I got certified here when I was 18 I am now 33 and have dived all around the world! This is a great…read moreship to get certified at! Yes their location sucks but the gear is good and the instructors are some of the best group of divers I've ever dived with. I wish this shop nothing but the best.

Top notch experience going to Sea Stallion scuba for their open water training. I worked with…read moreDave, Ron, Jules, and Patrick. All of the staff were friendly and informative. They all take safely extremely serious since safety is the key to responsible diving. I was able to get 3 open water beach dives completed in crescent Beach in Laguna. I finished my 4th dive for my certification on the full day catalina 3 dive boat, out of Long Beach. The whole experience was a memorable one. A great experience of learning for me to the underwater world! a big thank you to the staff. 5 stars!

Diver's is probably my favorite spot in all of Laguna to go chill. It's... quiet, because it's…read morerelatively small compared to the Main Beach strand, but it's so special. It's usually clean and free of seaweed, and it just smells so good... no icky fish or seaweed decay odors; just clean ocean beach air. This beach only gets GOOD tanning sun during PEAK Summer hours, otherwise, it's kind of... a gamble on the tides and the time of day as to whether you can use the beach for tanning or not. It's a nice beach to NOT get tons of sun on, especially after about 5PM to sunset. It varies, of course, but that's TYPICALLY what you'll find happening. I do NOT believe this area has a lifeguard watching it (?) but correct me if wrong. I don't and haven't seen a lifeguard stand here. The next beach OVER, however does have a lifeguard watching post. This is the spot to go relax... and just sit with yourself and your thoughts. Let the tide rise a little, and then let it go out... and let your problems go with it. It's the best therapy for free you can get, I think... but, anyway... enjoy! :]

Truly the best place to swim in Laguna beach. The water is so clear and the waves aren't scary once…read moreyou get past the shorebreak. This is my favorite place to float and enjoy earth. When the waves come in, it creates little waterfalls as it cascades over the rocks and back into the ocean. There are leopard sharks and stingrays here. The little sharks are bottom feeders and never bother people. The stingrays, however, can sting! All the more reason to get past the shorebreak ... there are fully stocked bathrooms right up the hill which is such a plus for beach days! There are also lifeguards on both sides of the beach. The only downside is parking. It is limited but if you get lucky, make the trek down here!

Needed to rent a set of dive gear to attempt to retrieve the anchor from my boat that a partner…read morelost. Nice young lady took my information, verified my C card, and pulled out a tank, wetsuit, buoyancy compensator, wetsuit, weights, and regulator for me. Tried on the wetsuit and placed the weights into the bc, paid the $65 for the rental and loaded it all up into my car. Fairly quick and easy. Made my dive, returned the rental equipment, and was on my way. I'll be back the next time I need to rent dive gear.

Clowns! Do not bring your gear here to be serviced! I dropped my gear off on 4/8 and was promised…read moreit back on 5/6..a week and a half before my trip. 5/6 came and went without so much as a phone call. For days I called, left messages, and called again without so much as a peep. Finally, on 5/16, TEN DAYS after it was promised, and two days before i fly out, someone finally picked up the phone when I called. Long story short, they were able to get my gear back to me via the Laguna Beach location where John was did me a solid and got me my gear back. I have no idea why it took so much longer than expected. No one from the Dana Point location ever called me about a delay or offered an explanation. Take your business to the Laguna Beach location...the staff at the Dana Point location haven't a clue.

Solid dive shop in southern CA…read more Can't recommend this place enough, the dive masters are the perfect balance of cool and informative. The dive at shaws cove is cool too!

Had a bad experience at the Dana Point location but John here was able to help me out. To be…read morehonest, after dealing with the Dana Point location, I was on the fence about continuing to do business with this company at all. But John was patient, courteous and knowledgeable and was able to help me out just in time for my trip. Next time I'm coming here instead of Dana Point!

