Six Reasons Why You Should Learn With Us:
1. Our unique training philosophy: To make you a real diver, not just a certification card holder.
We pride ourselves in the fact that our goal is to train safe, competent divers. Unfortunately, the diving industry norm is to conduct the minimum requirements, thus a certification may not reflect actual diving ability and skill. Rather, a certification card is just a proof of participation in a course. What a diver really needs to obtain are the skills to handle the ocean. We will help you acquire those skills to become a competent diver.
Our training is not just a crash course. We provide numerous underwater dives accompanied by a professional until you can dive safely on your own. We take our time to provide you with ongoing learning experiences and cultivate your skills until you are able to handle the ocean’s dynamic conditions. We want to teach you to become a scuba diver who can truly savor what the ocean offers.
Transforming you into a competent diver takes time. Our training duration is almost doubled that of any other dive shop in the Los Angeles area. Yet, our tuition costs are still competitive, offering you the best quality education your money can buy. If you come to us wanting more than a proof of class participation, we guarantee to make you a competent diver capable of exploring the ocean.
2. Full-time instructors, best facilities, and valuable assets.
We are fully dedicated to the diving lifestyle. Our staff are full-time instructors, service technicians, and sales associates. We know the ins and outs of the diving industry: we have close relationships with the industry professionals, keep up with new technology and gear, attend annual conferences & trade shows, and conduct bimonthly instructor training sessions. We have college degrees related to oceanography and marine biology. We are fully committed to diving -- this isn’t a part-time gig or a phase for us.
We use one of the best county pools in Los Angeles - the Norman S. Johnson Aquatic Center. Dive schools rarely have access to a junior-Olympic sized pool with a large 13 foot deep area. We conduct our confined water training in a heated pool that is lifeguard staffed for additional safety. Once you are ready for the open water, we use the most reputable dive boats in Southern California. We typically do not conduct our ocean dives at the beach, because beach diving can be very strenuous, with low visibility and miserable ocean conditions. We want you to enjoy your time in the ocean, and boat diving can offer great diving. However, not all dive boats are operated at the highest safety standards that we require. We have selected the best in our area, and maintain close relationships with the operators to ensure safety as well as our ability to handpick the most exciting and amazing dive sites that California offers.
All our classes have a high instructor to student ratio. We keep classes small, and we have assistants instructors in addition to our lead instructors. For example, in the ocean, an Instructor and assistant duo will care for no more than 6 students at a time (3:1).
3. Our Diving Community (Family)
We are not just a diving school. We are not here to just here to sell equipment and pump out certifications. We have a community. The divers we train often stick around, and many experienced divers also join our community. Diving is a great way of building friendships and camaraderie with people from all kinds of backgrounds and professions.
We provide continuous opportunities to learn new diving hobbies such as underwater photography, hunting, freediving, and citizen science. We have staff with marine biology degrees to teach you about the marine organisms we encounter and help you understand unique ecological balance of the kelp forest. You might ask, how can conservationists and hunters get along in one small boat? At Ocean Safari, we prioritize stewardship and sustainability. We teach and promote sustainable hunting practices, through careful species & size selection and avoiding overconsumption. We encourage one another to reduce our carbon footprint and trash production by bringing reusable dishware to our trips.
4. Our way of life: All-encompassing outdoor adventure
We are not just a dive shop, we are outdoor adventures on both land and underwater. We lead camping trips, hikes, overseas eco expeditions, and other outdoor adventures. Our goal is to rekindle the wildness in you. We want to help you harness your inner desire for outdoor exploration, and we will teach you all the wilderness and water skills you need to fully experience what Mother Nature has to offer.
On top of the skills to handle the outdoors, there’s a mindset we try to encourage. We don’t just take the experiences we want from nature; we give back as well. Our goal is to train everyone to have a full understanding of human’s place in nature -- how we fit into the ecological and environmental cycle, and also how Mother Earth’s resources, energy, and connections affect our physiology and psychology. We want to attune your connection with nature so that your spirit can be nourished and refreshed.
5. Inspiring a Sense of Thrill
Whether we are diving or hiking, we want to offer you a sense of thrill when you embark on our adventures. Isn’t that the life experiences you want to have and memories to cherish? As trained professionals, we can offer these thrilling experiences while still being fully confident that safety is our number one priority. Safety through education is our motto.
6. Serving the diving community since 1993.
We are one of the oldest scuba training centers in the entire Los Angeles area. We work closely with the LA County Department of Parks and Recreation and Fire Department. We have trained county lifeguard divers, search & rescue teams, and other government officials. We have been doing this for over a quarter of a century! Logically, if we’ve been in business this long, we’re doing something good. Right?