 10, 2024
Great Dive experience - Did the 2 dive tour on June 7 with 3 sons. Super experience. Staff was welcoming, funny and most importantly prepared. Equipment all worked to spec (mask, fins, wetsuit, and all diving equipment). Guides Barnabus Jack and Lily were super - helpful, engaging and informative.
They also took photos and sent us a link - same day!
When I/we go back we will dive with them!
Ken
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 28, 2024
An amazing experience from start to finish. - Becoming a certified diver has been on my bucket list since childhood. Although I let that item go for a long time when I was ready to commit to taking the Open Water course, I asked around, and everyone recommended Tamarindo Diving Center. I had a previous connection with TDC when Davide and his team visited my kid's school to demonstrate SCUba and led the students who wanted to go on a pass around the school pool. I had always found that a plus and an extremely generous gesture to provide that opportunity to youngsters, so I was happy to support them with my business.
I was not disappointed. The staff at TDC is professional, knowledgeable, fun-loving, patient, and kind.
My instructor has been Barnaba. I cannot quantify how enjoyable I have found his lessons. His attention to detail, passion for diving, and ensuring that I understood everything relating to the Diving experience were reassuring and made the learning process fun. When it came time for my qualifying dives, Barnaba ensured that I was 100% prepared, and I had no fear as I stepped off the boat into the ocean for the first time.
I want to thank Davide, Barnaba, and all the staff at Tamarindo Diving Center for making this dream come true, and I intend to continue my education with them over the next few years.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 23, 2024
Keke and all of the staff at Tamarindo Diving - 5 Starts - Timely meet up at the shop at 6:50am. Paperwork was quick. The explained we were leaving out of a different port - no problem. All the staff were great all day - very helpful on the boat - gear setup, easy to get on and off the boat. The capitan and his nietos - very nice - extra time in the car with them on the way home. Keke - amazing. Frequent checks/asks for air. Knows his marine animals so well. Very conscientious of his guests in the water. Pre-dive explanation, clear safety stop pre-dive and in the water. I learned a lot on how a guide should communicate before and during the dive. Thank you Keke!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 17, 2024
Full-service diving and seeing a lot! - Excellent preparation, customer-oriented, good service on board, BCDs and tanks were fully supplied and there was assistance with boarding and disembarking.
A professional dive master, who pointed out a lot, and therefore saw a lot: whitetip reef sharks, lobsters, trumpet fish, schools with masses of fish and moray eels. One of the most relaxing diving experiences due to the good guidance. Definitely recommended!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 10, 2024
Friendly and professional dive shop - We dove with Tamarindo diving and they were great. They picked us up from our hotel and drove us to the shop and then the beach. Kiki was our dive master and he was so nice and a wonderful dive master. My husband was having some ear issues and Kiki was very accommodating and took his time descending with us. I would definitely dive with them again.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 5, 2024
Experienced Dive Crew! - My Dad and I dove with this crew and had a blast! We’re beginner divers and Kika was very knowledgeable and gave us great advice throughout the dive. The sites we dove were full of white tip reef sharks, schools of fish and moray eels. We felt safe and had a great time. The equipment was perfect and checked over multiple times by the crew. Thanks to Jack for the extra tips and info about his dive school, Bubble Scuba Diving School Tamarindo. You don’t find too many master divers with thousands++ of dives and over 40 years of experience - what a treat!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Apr 28, 2024
Unsafe and unprofessional driving - Our recent dive with Tamarindo Diving was not very good. Here are the issues we ran into that you may want to consider:
When arriving at the dive shop, we were informed they did not have a boat in service, this should have been mentioned on the website that there was going to be additional travel time. Due to this we had a ~45-minute drive to get to a dive boat that they leased/rented and another 45 min to get to the dive site. In total it was approx. 3 hours in travel to and from the dive site.
Our party consisted of 4 divers, my daughter and son-in-law were making their first open water dives since certification, this was mentioned prior to leaving as we were asked how many dives each person had performed. This plays a part in the diving and equipment setup.
Our Dive Master was Kiki, he spent more time joking and having fun with the other dive master's and snorkeling guides than with the divers, particularly the new divers so that they would know what to expect. He also spoke disparagingly about our group in particular about my daughter and son-in-law with the others in Spanish thinking that we would not understand. This was incredibly rude and very unprofessional.
I do want to mention we had a second dive professional, Lily, she was quite nice and did spend time talking to my daughter and to myself. I appreciated her professionalism, and it is a shame that Kiki overshadowed that with his unprofessional behavior as the dive master for the trip.
The gear setup was hurried and as I was watching I noticed that the regulator they hooked up for me was leaking considerably causing them to change it out prior to the dive. They did not do adequate safety checks on the gear prior to taking it on the trip nor during setup. On the first dive, I had issues with my regulator, it was leaking from the safe second and from the gauges, when I brought this up, Kiki did change it out, but he then also ended our dive early, at approx. 1400 psi he sent us back to the boat while keeping others down to continue the dive. Both dives we were on the boat with at least 1000psi remaining in our tanks. This was unprofessional and retaliatory because I complained about the gear.
They did not spend any time with any of us to go through, check the gear and ensure it was all fitted and functioning properly. They did not spend any time with the 2 new divers to let them know what to expect as far as the dive conditions, the surge was considerable and difficult for new divers, and they did no overview of the gear to ensure they knew where everything was and how to use it and to ensure they had a fun and safe dive.
I would not recommend using this dive shop, I would look for a dive shop that is professional and takes customer service, care and safety seriously.
Review provided by Tripadvisor