I have been a satisfied customer of Below H20 for the last 10 years. I was also certified through…read morePADI through Below H20. The owner, Dave Rautio is a nice guy. He is very knowledgeable and helpful. Every year he organizes a group trip to Little Cayman and Cayman Brac at Reef Divers Resort. This is a very nice dive resort that has valet diving. The dive boats are nice and staff there promote safe diving. I have gone to Cayman many times with Dave on this trip and met a lot of nice friendly people.

I took a refresher course this morning. The owner was very friendly and helpful. It has been a long…read moretime since I last dove. There were 2 other people in my class. The instructor (I think he was the owner) walked us slowly through the whole process. He answered all our questions. The facilities were clean. It was a complete refresher course without missing anything. The products in stock were substantial. I needed a new mask and snorkel. I was amazed that when he saw my goggles were not good, he just said that I should replace them. Not once did he mention buying from them. I did check prices on the internet. I could not find a lower price for the mask and snorkel. Looking forward to scuba diving, again.

Great family business that knows so much about equipment and areas to dive. I didn't take any…read moreclasses from them, but spent a lot of time talking and getting to know the owners. I enjoyed and will definitely be back.

Underseas was very kind and helpful when I reached out to inquire about a last minute PADI Advanced…read moreOpen Water certification for an upcoming trip. Even though my last few dives (including multiple SSI certifications) were less than a month ago, other local centers told me that I would need to participate in a refresher course either because they didn't 'trust' my SSI credentials or because it was 'required'. One also told me that they wouldn't take me to the quarry because "I wouldn't enjoy it".... Needless to say, Bruce at Underseas came through AND paired me with Johan Raffin who was an excellent instructor for this course... AND I DID enjoy it! The quarry is definitely cold and murky, but it was also a good learning environment. I would highly recommend Underseas for their service quality in the shop (thank you, Bruce!) and the professionalism of my instructor, Johan!

I just had a scuba refresher course with DJ's Scuba Locker, and I think they do a very good job…read more Two friends and I met at the shop, where we met the owners and our instructor, Zach. After completing some forms, we were fitted with shorty wet suits, BCs and the yoke with the hoses for the regulators, BC attachment and air pressure gauge. Zach instructed us review all the equipment as if were at a renting scuba shop, and I found that my regulator's mouth fitting was damaged, and he immediately replaced it. First Zach helped us remember how to set up our gear, while adding many useful suggestions and knowledge to the session. Once we assembled our tanks and BCs with his guidance, he made us do it all again, but by ourselves, only saying something if we were doing something incorrectly. After this, he packed all our gear and we went to a YMCA nearby to do the actual diving refresher. The equipment worked well. He had practice 25 (might have been 28) skills for recertification. He is a very good instructor, meeting each person where they are at and helping with their needs. All the time he kept emphasizing important points and talking about what to expect at our dive shop because of his knowledge of similar places. When we were done, Zach packed everything and we left. He is a very affable, pleasant, and professional young man who knows his subject matter very well. The owners of the shop are also very nice, we had an opportunity to talk to them as well. I bought a mask, which the lady owner had me try several sizes and qualities and helped me decide on one that was very comfortable and very reasonably priced. I give the whole operation, but especially Zach, 5 stars. My friends agreed with this rating. I will be going back there for my diving needs.

I just finished the second part of my Open Water Dive Training with DJ Scuba, and it was fantastic…read more I met both of the owners; one when I was getting fitted, and the other when I was picking up my gear, and they were both extremely nice and helpful. They went over the gear with me and made sure it fit properly, and it was all in pretty good condition. My instructor's name was Jeff. He was very nice and even let me dive even though the first day I came two hours late because my alarm clock died. I had already come to terms with how screwed I was and didn't expect to be able to get certified before I left on my trip, but when I called the dive shop to see if there was any way I could still dive, they called Jeff to let him know I was coming late and he fit me in before his next group! My only gripe is that they're a little far out of the way (I live in Chicago), but I took Ogden straight there and it wasn't too bad, maybe 25 minutes each way.

if I could give this place negative stars I would. The slapped a used "cleanliness" liner and new…read moretag on a clearly VERY worn and stretched out pool guards suit to sell my daughter as a "brand new" item. There is debris between the liner and the crotch of the suit-so gross. See the pics for yourself-their tag is still attached.

I rented a wetsuit from them that was in led than perfect condition. Upon return they told me I…read morecaused all the damage they had already repaired and offered a "bargain" rate to pay for repairs for damages I had not caused.

