Justin's Scuba Time

I did it!! Officially certified! Here's the short (long story). It took a few weeks to get through all of the e-learning, e-testing, in person test (to prove someone else didn't do the e-tests), open water pool dives, and the open water dives. My pool dives, last week, were a piece of cake, warm, clear visibility, light 2mm short sleeve and leg swimsuit, no hood (obviously), only 6lbs added to my kit. This week, for my open water dives we SCUBA dived the Stanislaus River under Knights Ferry Covered Bridge. The bridge dates back to 1848 and is the longest covered bridge west of the Mississippi (for the history nerds). Temperature out was 40°; the water was 51°. I wore a 7mm wetsuit and hood, added 26lbs of weight to my BCD and tank, so it was super heavy. I felt like a porpoise. Chris (from Justin's SCUBA Time) helped me with suiting up and weights and helped me lug everything to the shoreline, he was super helpful, knowledgeable, and friendly. My very first underwater decent into cold water freaked me out for a second. I got about a foot underwater and the feeling of the hood around my neck, the freezing cold water going in my ears, a foggy mask and dark/no visibility (compared to a pool) made me instantly anxious and felt I couldn't breath. I instantly thought "what did I do?! I can't do this". I pointed up and we surfaced. My dive instructor, Derek (from Justin's Scuba Time) was AMAZING. We talked about what I was feeling for a minute, he told me that it was normal and had me breath through my regulator at the surface for a minute and we calmed my nerves down and tried again. Phew! The rest of the dive was all good! I managed all the skills with ease on my first 2 OW dives. I did have one more "oh $hît" moment (in my own head) on my third dive during the mask removal and clear exercise when I had a hard time getting my mask over my hood, untucking my hood and clearing my mask while remembering to breath underwater. The hood was entirely different than in the pool with no hood and in hindsight my mask was probably a little too tight (we adjusted it after that) which is all good skills to learn; working out worse case scenarios underwater. I was able to get it on, clear my mask and slow down my breathing down pretty quickly and do the rest of my "skill tests" on my third dive. My fourth dive was all recreational since the skill proficiency was complete. I saw trout, crawdads. All in all it was an excellent experience and i highly recommend Justin's Scuba Time. I'm looking forward to my next dives!!

Have brought my daughter here for private swim lessons. They've all been so amazingly patient with her. Austin Christian and Annabella are the instructors I've seen in the pool and they're all amazing!

PSA for parents of 3 y/o and under - That was my experience. This is not meant to bash the business but just to inform parents who had the similar expectations as me. I learned my lesson though, next time I will be sure to ask the right questions such as what is the objective of the class, etc. I took my 10 month old to Justin's Scuba Time thinking they were gonna teach him some survival skills you see on fb lol such as flipping over, etc. They did not. It was mostly to get them acclimated to the water aka not be afraid of the water So that was a total waste of $90 for me. I would pay money to learn those skills but that's not something they offer at all to this age group. And possibly, since that was the only objective of the course (getting acclimated to the water), the class was unorganized - in my opinion. I may be partial to my expectations based on stuff I've seen online. But it was basically free play for the babies. I will mention though that our instructor did go to every baby to give one on one time which was nice. To be fair, they taught parents the seatbelt method to get into the pool safely with your baby beside you and they dunk your baby underwater to teach them to hold their breath. Maybe it's my fault for expecting more and maybe this is what ordinary swim classes for babies consist of. But I did expect more. As I mentioned, next time I will be sure to ask specific questions in order to determine if this was the right class for us. However, they held a class for older kids at the same time as us. And so I was able to witness that they actually teach the kids how to swim! So while I do not recommend it for babies - 3 years old. I do recommend it for 4+ (none of the kids in that class looked 4. They were probably 6-8+) So again, make sure to ask what the class will consist of, and if it meets your expectations. It's indoor and heated pool + our instructor was nice.P.S. Don't miss any classes. They are not very accommodating to make up classes. I missed just 1 and I would've had a 5 star experience if they were nicer about it. I'll update my review in 4 years when my son is old enough to be taught how to swim :)

Our 12 year-old daughter took her PADI confined water dives at Justin's Scuba Time, with Derek as her teacher. He was patient, knowledgeable, encouraging, and made it a fun experience for her. Derek was easy to work with from the parent point-of-view, too. I got answers to all my questions, quick responses to emails, and was able to schedule classes with ease. While my daughter was in the pool, I enjoyed a great conversation with another employee, Joe, who was an absolute pleasure to speak with and it's easy to see the pride he takes in their family business. Overall, we had a great experience and when our son is old enough to dive, we will return to get him certified using Justin's Scuba Time.

Where to begin from start to end, professional, welcoming, supportive and overall great place to bring your family members and friends to learn how to swim. Great location off the freeway and friendly staff.

I can't say enough good things about Derek and his amazing customer service. I was looking to surprise my husband with something scuba related for Christmas but as a non-diver I had absolutely no idea what to get him. Luckily, Derek came to the rescue! Derek is so knowledgeable, was so helpful and made lots of great recommendations including stocking stuffers! He spent more than 30 minutes on the phone with me patiently and thoroughly offering suggestions and educating me about diving gear. Their website is super helpful so I was able to "look at" all of the items before deciding. I live out of the area so Santa Derek had my purchase fed ex'd to me the next day. It arrived well packaged with a few little extra goodies, fast and with a handwritten note thanking me for my business. I look forward to buying my husband more scuba surprises on other occasions from this wonderful shop with the help of secret Santa Derek!

Chris and Derrick were my instructors. They have deep passion for Scuba Diving and care so much about our safety. They are very knowledgeable and answer literally any questions you have for them! Getting certified in Monterey with them was one I will never forget! Thank you!

Justin's Scuba Time is the valley's best scuba diving store! They have a great selection of gear and accessories from some of the top brands. I have taken many PADI scuba diving lessons from Derek who works at this store. He is a great instructor and he is very knowledgeable in all his scuba diving subjects. I have learned a lot from him and was able to advance my experience and knowledge of scuba diving because of him. This store always greets their customers with a warm greeting and a smile when you walk in. I love this place! They even offer swimming lessons for kids and adults in their swimming pool located here. If you need equipment or classes, this is the place to go!!!

My son loves his swim lessons at Justin's Scuba Time. He is learning to be proficient in all of the strokes and is challenged appropriately. The instructors engage the kids in a fun way so that they enjoy being there while they are making progress with their swimming skills. Swim lesson days are my son's favorite days!

They have great service. The instructors are all very patient with the children and they do a great job teaching them to swim.