My child has been part of the Nadadores swim team for a number of years now and I myself have been…read morepart of the Masters program on and off for the same number of years and even before we started my child on the junior team. The experience up until about a year ago had been generally good but given some recent experiences and some of the other comments posted here, I felt compelled to also share so folks interested in joining know what they are singing up for. Volunteering - I don't have a general issue with the idea of volunteering. My issue is with how it's all managed and what is expected because in many cases, it isn't clear and the staff provides little help. Parent volunteers for example have to organize timing events during away meets (BTW - mandatory timing at away events is required above and beyond the hours that all families are also required to already give) and there are no tools or any digital way of managing so it's a literal mess at every meet. If you don't at least check in, even if there are 2-3X the number of parents actually needed, you will get charged - even if you wouldn't have had to time to begin with. I also have an issue with what's expected while timing as the officials are constantly pushing on the timers to manage the swimmers, which is not our jobs as volunteer timers. I can't recall a single scenario where at least one coach from the staff was behind the timers with their teams assisting and managing. I had a scenario at a meet back in December last year where I asked a group of older kids to stop cursing during a meet and on my way out one of their parents confronted me about yelling at their kid. Not cool to put us in a position to have to police other peoples kids. I have raised this numerous times with nothing done about it and you can't just skip timing at away meets or you will get charged. Mandatory Donations - This used to be an annual thing that has now turned into a twice a year thing. I assume this is because there are "seasons" and maybe not everyone swims year-round but for those that do, you are required to donate something like $400 twice a year now. Here's the thing about donating though - when it's mandatory it's no longer called a donation. It's a way to either keep the monthly dues lower on paper than they really are or it's a way to take in revenue with additional tax advantages. Either way, it's a forced $800 a year extra in money you have to come up with and the incentive plans they used to have for the swimmers to raise money continues to be limited in what type of "donation" is counted towards this goal. Parking - There is simply not enough parking for as many swimmers that come in and out every day and especially not when they are hosting an event. As others have commented, forced volunteering puts people in the middle of policing things like the parking lot which isn't fair to those volunteers on really busy meet days. For some reason they also like to maintain regular practice schedules for the non competing teams while hosting major events which is just insanity. We no longer go anywhere near the facility during hosted events as it's not worth the headache. Pool Temp - There has been a lot of talk about the city no longer paying for the heating of the pool so its now being maintained at 73 degrees per USA Swimming regs. This is not what they advertise and certainly not what it has been for the past 5 years. This has become a common complaint now, especially for the more junior swimmers. Practice Schedules - Due to the number of swimmers and teams, the practice schedules are all over the place on a daily basis. Two nights at X time to Y time, one night at X time to Y time, two other nights at some other start and end time. It also changes by season so it becomes an exercise every few months to have to reset our family schedule around swim schedules which we have now stopped doing. We just don't swim as much now as we used to if swimming doesn't fit our schedule - which adds to the annoyance of paying much more now than we used to as we cant really get our moneys worth without having to adjust our schedules all the time. I'm sure there is some attempt at being equitable so that no one team/age group is stuck too early or too late, but this may also be a sign that there are simply too many swimmers - running practices 5 nights a week isn't needed for everyone BTW. Coaching - Some else posted previously about their experience, confidence issues, etc. and I can say for certainty that mine feels the same. 0 confidence right now in the ability to move forward. This is a team that now favors the top 1%. It was a wonderful place for a number of years and even the thought of leaving brings some heartache as the Nadadores has been part of our family on and off for 2 generations now, but this is not the place it used to be. I can only hope that the leadership and board take some time to better understand how many folks really feel and take some action.