Earlier this year, a friend referred me to Donna from Hinsdale Travel. From the first call, I was…read morestruck by her professionalism, efficiency and pleasantness. I enjoyed the process of planning an October cruise with Donna's assistance and quickly felt confident that she was addressing all of our needs/preferences down to the smallest detail. Because of COVID, our cruise has been cancelled. Although I was impressed with Donna for the way she helped plan our trip, I have been ever more impressed by the way she has worked so hard to help us unwind these travel plans, making every effort to minimize any negative impact resulting from the disruption in our plans. COVID will pass and we will start to travel again. And my first call will be to Donna at Hinsdale Travel.

Hinsdale travel arranged hotel, car rental and air travel to our recent trip to Hawaii! Our…read morevacation was fantastic and memorable. Everything fell into place nicely. Highly recommend the personalized service we received from staff at Hinsdale Travel.

My GF and I purchased a Groupon for the Chicago Photo Safari and we chose to shoot at Millennium…read morePark. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes into the session, it started to rain so the group (around 10 of us) fled into the Chicago Cultural Center for the remaining time. I thought the CCC was interesting for about an hour but definitely did not have enough interesting areas to fill up a 3 hour photo shoot. This brings me to one of my complaints-the safari was supposed to be 3 hours, but it was only about 2 hours and 20 minutes. I'm sure it would be a better experience in Millennium Park but if you are planning to make the safari rain or shine, you should have a better back up plan. Also, b/c the CCC isn't brightly lit, this limited the settings people could use while taking pictures. Our instructor - Scott - is a student at Columbia and he had a good personality and did his best to engage the students and help them. I thought it was helpful that he had an iPad that allowed him to pull up a picture that illustrated the concept that he is explaining. He also was knowledgeable re photography. The one complaint regarding Scott is he clearly was out late the night before and still smelled like stale beer. Not a big deal to us, but I can see how that might bother some people. I think this class would be useful for someone that has a DSLR and only shoots in automatic mode or in program mode without understanding what is actually happening in the program mode. I'd say the majority of the class fit into this description. But, if you have a basic idea of how to set the exposure, what depth of field and what ISO are, I'd skip the safari and just walk around Millennium Park. The 3 stars is based on the Groupon price and if you are an absolute beginner. If you paid full price the rating would be a 2 stars.

My Mom and I bought a Groupon and did the Millenium Park daytime safari. I live out of town, and…read morethought this would be a fun way for us to spend time together while I was visiting for the holidays, and it was! The MP safari was beginner level, which worked well for my mom who was borrowing one of my DSLRs for the first time. As a more intermediate DSLR photographer, I got more familiar with my new camera and was able to talk lenses and other advanced topics with the instructor and students with the same DSLR Rebel I had. But the most beneficial thing for me was the fact that we spent so much time photographing the same subject (the Cloud Gate) over and over. Other yelpers lamented that there wasn't enough subject matter to photograph, and although that is true, the real benefit to the repetition is that you can take the same shot over and over and adjust your settings each time. Then when you go home, you can load the shots into the computer and compare the settings for each picture, and try to learn more about what settings work in which conditions. "Setting intuition" is something that I struggle with and having a slow tour through MP has already helped me to better predict how to set my camera for different lighting conditions. I would certainly recommend Chicago Photo Safaris to (1) beginners who own or have access to a DSLR camera or (2) intermediates who are either looking to become more familiar with their DSLR or use the safari as a way to experiment with settings, take home the shots, and critically evaluate them. The MP safari was NOT for folks who (1) want to take a bunch of pictures of different things, (2) don't own a DSLR or other digital with shutter speed and aperture controls, or (3) are easily bummed out by being outdoors on one of Chicago's many less-than-perfect days or indoors in one of our many old, under-lit buildings. As for me, I would seriously consider another Chicago Photo Safari when I'm in town in the future.

A tropical paradise for scuba training located in the Lake county latitudes. Toucan dive has been a…read moregreat place to go for all my diving equipment and trips since 2008. From the moment I walked in the door to the sounds of tropical music and the dive trips playing on the flat screens I was hooked. Your skills will not outgrow this shop. From open water training to all your advanced classes and farther into mixed gas diving they have it all covered. Trips scheduled all over the world and plenty of local classes and lake dives too. Rick and Julie are the nicest owners and always promote the friendly Toucan atmosphere. Go on back to the classroom area and have a frosty beverage or a snack and talk your best stories. You'll find a wide veriaty of experience. Friday nites when the wing thangs are happening is the best times for learning how the Toucan clan enjoy new friends and family and don't mind talking shop with new divers.

Toucan Dive Shop is the best place around when it comes to diving. The owners and instructors…read morereally make a community that will welcome anyone in! Prices are great and they make everyone feel