All I can say is WOW! Just got back from a week in Hawaii on the big isle diving with Mauri Munoz from Calidivers. A small group of us dove with white tip sharks, eels of every size, 2 separate pods of Hawaiian spinner dolphins, fish with colors too numerous to imagine, lava tube swim throughs and my favorite, a night dive with Manta Rays that came right to us and played with us just like over exuberant puppy read more

No contact phone number, are kidding me right now?!? Smh. _____________________________________________ read more

My wife and nephew and I meet up with CaliDivers by chance while on vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii several years ago and have since become Facebook members. We had the pleasure of diving with the group several times during our stay. We did a night shore dive for the very first time and I must say the emphasis on safety was very comforting and made the dive a true pleasure. My nephew was a newly certified diver and Mauri was a true asset to have on our dives his attention to detail of all the divers was fantastic but he was truly attentive to my nephew even though he wasn't his student. I don't think I've meet anyone more passionate and safety conscious about SCUBA than Mauri. If your looking to become a diver or looking for a group to dive with I highly recommend Calidivers, We hope to take advantage of one of their group trips in the future read more

I first ran across Calidivers while looking for dive trips to the Channel Islands. I reached out to Mauri and received a series of very detailed and extremely helpful emails welcoming me to the trip and making me feel comfortable. Just recently I attended the second trip with the club and it truly exceeded my expectations. Mauri and the club members were welcoming, extremely safe and knowledgeable and lots of fun. Even though I live in Southern California, I can't wait to join their next trip! Highly highly recommended for new divers and old dogs like me! read more

I just completed my NAUI basic open water certification(YAY!) with CaliDivers and Mauri as my instructor. From the get-go you get a sense of Mauri's respect and admiration for diving. He is an extremely experienced diver and instructor who understands that safety is the key to being a good diver and having fun. I especially appreciate Mauri's teaching ethics - he drives home key points and skills until everyone understands and is absolutely comfortable. He's methodical and precise in instruction, a no-nonsense sort of instructor who also knows how to provide an encouraging and friendly atmosphere. In truth, I don't think I'm as eloquent as I would like to be in praising the class. I'm the type of person who yells excitement and it's taking a lot out of me not to write in caps and end each sentence in an exclamation mark. Just take the class and/or join CaliDivers. You won't regret it. Also, the club has fun, exotic dives planned year-round and have Monterey dives planned monthly. You'll see me there! :D Yeeeee! read more

This is truly a first-class group. I am from Chicago and when a Channel Islands liveaboard got canceled, I contacted this group who had booked a different charter over the same dates I had never met any of them before, and yet they could not have been more friendly and welcoming. They completely made me feel like part of their group. The trip was led by someone named Mauri Munoz Great guy - very friendly, and extremely experienced diver and instructor. When I neglected to bring a camera, he offered to buddy up with me and take pictures so I'd have some to bring home. Given the long distance, I am sorry I can't dive and simply hang out with them more. But I certainly will look them up first next time I'm in northern CA. If you're anywhere in the area. Thanks again for making an unknown face feel like a member of the family! -Joseph read more

Terrible experience with instructor Mauricio Munioz . Would definitely not recommend this person for any kind of scuba class. His delivery is very demeaning and disrespectful. Very unprofessional. I personally had to cancel a trip already started in Hawaii because of his demeaning attitude and lost more than $1,000.00 to which he cared absolutely no regard at all. This may be the first negative review or there may be more on this individual either way i encourage anybody whose had a bad experience to share it please. We only help the person that comes after us. I would like to add that there were many red flags that I ignored unfortunately. When you're selling scuba equipment out of the back of your pickup truck...red flag. When you're giving classes in a coffee shop...red flag. This person turned out to be very unprofessional and only interested in making easy money so he made sure I was set up to fail and knew how to push the right buttons. Also in Hawaii the condominium he supposedly reserved was full of cockroaches. He never made an attempt to apologize. This person is very full of himself never wrong and that's a bad combination for safety. Never did I not admit to a mistake but to be belittled by it is totally wrong. He stresses the person before they go in the water again posing a safety concern. I truly believe he is just an accident waiting to happen and only because of trying to get the business. He likes to blame other outfits to make himself look good. I will be writing a letter to NAUI to let them know about this person. read more