I think overall this was a good experience most of the time but there are elements which bring it…read moredown to a 2 or 3 star that I hope you'll consider and I do hope they revise on the business side in the future. Like the other review said, there is an issue with community and team here and it's difficult to fix unless you coach the coaches on pedagogy. The positives: Our daughter enjoyed her time at the school and the team. She competed. She improved her time. She got good exercise. She made friends. This part is a 4 star experience with only a notch taken out for some of the turnover and inconsistency along the way as well as some of the reactions to injuries (see below) and communication. Communication could be better and it's not uncommon to feel left out even if you just want to know the people on a safety level and get to know one another. I am confident the coach would not know me if we met at a grocery store and when I was a coach and responsible for young people, I made it a point to learn every name of the child and the parent and their faces. Build the community. The cons (business side): The pricing model has a volunteer component for service hours and they penalize charge you if you don't complete them. Here is where it gets dicey. Some jobs are easier than others. Some jobs can be "bought" by simply dropping off Gatorade and items in exchange for hours. All job assignments are done in an archaic way of free for all spreadsheets and even that is overseen by a senior volunteer where issues arise as you can imagine. You rarely feel this is a fair system and it is in need of attention and could be solved with some efficiency improvements and tech solutions. There are many database systems that allocate these things in a fair manner and they are worth the cost premium since we all are already paying. Consider revising what jobs are "worth" and "no shows" and late arrivals create some interesting results. It was common for many families to recruit grandparents and other family members to fill in. Out of the purpose of the greater good of the team, our family did extra hours in good faith many quarters even filling in for no shows and doing a double shift. No big deal, right? But when it came time to ask for a little grace and courtesy the other way, there is a surprisingly strict enforcement of a policy to keep a few extra meaningless dollars instead of putting people before policy. When our daughter got injured (twice, once a concussion by another swimmer where my daughter said swimmers were grouped too too tightly by the coaches), we had to pry for details because one coach would say the other coaches saw it and then that coach would point the finger back. It was a very awkward situation where safety was our primary concern and our daughter lacked the memory having been hit in the head. Not to mention not feeling comfortable continuing and having to vocally advocate for herself and remembered not all kids have that capacity. When the second incident happened, it was harder to determine what happened. We were advised she had to go on medical leave. We notified the team and they we were advised that our account would receive a credit. But then that credit was used to charge us for volunteer hours while our account was suspended and our daughter was on medical leave. Think about how terrible a policy that is? I don't care what an agreement says, that is a really poor policy that deserves revision. If you have a medical suspension by doctors orders from injuries that occur as a result of being on the swim team, show some decency and don't nickel and dime the families in the name of policy. That's bad business and questionable ethics. They eventually provided 50% back and billed the remaining 50% to our suspended account. Again, for hours we didn't complete while our daughter was on medical leave. When we had produced over 40 extra hours of service during our time there filling in for others? Bad form and it tells me that a review is needed to help them see the light on their practices. I truly hope they change this policy for the future Nadadores. It is the right thing to do. This is a solid 2 or 3 star type review when it should be 4/4.5. How to improve: 1. Revise ticky tack volunteer hours penalties and polices. 2. Communicate and build rapport with parents beyond the swimmers. Make it a family and community, not just a business. 3. Be flexible. Life and people over policy. I have no ill will or bad terms. Does it leave a slight bad taste? Yes. But I cherish the experiences and memories. I appreciate so many of the individuals that are amazing at what they do and care deeply about their work even when they disagree with the business side. Our exit should have been handled better and I hope one day they consider making things right.

Rex is good, Christian man who does great work. Very honest and helpful.read more

Rex did some vital repair work and bottom painting on the hull / keel of my Catalina sailboat. He…read moreis an old world craftsman who takes pride in his work and does the right thing by you. I could not be happier with the result and highly recommend his services. Thank you so much Rex! From Chuck Hornsby

I recently bought a pair of Dive'R fins and a Nice Cressi dive bag. The team at Lost Winds were a…read moregreat help helping me out with my choices of foot pockets, I decided to go with the Riffe's, which feel amazing on my feet. Thanks for your help guys. Best, Danny

The shop is clean, the staff is helpful and knowledgeable, and reasonably priced. I was a complete…read morebeginner walking into the shop, went through their course, and left feeling comfortable and prepared for ocean adventures. Eric, Zed, and Mateo have always been ready with any questions, shown in-depth knowledge, and never pressured me into buying or renting anything. I am throughly impressed and highly recommend Lost Winds.

I must agree with the one star. Been a Padi instructor for over 20 years and have walked away …read more A. To be a five star padi operation, you only need to pay a fee and devote the majority of your business to PADI . B. Ethics within the company is simply (yea with the money is the most ethical ) C. Padi has become the Walmart of diving Case closed .

Stupid rules need changing!!!! I made a mistake filling out my medical form & now I need a Doctors…read morenote. Not sure why they can't resend me the medical form? Now this turned into a unpleasant experience because Padi can't resend the medical form. It has been a headache because of a stupid mistake Instead of an Epic adventure. The lady with the accent on the phone was Unaccommodating and sounded a lil rude. Step it up Padi, it's 2020.

Completed open Water 3 and 4 this weekend. The exceptional service continued with Riviera Capt…read more Bob and Dive Master! One of the things I really appreciated had nothing to do with diving. Capt. Bob saw a fishing boat in a protected area and respectfully recommended that they move to a legal place. The fishing crew was not as respectful. Instead of blowing up, Capt. Bob handled it appropriately and got them to move off. Thanks for protecting our marine life in a such a mature way!!! Looking forward to going out again with Bob and his exceptional dive masters!

Professional and fun boat and the dive crews! Great…read moreservice, definitely recommend going diving with them!

Once a Nadadore, always a Nadadore. This is a saying that the dive team means. The diving…read morefacilities are world class including dry-land springboard foam pits, trampolines and spotting systems, as well as up to date 1 and 3 meter springboards and 1-5-7-10 meter towers. Whether starting a kid out or training at the elite level, the coaches are knowledgeable, experienced and positive and they encourage that in all of their divers. They train beginners all the way through internationally competitive and even after that into Masters level diving. A great, positive, highly successful program to train with.