Reviews
I have been shopping here exclusively ever since I walked in the door. This is truly a pressure free environment. Between classes where you learn at your pace, smaller classes. The amount of research put into all the products is insane. They will do everything in their power to sell you what you need the first time and stand by the products they carry. I shopped around after I found out the dive shop I was using was not for me. I visited every dive shop in the area and am so happy I found them. If you are looking to try scuba I highly recomend going in and having a conversation, they offer a great discover scuba service. Don't get me started on the wonderful dive trips they put together. I never felt safer traveling! Photos from Bonaire trip I took with them!
September 2023 - I ordered a $4400 "full package" scuba setup from the gloves all the way to the boots and a dive computer. I was sent home with the dive computer and boots out of the list of stuff i ordered and was told they will call me when everything comes in. "Ok cool that works". Fast forward 3 weeks later, i call to get an update on all the items, no one answers the phone so i leave a message, try to call the next day, same thing no one answers tbe phone and i leave a message. I give it a day and try again, same thing. I wait a week waiting to see if anyone calls me back nothing, so i try again. Wait another week and nothing i feel like im being ghosted. Finaly i get a hold of someone about a month later and im told my BCD is on back order but should be in within 30 days, so yet again i say " ok, just let me know". 2 months goes by not a peep so i try calling AGAIN....nothing. After calling and calling and getting aggravated, someone calls me back and says they are on a diving excursion and dont have any service down there and will check on my equipment when they get back. When i called and got a hold of Sue, she puts me on the phone with Mike and he tells me i can come in and take a loaner bcd off the wall which isnt the one i ordered while i wait, i decide not to do that after everything that has been going on. Another month or so does by. Finaly, i decide to just show up at the dive center and collect what i can, bcd is still on "backorder", i explaine that i have been waiting and that no one answers the phone or even calls me back and mike starts to get huphy puffy and tells me "well u were supposed to come in and get the loaner". By the end of the visit to the shop, i have my dive computer, 2 air tanks, semi dry suit, my octo with a loaner secondary regulator and my boots. I am writing this wed. Feb 28th 2024, still have no gloves and still have no bcd with the intergrated air. 5 months later, no updates, no calls. I've told them i just want a refund for the bcd they have none of my paperwork for some reason and im told to just keep waiting. At this point im just cutting my losses and moving on. Don't let this happen to you. I own a small business myself and i know communication is key!!! Highly disappointed.
Mike and Sue are great! I spoke with them before signing up for my class and they fully explained how the class worked and what to expect. I took my son, brother and cousin with me to the classes. We completed the online portion of the class and then the in person pool and open water dive portions. One thing that I was looking for was safety, having never been diving before I was concerned about how I would do as well as my son - who was 10 at the time. Mike took very good care of us and instructed us to the point where we not only understood the system of diving and what we needed to do but also why we needed to do it. We went over the skills in the pool together, practiced by ourselves after we were comfortable with the skills and then went to the open water to demonstrate our skills. Mike paid close attention to all of us and gave me instructions on how to dive with my son in order to keep things safe when we dive. After the classes, over the last 3 years, I have taken my son diving in Aruba, St Marteen, Hawaii, Florida and Costa Rica, as well local dives. Many dive masters have commented on how well my son and I perform while diving and I give credit to Mike for the instructions, guidance and care to safety. Mike also helped us get fitted for gear, how to properly use the gear and safety procedures for using the gear. My brother and cousin also enjoy a high quality of enjoyment while diving. Top notch place and I recommend then anyone who is willing to dive to go here.
I had a great experience here because Mike is incredibly skillful and so safety-oriented. The on-site pool made learning and adequately practicing the skills so easy. Both Mike and Sue are enthusiastic, professional and so supportive. I highly recommend them to anyone wanting to learn to scuba dive correctly, or to buy equipment from them with their valuable on-site personal consultation!