Mauri Munoz and CaliDivers are top notch! I recently completed my NAUI open water scuba diver certification with CaliDivers. I was very impressed with Mauri Munoz as my lead instructor and have full confidence that he trained me, and my girlfriend (who was doing a refresher course), to be well prepared for any circumstance that may occur. Mauri was very thorough and required that I repeat any skill set that I had difficulty learning until I had mastered it; I am very appreciative of his tenacious attention to detail (as you will read later in this review). We completed our classroom and pool training at the City of El Cerrito's swim center (what a great venue for our training with easy off-street parking and very clean facilities). Mauri was well prepared for each of our sessions and had often arrived well before we did with all training equipment in place. Once we completed our classroom and pool training we were required to complete four ocean dives, over two days, for final certification; these were completed at Breakwater Cove in Monterey, CA. On day one the weather was clear and pleasant with day two turning a bit overcast. The water in Monterey is brisk to say the least (around 53 degrees each day) with the dive area very convenient to the staging area on the beach. Mauri not only taught us how to follow his excellent directions for our dives, he taught us how to prepare ourselves to be in charge of our own dive; this is extremely important as it is imperative that you and your dive partner know what to do and that you can depend on each other in case of an emergency. Safety is of paramount importance in scuba diving and we were well schooled in what to do, when to do it, and how to execute it under not only normal conditions but in emergency circumstances. Let me state for you just a bit of my background to give my comments some perspective. I recently retired from a 35 year law enforcement career as a police lieutenant. During my career I participated in thousands of hours of training, to include firearms, tactics, SWAT, rappel, CQB; these training situations require great attention to safety guidelines to ensure that students are not injured in the training scenarios. I went on to be a trainer for local law enforcement, a federal task force, and state and federal agencies, as well as having numerous military operators in my classes. In my career I have participated in numerous training situations that require preparation for hazardous circumstances not only in training but in operational environments. I have had the pleasure and honor to train with some of the finest instructors in law enforcement and military cadres. I can state, without reservation, that Mauri Munoz is in the top ten-percent of the best trainers I've ever trained with. He ensured that we were well-prepared for not only normal diving circumstances but hazardous situations that could arise. After we completed our basic dive training we traveled to the Cozumel, MX area to dive for several days in the warm waters there (80-82 degrees, wow!). While the diving was beautiful the three dive masters we experienced were of various levels of competence. None of them inspired great confidence and unfortunately two clearly demonstrated why it is so important that we know how to depend on each other as dive buddies; one dive master was very casual in his attention to the group once we were at depth and the other was downright dismissive of a problem with the air level of my tank after only a few minutes under water (I notified him when I was down to a 1000 psi and my girlfriend was at 1700; then shortly thereafter at 700 with her at 1500; at 500 psi we chose to ascend). These circumstances caused us to fallback on our emergency dive training from Mauri and execute a unilateral decision to ascend without the dive master's assistance; we completed our three-minute stop before completing the ascent and when we were on the surface my tank was at 150 psi. The dive master chatted with us after we were back on the boat and was surprised that were not going to take a second dive with him; moments later we saw him attempt to reassure another couple of whom he had completely lost track while we were submerged. The NAUI emergency training we received was not just a nicety, it was imperative. If you are looking for mediocre scuba dive training, go someplace else; if you are seeking outstanding scuba dive training then train with Mauri Munoz and his team at CaliDivers. We plan on training with Mauri and his team again and again to ensure that we are well prepared for any contingency. read more

CaliDivers is a great group of fun, conscientious, and safe divers. They offer a lot of regular, Monterrey Bay and California dives as well as unique international dive trips. Highly recommend this group if you're looking for a dive club unaffiliated with a dive shop. read more

Most bizarre phone interaction, ever: "Do you have scuba masks with prescription in them, for rent or for sale?" "Yes, we do, for astigmatism, bifocal, and {something mumbled]". "Great, can you tell me what the prescription is, what the number is on the goggle." "No, you can go on-line to see that. I'm not gonna tell you." "How does someone then procure a mask from you without knowing what they are buying." "Look, I'm not gonna tell you." Okay, then. Yikes!! No words. read more