My first dive experience was a resort course in Grand Cayman with Tortuga divers, a quick safety class in the pool and printed material, skills demonstrated and off to the ocean. Three enjoyable dives. No complaints. Back in New Hampshire I did my open water paying attention, reading and understanding the provided materials and paying attention in class. Not everyone in my class did so but they were able to pass as they were able to demonstrate the required skills. I could list the negatives but I think my experience was typical. I then moved on to my new. Dive store Aquatic Escapes to do my advanced open water and discovered everything that was missing in my previous training. Mike not only explained what but why each skill was needed and ensured I was proficient in every one. I feel fortunate to have found such an inspiring and capable instructor and would recommend both him and Aquatic Escapes without reservation.
Sue and Mike at Aquatic Escapes were nothing but awesome from the moment I reached out with my inquiry to the completion of my course. They were very friendly, very helpful, very patient, and very flexible to my circumstance and schedule. Their prices are very fair as well. Even if other certification providers had gotten back to me as quickly and surely as they did, the best deal was still with AE. I did my training dives with Mike, an expert diver and great teacher with decades of experience. I highly recommend him for any dive training/certification you have in mind. Back Story: About a month ago, I realized I had the chance to go after an obscure bucket list dive I learned about years ago, but I only had a few weeks in the middle of winter to get my dry suit diver certification, which is required for it. I was pessimistic about the possibility of getting this done, but I still contacted every dive training service in the region just in case there was a chance. Aquatic Escapes was the ONLY place to promptly write me back with optimism and confidence that we could easily get it done in time. And because of them, I was able to work around my busy schedule and get the certification completed just like that. Now I'm ready to check a very cool dive off of my bucket list later this month.
Mike has been awesome. We achieved our open water dive certification. He was incredibly flexible around my inflexible schedule, was professional, focused on safety, took the time to make sure we understood the training truly not just checking boxes, had a private warm “indoor” pool, good equipment, and provided us many nuggets of wisdom. Highly recommended.
My family and I received our open water certification from Mike Nalen back in November. I contemplated just moving on to another dive shop and never looking back, but decided I needed to share my experience. We first went to aquatic escapes during a discover scuba experience and had a great time. We then signed up for the open water class and paid in full. After completing the online portion, we completed several days of in pool training. When signing up for the class we were told we would have a private class. This was untrue, several classes had as many as 5 other divers in the pool with us. Not the greatest to have 9 students is a small training pool. We were surprised at the first class to find it was a different instructor than the one we enjoyed during discover scuba. Each in pool session began with Mike demonstrating a new skill and setting us loose in the pool to practice. We were then left to our own devices to perfect the skill with little to no feedback from the instructor. When completing the open water dives in the ocean, Mike apparently forgot to teach us a very important skill, regulator recovery. We were shown this in a few quick moments is shallow water then expected to perform at 25’ in 42 degree water. As could have been expected it didn’t go well for my 12 year old son. Once done with our OW dives, we were told we passed and headed back to the dive shop. Once there we were given documents to sign indicating we completed the required dives and skills. Would have been nice to see that earlier in the class to know expectations of skills necessary. When calling Mike less than a week later he was noticeably agitated when I asked for a dive log documenting our dives a requirement of dive resorts I had been contacting . He proceeded to argue with me that I didn’t need a dive log. After pressing Mike he agreed to put together dive logs for my family and me. We then reached out to another dive shop and got further training for my wife and kids to be more comfortable with diving. Had a great experience in Nashua. If you are looking for scuba training I recommend looking elsewhere..
Mike and Sue run a great shop. They have their own pool to learn in at your pace and also are competivly priced with online shops so it makes it easy to support the local guy
I was looking for a scuba shop to certify my daughter while I got a refresher so we could dive together. Mike and Sue were very friendly and helpful through the entire experience. We have continued to visit their shop for our equipment needs and additional training. I highly recommend them for any diving needs. Bonus points for the heated pool!