I recently got certified as a diver with CaliDivers (at the end of 2014) but I've been watching Mauri (a club officer) teach classes in El Cerrito for many months. I'm a fan of his clear and methodical teaching practices (this coming from someone intimately familiar with Red Cross courses) and it always helps to have experienced divers like him around. The club has a very relaxed, friendly, and encouraging atmosphere. Of the multiple classes, annual event, and trip I've attended so far I've yet to meet anyone who's anything but friendly, engaging, and a genuine pleasure to dive with! I've got nothing but appreciation for those I've met so far and I'm looking forward to many more dives in many places (with many great people)! Dive safely, dive at your own risk, and enjoy your dive =D read more

Why I gave them one star? It is because there is no 0 star. I called them, check with them if they sell dry suits. It doesn't matter what question I asked, the stuff just repeated" we are club ". " is this diving store?""we are club""are you selling dry suits?""we are club""yes, I know, but some clubs also sell something. Are you""we are club". He stopped me. " ok, do you have any diving trip?""we are club".. he is the worst stuff I have ever met before! read more

Words cannot express how happy I am to find CaliDivers.org! I am a fairly new diver but have become very passionate about the sport. I found out about CaliDivers through a friend of my wife's. I got in contact with Mauri Munoz (President of CaliDivers.org) and he told me about a few upcoming dives with the group. I first met up with them in Monterey and did a few dives there with the group. One dive was at Point Lobos, this is a dive that was on my bucket list and I was able to do it because of Cali Divers. Cali Divers has many diving trips scheduled that are affordable. The professionalism and NAUI Dive Instructor knowledge that Mauri shows is truly amazing, his knowledge and passion for a sport I have come to love, is inspiring. He is very strict about safety, which when diving is something that is very important. Even though safety is the first and most important concern when diving, we still have a lot of fun on our dives. Mauri has helped me learn so much about diving and with every dive I learn more and become a better diver. I am so grateful to have people that are passionate and knowledgeable about diving, to now go on dive trips with. I recently went with Cali Divers to the big Island Hawaii on a diving / NAUI Advanced Diver Certification training trip organized and taught by Mauri who is the best Dive Instructor, bar none. It was super affordable and it was amazing. The highlight of trip was diving with the Manta Rays on my first ever night dive. I was mesmerized by the beauty and grace of these creatures. This was an amazing trip and I am so grateful I had the opportunity to do it. I look forward to my next up in coming dive trip with more training organized by Calidivers, which is the Channel Islands on a Liveaboard in August 2016. If you are an experienced diver or new to the sport, I encourage you to join Calidivers, I am very grateful to Mauri and the Calidivers organization as a whole for the diving knowledge and many diving opportunities it has given me. read more

So much has been said about Mr Mauri Munoz as a dive instructor, I would like to add just a few words. As a new diver, (I certified 6 years ago but because of a neck injury hadn't dived even once since)I took his certifying course last month and I did two dives last Saturday in Monterey with him and a budding instructor under his tutelage. What a blast! At the beginning of the course, I was nervous, not confident, tremendously disorganized, and on top of everything else, kind of old. His knowledge of and passion for diving is vast, something I'll come to appreciate more and more as I gain experience. But his dedication to instruction and his style of teaching, I was able to appreciate right away. At once rigorous and friendly, using corrective and reinforcing feed back in balance, Mauri taught us the basics of open water diving more thoroughly and effectively than I would have thought possible in 3 sessions. By the time I did the Monterey dives, I was ready. I have so much more to practice just to go from almost fin-less to finesse. So much more to learn. But I feel confident that I can. Because Mauri taught each of us in the class the most important lessons: self reliance and accountability- being there for the group, our buddy and ourselves. I hope to dive with him and other students again later this month- right after my 64th birthday!! Do yourself a favor, and learn and dive with Mauri! read more

The dive trips are well organized and the club buddies are very down to earth. Kudos to the officers!!!

After 8 years since my last dives, I recently refreshed my PADI certification before heading out with Mauri and another CaliDiver to Breakwater in Monterey. It was a relaxed and comfortable environment; I didn't feel stupid or insecure for my lack of knowledge and recent experience. This was my first cold water dive ever. Mauri made sure I had all of the right equipment and that I knew how to use it properly. Although I was a bit apprehensive about the cold, it ended up being a great day with 2 dives and time to hang out after. I'm looking forward to my first international trip with CaliDivers this month! read more

As a scuba diver it can be hard to find buddies all the time until I found Calidivers. They are truly a divers club. A fun bunch of people that enjoy the sport and stay active with it. Regular dives every month and some great discounted dive trips mixed in. read more